Martin Dressler

The Tale of an American Dreamer

by Steven Millhauser

Martin Dressler works in his father's cigar store in 1890s Manhattan, where he learns the basics of business. He goes into hotel work--first as a bellhop, but eventually rising to own a hotel before he's 30. Alternating Martin's dreams with the day-to-day detail of his life, Millhauser evokes the business and personal world of turn-of-the-century America.

Available editions of Martin Dressler

	9780517703199, Hardcover, Random House Inc, 1996 $1.00 (Used - Acceptable) Other copies of 9780517703199

	9780679781271, Paperback, Vintage Books, 1997 $1.00 (Very Good) Other copies of 9780679781271

Publisher Notes

Young Martin Dressler begins his career as an industrious helper in his fathers cigar store. In the course of his restless young manhood, he makes a swift and eventful rise to the top, accompanied by two sisters--one a dreamlike shadow, the other a worldly business partner. As the eponymous Martin's vision becomes bolder and bolder he walks a haunted line between fantasy and reality, madness and ambition, art and industry, a sense of doom builds piece-by-hypnotic piece until this mesmerizing journey into the heart of an American dreamer reaches its bitter-sweet conclusion.

Media Reviews

"A fascinating and provocative portrayal of turn-of-the-century America that hums with energy and wit. It might be another of Dreiser's densely packed tales of financiers and titans, written at characteristic white heat, but by an immeasurably more graceful stylist."

First Line

There once lived a man named Martin Dressler, a shopkeeper's son, who rose from modest beginnings to a height of dreamlike good fortune.

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