The Enigma of Reality and Character

In the labyrinthine worlds of Millhauser's imagination, the elusive essence of reality mirrors the mysteries of character. His tales often lack sharply defined personas, suggesting that character itself is a mere illusion—a phantom that forever eludes comprehension. Take "Rain," for instance, where the protagonist Mr. Porter finds himself ensnared in an unexpected tempest. Initially depicted with meticulous attention to detail, he frets over his attire and fears the capricious weather. But as the narrative unfurls, Mr. Porter becomes a shadow of his former self, slowly dissolving under the relentless downpour. The scene unfurls in descriptive waves: "wavy," "wavering," "floating," "blurred," "rippling," "smeary," and "smudgy." Although the imagery is delivered with precision, it portrays a scene of gradual disintegration. Millhauser captures this ephemeral transformation:

Everything was coming undone... Everything was washing away. His cheeks were running, his eyeglasses were spilling down in bright crystal drops, flesh-colored streams fell from his shining fingertips, he was dissolving in the rain. In ripples of blue and flesh and tan and black he flowed into the shine of the tar. For a moment on an empty parking lot a bright puddle gleamed, but then the rain washed it away.

By the tale's conclusion, Mr. Porter has vanished entirely, melting away before his essence can be captured.

The Artist and Creation

Millhauser often sketches the archetype of the artist, epitomized by figures like Robert Herendeen in "The Invention of Robert Herendeen." Herendeen embodies the dual nature of creativity—a force both generative and destructive. He is a Promethean rebel, daring to transcend the boundaries of human understanding, aspiring to wield godlike creative powers, yet destined to fall from grace. This character harks back to Renaissance quandaries, where the fine line between divine artistry and dangerous mimicry ignited fervent debate. Viewing himself as a visionary genius, Herendeen aims to conjure a human entity through sheer imaginative force. He proclaims:

I decided to invent a human being by means of the full and rigorous application of my powers of imagination. Instead of resorting to words, which merely obscured and distorted the crystalline clarity of my inner vision, I would employ the stuff of imagination itself. That is to say, I would mentally mold a being whose existence would be sustained by the detail and energy of my relentless dreaming. My ambition was to create not an actual human being or a mere work of art but rather a being who existed in a realm parallel to the other two—a third realm, obedient to the laws of physical bodies but utterly discarnate.

In a tragic echo of Pygmalion and Frankenstein, Robert becomes enamored with his creation, Olivia, only to witness his control slip away.

Olivia fades into obscurity, reduced to a mere mannequin as Herendeen's darker impulses prevail. "The invention" is a multifaceted concept: it signifies both Olivia’s creation and Herendeen’s self-invention through his artistic endeavors, culminating in the emergence of his malevolent alter ego, Orville, who orchestrates the downfall. Ultimately, it reflects Steven Millhauser’s invention of Robert Herendeen as a character. In Millhauser's stories, characters are not merely figures on the page; they are reflections on the intricate dance of artistic creation and the inherent challenges it poses.