The Knife Thrower | Literary Precedents

The Knife Thrower Literary Precedents

This story's closest literary relative is the work of Vladimir Nabokov, who wrote many short stories in addition to his numerous novels. The magical realism of this story finds a likeness with Nabokov's fiction, which often uses everyday events and lives to explore otherworldly dimensions and themes. A good example of a short story that explores similar themes is "The Aurelian," which takes as its subject a butterfly collector who is eerily watched by the specimens mounted in his shop. Another group of fiction that is somewhat similar to Millhauser's is Roald Dahl's fiction for young adults, as collected in The Umbrella Man.

Dahl's stories, like Nabokov's often take unexpected turns at the end, or end unexpectedly, often leaving the reader to complete the train of thought at the end of the story. This can be used to explore different assumptions that the reader has made throughout. These...
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