Many readers find metafictional prose to be frustrating, because of its tendency to defy the suspension of disbelief. Readers may be afraid to take the subject matter seriously even when the author seems to be incorporating realistic or naturalistic elements. If the author seems to be making light of the value of art to society, for example, the reader may wish to avoid interrogation of the work's sociopolitical issues for fear of seeming to have missed the joke.

Those who believe that fiction is designed to entertain, rather than to educate or to propagate ideology may also be tempted to refuse to discuss books like Enchanted Night.

It would be very difficult, however, to dismiss the cerebral nature of Steven Millhauser's aesthetic project. For this reason, I would argue that all readers should be prepared to approach his texts with a mixture of intellectual curiosity and...