In the Penny Arcade

Last updated
In the Penny Arcade
by Steven Millhauser
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Gothic fiction
Publication typeCollection
Media typePrint
Publication date1986

"In the Penny Arcade" is a short story by American writer Steven Millhauser. It is one of seven short stories previously published in the early 1980s in venues such as the New Yorker , Grand Street , Antaeus , and the Hudson Review . Like Millhauser's two novels (Edwin Mulhouse and Portrait of a Romantic), they are about the ability of artists and children to see things anew, to remake things through the force of their own romantic yearnings, and the dangerous consequences of that gift. [1]

Contents

Plot summary

The short story begins with a young narrator whom on his twelfth birthday visits an amusement park he has not been to for over two years. He has longed to re-visit the penny arcade “I had dreamed of it all that tense, enigmatic summer…” [2] and when approaching it has his mother and father wait outside. He steps into darkness and hears the familiar sounds of the penny arcade. He passes older teenagers and strolls past familiar games such as a toy derrick, and pinball machine. But he came for something else, something “mysterious and elusive.” [3]

He came across an old fortune teller and sees for the first time how the games have aged by her sullen appearance and general deterioration that comes with use. He walks further in to find a cowboy no one was paying attention to, eventually coming to a section of old machines near the back of the arcade. He wandered aimlessly looking for something that would catch his eye until he came upon a section of the arcade roped off and covered with cloths. He becomes excited thinking that they were the machines that enticed him the first time he visited the arcade.

After believing a mysterious hush came over the arcade he returns to the front approaching the cowboy once more. He plays with a few of the machines and begins to understand the creatures of the arcade, seeing them in a new light. When he leaves the arcade back into the sunshine under the August sky, he is satisfied with his visit.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gothic fiction</span> Romance, horror and death literary genre

Gothic fiction, sometimes called Gothic horror in the 20th century, is a loose literary aesthetic of fear and haunting. The name is a reference to Gothic architecture of the European Middle Ages, which was characteristic of the settings of early Gothic novels.

<i>Northanger Abbey</i> Novel by Jane Austen

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote (1752). Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Brust</span> American fantasy and science fiction author (born 1955)

Steven Karl Zoltán Brust is an American fantasy and science fiction author of Hungarian descent. He is best known for his series of novels about the assassin Vlad Taltos, one of a disdained minority group of humans living on a world called Dragaera. His recent novels also include The Incrementalists (2013) and its sequel The Skill of Our Hands (2017), with co-author Skyler White.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amusement arcade</span> Venue where people play arcade games

An amusement arcade is a venue where people play arcade games, including arcade video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, merchandisers, or coin-operated billiards or air hockey tables. In some countries, some types of arcades are also legally permitted to provide gambling machines such as slot machines or pachinko machines. Games are usually housed in cabinets. The term used for ancestors of these venues in the beginning of the 20th century was penny arcades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Printer's Devil</span> 9th episode of the 4th season of The Twilight Zone

"Printer's Devil" is episode 111 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. The title comes from the expression printer's devil, an apprentice in the industry.

<i>The Illusionist</i> (2006 film) 2006 film by Neil Burger

The Illusionist is a 2006 American romantic mystery film written and directed by Neil Burger, and starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti and Jessica Biel. It is based loosely on Steven Millhauser's short story "Eisenheim the Illusionist". The film tells the story of Eisenheim, a magician in turn-of-the-century Vienna, who reunites with his childhood love, a woman far above his social standing. The film also depicts a fictionalized version of the Mayerling incident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Outsider (short story)</span> Short story by H. P. Lovecraft

"The Outsider" is a short story by American horror writer H. P. Lovecraft. Written between March and August 1921, it was first published in Weird Tales, April 1926. In this work, a mysterious individual who has been living alone in a castle for as long as he can remember decides to break free in search of human contact and light. "The Outsider" is one of Lovecraft's most commonly reprinted works and is also one of the most popular stories ever to be published in Weird Tales.

<i>Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness</i> 2008 video game

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness is an episodic action-adventure role-playing video game series based on the webcomic Penny Arcade.

Steven Millhauser is an American novelist and short story writer. He won the 1997 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his novel Martin Dressler.

A Town Called Panic is a 2002-2003 French-language Belgian stop-motion sitcom created by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar for La Parti and Pic Pic André. It follows the everyday events of the characters Cowboy, Indian and Horse who live together in a small rural town as they go about their lives. The animation is designed to appear crude, as if done by a child and the events of the characters' daily lives are extremely surreal and slapstick.

"The Lonesome Place" is a short story by American writer August Derleth. The story is part of a compilation of short stories in the book Lonesome Places. Published in 1962, by Arkham House Publishing, "The Lonesome Place" tells the story of two young boys terrorized by a mysterious creature who they believe lives in an abandoned grain elevator in their small town.

<i>The Path</i> (video game) 2009 video game

The Path is a psychological horror art game developed by Tale of Tales originally released for the Microsoft Windows operating system on March 18, 2009 in English and Dutch, and later ported to Mac OS X by TransGaming Technologies.

<i>American Gothic Tales</i> 1996 anthology of short fiction

American Gothic Tales is an anthology of "gothic" American short fiction. Edited and with an Introduction by Joyce Carol Oates, it was published by Plume in 1996. It featured contributions by Washington Irving, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen King, Anne Rice and others, and included over 40 stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortune teller machine</span>

A fortune teller machine is a type of amusement automaton, which upon receiving credit gives out a card with a prediction of the reader's future. This is typically given by an automaton. They could be found in penny arcades, and can be seen in modern video arcades and amusement parks.

A romantic thriller is a narrative that involves elements of the romance and thriller genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Literature of New England</span>

The literature of New England has had an enduring influence on American literature in general, with themes such as religion, race, the individual versus society, social repression, and nature, emblematic of the larger concerns of American letters.

<i>We Others: New and Selected Stories</i> 2011 short story collection by Steven Millhauser

We Others: New and Selected Stories is a short story collection by Steven Millhauser published in 2011 by Alfred A. Knopf. It won The Story Prize in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arcade game</span> Coin-operated entertainment machine

An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade video games, Pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games or merchandisers.

<i>We Spread</i> 2022 novel by Iain Reid

We Spread is a 2022 literary novel by Canadian writer Iain Reid. It was published in the United States on September 27, 2022, by Scout Press, and in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2022, by Scribner UK, both imprints of Simon & Schuster. The book has been described as a psychological thriller and horror fiction, and is about an elderly woman living in an assisted living facility where all is not as it appears.

References

  1. American Gothic Tales: Edited by Joyce Carol Oates, New York: Plume, 1996.
  2. Michiko Kakutani. "Books of the Times". The New York Times . January 12, 1986.
  3. Patrick Smith. Steven Millhauser. Entrepreneur. June 2008.

Sources