\The King and the Tree"" is a collection of three novellas written by Steven Millhauser, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of ""Martin Dressler."" This collection of stories is a great read. The style is a perfect mix of literary prose and mainstream writing. The stories all seem to be woven around the same topics: unrequited love, betrayal and jealousy. However, each novella is written from a different viewpoint and with a slightly different tone. The mix makes for an eclectic read that contains just enough flowery writing and prose to lend the writing a certain amount of class, yet not so much as to bore the reader.
""Revenge"" is the first novella, written as one side of a conversation. A woman is showing her house to a potential buyer and as the story unfolds, we learn that the woman who is showing the house knows that the potential buyer was the mistress of her late husband. Intertwined with the chattering about her jonquils and need for new furniture, she frankly informs the ""other woman"" of how she was responsible for nearly ruining the marriage, and in an almost offhand tone, tells her how she once went to the mistress' house and stood over her sleeping body. The story illustrates her mental imbalance but from a perspective that makes it almost understandable.
In the second novella, 'An Adventure of Don Juan,' Millhauser travels back in time to nineteenth-century Europe. This novella offers a unique insight into the life of Don Juan, the world-famous lover of women. In this story, Don Juan decides to leave Italy and his womanizing ways behind for a trip to England. In England, he finds himself falling in love with a woman-a woman whom he finds impossible to make advances upon, or to woo into bed, an altogether new experience for the celebrity lothario. Millhauser adds an extra twist to this tale by allowing Don Juan to suffer the ultimate betrayal even as he is made vulnerable by the love he feels.
The final novella, ""The King in the Tree,"" takes the reader back even further-to medieval Europe and into the castle of a king, guided by the narration of the trusted advisor to the monarch. In this piece, the king has taken a wife, a very beautiful woman, and he has asked his nephew, Tristan, to watch over her and entertain her when he is busy. As the king's advisor soon learns, Tristan has pulled a Lancelot and is doing far more than simply entertaining his lovely aunt. Like the legendary Arthur, the king faces an extremely difficult decision, because in order to protect his honor and stature, he is now obligated to rectify this betrayal by punishing either his beloved nephew or his treasured wife.
Coexisting with the feelings of anguish and anxiety natural to such dramatic stories are moments of humor as well as an ample amount of history and culture. Such a mix makes this book an enjoyable experience for any reader. There is so much to take away-character, period, style and so on, that there is certainly something to interest even the most jaded readers.
The contrast between these stories makes for a fascinating read. By using a variety of narrators-the wife who was cheated on, Don Juan falling in love with an unattainable woman and an advisor watching his king destroying himself trying to keep his wife and marriage intact-Millhauser shows that throughout time some things do not change.
