The Illusion of Plot

I'm continuing to read the twenty stories in The Best American Short Stories 1990, but so far the story I've enjoyed the most is the one that is most unlike the other stories. "Eisenheim the Illusionist," by Steven Millhauser, is "based on the pseudo-mythical tale of a magician who stunned audiences in Vienna in the latter part of the 19th century" (Wikipedia). 

I liked the story because it kept me reading, eager to find out what was going to happen next; yet it was structured more like a report or a historical essay than a short story.  The characters in it remained opaque, and therefore mysterious, an effect the author was apparently going for, if I'm correctly interpreting his "Contributors' Notes" at the back of the short story collection: "The birth of a story, at least for me, is a genuine mystery" (351).

Since I'd never heard of the author, I looked him up and found that he received a Pulitzer prize for his novel, Martin Dressler.  (Read the Wikipedia article: Millhauser.)  From Wikipedia I learned that the story was made into a movie which I have also seen and liked: The Illusionist, starring Edward Norton.  What's interesting is that I was reminded of that movie while I was reading the story, and with good reason, apparently.

"Eisenheim" is in stark contrast to the other stories I've read so far in this collection. In those stories, we are never left in doubt about what the main character is thinking or feeling.  It strikes me that in literary stories, the action is mostly unseen.  Instead of being about events, the stories are about people's interior lives--how they respond to events.  While I enjoy a character-driven story as much as the next English major, I still relish a story with a strong, action-driven plot. But lately those seem in short supply in the average literary collection.

In reading The Best stories, I've started to wonder how we arrived at the place where most of our short fiction (at least what could be judged quality writing) is of this interior type.  Are we to believe that writers cannot produce a well crafted story that is focused on plot rather than character?  I think a story such as "Eisenheim the Illusionist" shows that it can be done, but just isn't--at least not very often.

But perhaps I'm wrong.  Are there really only two kinds of story--the "literary" kind, focused on character and realistic, ambiguous outcomes--and the "popular" kind, focused on plot and outcomes that may seem a bit contrived but are comforting in their satisfying conclusions?  Can a story ever be both?

What do you think?  Have you read stories that have been beautifully written, thought provoking and profound but also can't-put-it-down riveting?