1st Edition
Techniques of Illusion A Cultural and Media History of Stage Magic in the Late Nineteenth Century
By Katharina Rein
Copyright 2023
334 Pages
27 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
334 Pages
27 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
334 Pages
27 B/W Illustrations
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
This book explores stage conjuring during its “golden age,” from about 1860 to 1910.
This study provides close readings highlighting four paradigmatic illusions of the time that stand in for different kinds of illusions typical of stage magic in the “golden age” and analyses them within their cultural and media-historical context: “Pepper’s Ghost,” the archetypical mirror illusion; “The... Read more
List of figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1 Ghosts of the enlightenment. Phantasmagoria
2 Appearing and disappearing. Mirror illusions
3 Bending space and time. The vanish
Entr’acte: Magic and early cinema
4 Techniques of weightlessness. Levitation
5 Codes and signals. Mentalism
Entr’acte: Magic and media around 1900. The Prestige
Concluding remarks
Index
Biography
Katharina Rein currently works as a Lecturer in European Media Studies at the University of Potsdam, Germany.
