Performing Magic on the Western Stage From the Eighteenth Century to the Present

by Hass, Lawrence; Coppa, Francesca; Peck, James; Burger, Eugene

• ISBN13: 9780230607880
• ISBN10: 0230607888
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-15
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Performing Magic on the Western Stage examines magic as a performing art and meaningful social practice. The essays in this interdisciplinary collection analyze the work of numerous western theatrical conjurers and several non-western magical performances in their historical context. Throughout, the contributors link magic to cultural arenas such as religion, finance, gender, and nationality. All of the contributors are connected to the internationally acclaimed Theory and Art of Magic program at Muhlenberg College, through which artists and scholars study the history, theory, and practice of the magical arts .

Author Biography

Francesca Coppa is Director of Film Studies and Associate Professor of English at Muhlenberg College. Lawrence Hass is Professor of Philosophy at Muhlenberg College. James Peck is Associate Professor of Theatre and Chair of the Department of Theatre and Dance at Muhlenberg College.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	p. vii
Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Life Magic and Staged Magic: A Hidden Intertwining	p. 13
The Family Romance of Modern Magic: Contesting Robert-Houdin's Cultural Legacy in Contemporary France	p. 33
Magicians and the Magic of Hollywood Cinema during the 1920s	p. 61
The Body Immaterial: Magicians' Assistants and the Performance of Labor	p. 85
Conjuring Capital: Magic and Finance from Eighteenth-Century London to the New Las Vegas	p. 107
The Sacred and the Sleight of Hand in American Indian Gaming	p. 131
Outdoing Ching Ling Foo	p. 151
Intersecting Illusions: Performing Magic, Disability, and Gender	p. 177
Through a Glass Darkly: Magic and Religion in Western Thought and Practice	p. 197
Illusions about Illusions	p. 217
Index	p. 231
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