Literary Illusions
Performance Magic and Victorian Literature
Series: Nineteenth-Century and Neo-Victorian Cultures;
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Product details:
- Publisher Edinburgh University Press
- Date of Publication 31 July 2026
- ISBN 9781474460347
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages272 pages
- Size 234x156 mm
- Language English
- Illustrations 4 black & white illustrations 700
Categories
Short description:
Explores the dialogue between Victorian literature and one of the nineteenth century’s most popular modes of performance: conjuring.
MoreLong description:
Literary Illusions explores the dialogue between Victorian literature and one of the nineteenth century’s most popular modes of performance: conjuring. It explores the ways in which Victorian literature frequently deployed the figure of the magician to explore performance magic as a metaphor for writing itself, and the ways in which conjurors themselves were authors (of highly fictionalised biographies), while authors explored the narrative opportunities offered by magic (most notably Charles Dickens). The book theorises magic as a manifestation of Victorian concerns with authorship and the intellectual property debate, with the magician often deployed as a privileged – and occasionally parodied – figure in debates on textuality. Literary Illusions offers a reconceptualisation of the relationship between popular culture and literature in the nineteenth century, bringing canonical figures such as Dickens and Elizabeth Gaskell into dialogue with lesser known Victorian bestsellers such as Henry Cockton and Jean-Eugene Robert-Houdin, and innovatively blends performance history with literary criticism.
MoreTable of Contents:
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Series Preface
Introduction: Taking Magic Seriously
1. V for Ventriloquism: Vocal Magic in Henry Cockton’s Valentine Vox
2. A Cabinet of Curiosities: Dickens, Magic and Secrecy
3. The Travelling Doll Wonder: From Khia Khan Khruse to Bleak House
4. Unprecedented Arts: Conjuring in Cranford
5. Bullet Catches and Second Sight: Conjuror Biography and Robert-Houdin’s Memoirs
Conclusion: Edwardian and Neo-Victorian Conjuring
Appendix: Khia Khan Khruse’s UK Performances
Bibliography
Index
