One of the most interesting details about “Eisenheim The Illusionist” is that it is written in third person. This makes the entire story seem like a fable or just a fairy-tale, especially since we’re talking about magic tricks and professional illusions back in the 19th (and early 20th) century. Not only does the telling of the story in third person make it seem fake, but it also does something truly poetic in a sense. It’s almost as if we are part of the audience at one of Eisenheim’s shows. We don’t know what’s going on behind the curtains; if fact, we don’t know much about Eisenheim at all. And that’s a very important detail.
It differs greatly from the movie’s view of Eisenheim. Not to turn this into a review of the film or a comparison, but the film doesn’t stay true to the “third person” point-of-view. In the film, Eisenheim receives a full backstory for sympathy, while in the story we don’t get as much; only a few paragraphs. We don’t have full access to anything about Eisenheim. And that’s on purpose. While obviously, this story crosses over to the fantastic multiple times because of it’s impeccable illusions, the point-of-view can turn this into a fable.
A way to think about it, which I started doing about halfway through, was to imagine who could possibly be telling this story? Naturally, anyone could be telling it if it’s a famous legend in the universe of Millhauser. But I find the story more compelling if it is being told by Herr Uhl. He has written this story after failing to capture Eisenheim, thus causing him to become infatuated with the subject. He does research on Eisenheim’s life; he writes a story to alarm others about people like Eisenheim. And while the first paragraph may debunk this, (as it is clearly telling us this happened way in the past) the idea of Herr Uhl being the “narrator” was an interesting detail that came to mind.
I also noticed that the name of the collection is The Barnum Museum, making me think that the entire piece was something like a placard of information on the wall or the transcript of a short documentary about Eisenheim’s life.
I agree that we didn’t get much of Eisenhiem’s life! It makes me wonder if he did this to get you to continue reading in his collection or if he didn’t want you to know much about him, so that you would focus on the magic and what was happening around him during the shows and the other people.
I don’t think that Millhauser wrote this story to come off as a fable. If you notice, this story is written in the same format as “Precursor of the Cinema.” It’s written with an authoritative, direct, professional tone of voice and its writing is an echo of a research paper or historical document. Real people, places, and events are mentioned in this story just as they are in “Precursor of the Cinema.” I think Millhauser wanted to show that the fantastic and reality exist in the same place.
I agree it sounds like a fairy tale or a fable. I also agree that were weren’t given much background because that wasn’t as important to the story as the magic. I never saw the movie…was it any good?
I hadn’t realized that there was a movie inspired by this story. I think any story that involves magic can fall under the fairy tale category, it just depends on how you view it.
I didn’t know there was a movie either, however, I think that any story that includes something that is not in our realm of normal — such as magic — can be classified as a fable or fairy tale. I believe this is just because it is not in our realm of normal. We tend to want more things outside our realm of normalcy than background of someone’s life — just not in this case.
I’m interested in your description of it as a fable. I had viewed it as another one of Millhauser’s Fictional Histories. Do you think there’s a lesson to be learned from Eisenheim?
This is an amazing thought, honestly I think the story would have benefitted greatly from this being suggested. I would love if Millhauser added a little more mystery about who the authors are. I always read his third person pieces as if they were historical evidence, or newspaper articles. I would love if he could use his habit of writing in the third person to add a layer of intrigue to his stories. My favorite thing about reading fiction is learning about and attempting to understand the author and Millhauser too often takes that joy away from me.
I hadn’t thought about who the voice of that narration might be. It’s interesting to be left in the dark about some details, yet see some other details in the full spectrum.