In “Eisenheim the Illusionist” you are led to believe that you should follow the rule of the show and don’t tell, this is, however, a magician’s world. Millhauser has chosen his time frame with care: he tells us in the very first sentence that “[i]n the last years of the nineteenth century, when the Empire of the Habsburgs was nearing the end of its long dissolution, the art of magic flourished as never before”. In the story we are shown the true colors of each character without any kind of mystery. At this time, the art of magic thrived and as a musician, Eiseheim performs magic like it has never been seen before. Magic is a Fantastic occurrence within this plot. Eisenheim’s magic isn’t instrumental here, as it is in Burger’s film; if anything, it is magic for music’s sake (kind of like Art for Art’s sake) That is, the most disturbing element of Eisenheim’s performance, contra Uhl, is how it was purely a performance. It’s very difficult to find anyone in the story, however, who is willing to believe such a thing when it’s all just an illusion?
Now you see me…
Apr 10th, 2020 by lehota20
I think it’s really interesting to correlate music to magic in this story! How do you feel the two came into contact in this story?
You ask us “It’s very difficult to find anyone in the story, however, who is willing to believe such a thing when it’s all just an illusion?” to which I would answer what you can consider illusion versus reality and how does that exist in the world of the story which is an illusion to us.