Death's Just Wild About Harry

01/25/2005

Savile, Steve. Houdini's Last Illusion. Tolworth, Surrey: Telos, 2004. 74 p.

Most who are well versed in popular culture know the story of Harry Houdini's promise to his wife Bess that he would return to her even after death, and of her insistence on annual séances to help her deceased husband make good on this rash promise. For those who perceive magicians to be just another type of charlatan, Houdini's promise and his widow's reaction may seem like nothing more than another trick to keep themselves in the public eye, thereby ensuring a chance for financial gain from his death. Others may simply view the promise and Bess's continued insistence on contact beyond the grave as the actions of the bereaved.

Writers of the Future award winner Steve Savile, however, posits other possibilities in his novella Houdini's Last Illusion. From the opening scene of this short fictional work, Houdini is portrayed as not merely an illusionist, but as an actually practitioner of magic, as he breathes life into a set of gloves and turns them into two birds, one black and one white. These birds, each of which has been given a small portion of Houdini's "soul" or "life force," act as his messengers, circling out into the world to help the magician answer the burning question raised by the novella: why is he seeing dead people, or more specifically, dead magicians?

This historical novella takes place partly in 1926 Detroit, a year when Houdini is at the peak of his career, for he has become world-renown. His fame has been assured by his death-defying dive into the Seine River in Paris. Houdini, tightly handcuffed, dives into the polluted water and almost expires when he accidentally takes in a mouthful of the sewerage; however, he is saved by one of his animated birds, thus allowing him to burst a few minutes later on the surface, swimming freely. But there is one problem: Death is not happy about being cheated, so defunct magicians are dispersed to drag Houdini, kicking and screaming if necessary, to the underworld.

But more than just a fascinating tale of one man's battle against the forces of oblivion, Houdini's Last Illusion is also a window into the mind of one of the most enigmatic personalities of our century. Houdini, despite his success, despite the applause and admiration he receives worldwide, despite his overwhelming fame (not many people achieve "single name status"), is the lonely and melancholic Hungarian immigrant Erich Weiss. As he becomes a haunted / hunted man as well, he collapses even more into his self-imposed solitary confinement, to the point where he becomes fatalistic. He is, however, determined to not go gentle into that good night, so master illusionist that he is, he readies himself for the final, greatest trick of his career, his suspension, upside-down, in a tank of water (the magic act which did kill the historical Houdini). Unbeknownst to Houdini, this is also the act that Death has planned as his farewell.

Savile, who has made a career for himself as an editor, has recently begun to try his hand at producing his own fiction, thanks in great part to Telos Press, which, like Yard Dog in the United States, has taken chances on little known talent and produced some wonderful novels and novellas. Savile is certainly a rare find for Telos. He is one of those authors who is capable of telling a good story, while simultaneously giving the reader an awful lot to think about. He consistently challenges our perceptions of reality, but is apt at maintaining suspension of disbelief. His writing style has been referred to as elegant but essential, smooth but poignant, a spot on description of the style seen in Houdini's Last Illusion.