Illusionismo e magia nel ‘Golden Age Mystery’

Abstract

The Golden Age of detective fiction, usually delimitated between 1914 and 1940, coincides with the Golden Age of theatrical magic. Mystery and magic are linked by various elements such as the persistence of the challenge (between writer and readers or between magician and audience), the power of suggestion, the role of the stage and the attraction towards the impossible. Mystery writing and stage magic both rely on conjuring tricks, devices and misdirection. Starting from this premise, I will discuss two different ways in which theatrical magic has influenced Golden Age writers. While writers such as John Dickson Carr, Hake Talbot and Clayton Rawson – mostly from the United States – would thematise magic, others made an “illusionistic” use of language and narrative in order to confound and misdirect the readers. This technique – which is ultimately rooted in Edgar Allan Poe’s work – recurs in Agatha Christie’s books, where “the quickness of the hand deceives the eye”.