the life and many deaths of harry houdini

This de?nitive biography allows readers to peer into Houdini’s psyche and understand him more deeply than ever before. Brandon reveals much that is new: how Houdini invented a phantom son why he wrote long daily letters to his wife, Bess, who lived one ?oor below him his combative relations with mediums and spiritualists, including Arthur Conan Doyle and the ?rst full description of his fabled death. In this widely acclaimed biography, Ruth Brandon shows how Houdini’s obsession with his own mortality drove him to create death-defying stunts that not only captivated the public but also subdued his own raging psychological demons.Īs Brandon relates Houdini’s methods of escape, she asks: What was he trying to escape from? Her exploration of the psychic landscape of one of the most enduringly famous performers of the twentieth century makes for utterly fascinating reading. For master illusionist Harry Houdini, the two were inextricably linked. Brandon's other books include 'The New Women and the Old Men' and an autobiography of Sarah Berhardt, 'Being Divine'.įor many performers, stage life and real life are separate identities. She claims that, more complex than just a small man triumphing against the odds, his escapes can be read as a drama of death and resurrection. Ruth Brandon argues that it is in his death that the key to Houdini's life and success is to be found.

It considers the nature of a man whom the author believes was probably sexually repressed, and yet performed almost naked, draped in chains and manacles, who wrote love letters to his wife five times a day, and who struggled obsessively for years to prove or disprove the existence of life after death. The book examines the phenomenon of fame - what it is that compels a man to perform acts of near-suicidal bravado to gain public acclaim, and what it is that draws vast crowds of people to watch. His tricks were very clever and effective, but the author of this book argues that the man himself was far more interesting than the tricks. The common perception of Houdini is of a small man, manacled, jumping off a bridge into icy water, suspended from a skyscraper or emerging from a sealed coffin. More than 60 years after his death, the deeds of the escapologist Harry Houdini still inspire imitators and ad-men.

The life and many deaths of harry houdini