MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

Throughout the history of performance magic, magicians learned their tricks from other magicians. Then, with the invention of the printing press, came a revolution. In 1584, Reginald Scot wrote The Discoverie of Withcraft, the first publication in English that exposed the secrets to magic tricks, such as cutting and restoring a rope and making small objects disappear. Many more books were published, especially in the late nineteenth through the twentieth centuries. Magicians were often ambivalent about these exposures in print. These explanations of secrets got people interested in magic and increased the popularity of magic as a hobby, but many magicians were worried. What happens when too many of the magicians’ precious secrets slip into the world?

In the twenty-first century, digital technology has created another revolution in magic. The Internet has changed modes of performance, the means of obtaining magic equipment, the ways in which magicians socialize and exchange lore, and, most dramatically, the ways in which magicians learn their tricks. The digital zeitgeist wants all information to be free and instantly available, but if anyone with a computer or Smartphone can find out the secrets to magic tricks without even having to take the extra steps to find a printed source, what happens to the art of magic?

This presentation will focus on how learning magic has changed. The presenter will make use of archival sources to show how things changed in the twentieth century, and digital sources to show how things are changing in the twenty-first century. As a performing magician as well as a scholar, the presenter will also make specific points through the medium of live performance.