Harry Houdini
Throughout the centuries, humans have been captivated by the mystery and excitement behind magic. There have been a countless amount of magicians and entertainers that have brought smiles, laughter, and excitement to the public’s faces. However, the most famous of these illusionist was Harry Houdini. Despites some setbacks at the beginning stages of his career, Houdini continued to believe in himself and his hard work eventually led him to stardom. He understood that what, “the eyes see and the ears hear, the mind believes.” People crave excitement that cannot be explained. As stated by the great Houdini himself, “the easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and a given place someone is going to attempt something that in the event of failure will mean sudden death.” Harry Houdini indeed has set the bar quite high for aspiring magicians through his mechanical expertise of magic and the mystery behind his illustrious escapes.
The man whom some might refer to as “the greatest magician that ever lived” was Harry Houdini. He was born under the name of Erich Weisz in the grand capital city of Budapest, Hungary on March 24, 1874. Erich was born unto the Jewish rabbi, Mayer Sámul Weisz and mother Cecília Weisz. Erich was part of a large family which consisted of his half-brother Herman M. (1863-1885), Nathan J. (1870-1972), Gottfried William (1872-1925), Theodore also known by his nickname "Theo"(1876-1945), Leopold D. (1879-1962), and his only sister, Carrie Gladys (1882-1959).
On July 3rd, 1878, four-year-old Erich and his family packed their bags, boarded the SS Fresia, and headed to the Big Apple, New York City (Monticup). The family then changed their last name to “Weiss” and like...
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Fact: Harry Houdini was actually born Ehrich Weiss. He was born on March 24, 1874, in Budapest, Hungary. When he was young he would tell people that his birthday was on April 6, because that’s what his mom told him. For the first four years of Ehrich’s life, him, his three brothers, and his mother, Cecilia, lived in Budapest. When Ehrich was two years old
“MURDER CASTLE OF H.H. HOLMES! EXCERPT FROM "HAUNTED CHICAGO” N.p., 2003. Web. 03 Mar. 2014.
Dutch Schultz or Arthur Flegenenheimer was born in August 6, 1902 lived The Bronx of New York City. He was an only child. He was 17 when he got caught stealing something from someone house and spend 17 months in Jail but the reason he started to do crime was because his father left the family Dutch Schultz only had His mother who was having trouble to make ends meet. So he started to work and saw that he didn’t make enough so he went into the path of crime stealing when he was 14 and started with pickpocketing people and when he got out of prison he gave himself the name Dutch Schultz because he was short enough to fit in the headlines then the name Arthur Flegenenheimer
Josef Mengele was born on March 16, 1911 in Gunzburg, Germany. His parents were Carl and Walburga. Shortly after Joseph's birth, his family became wealthy due to his father becoming the sole owner of a factory that manufactured farm equipment. The business prospered and his family became a power and influential family. While Mengele was a young boy, his parents were frequently absent, and he was raised in a very strong Roman Catholic home, filled with hard la...
Louise Erdrich’s stories combine wildly dynamic characters with metaphoric language and elements of the supernatural to create tales that challenge the demarcations of cultural reality. In her stories “Plunge of the Brave,” “Scales,” and “Fleur,” Erdrich utilizes magical realism to help mystic elements seem more relatable to readers. The short stories, while otherwise straight-forward, are infused with touches of colorful language and mystic descriptions that, many critics claim, classifies Erdrich as a magical realist author. She uses magical realism in her stories to encourage readers to reconsider perceived ideas and question the determined realities of ethnic or cultural groups. By adding a few elements of the supernatural, Erdrich is actually inviting readers to expand their knowledge of different cultures and perceptions of the world.
“A nice warm shower, a cup of tea, and a caring ear may be all you need to warm your heart”. Charles Glassman’s quote was exemplified beautifully in the poem “Common Magic” by Bronwen Wallace. The piece took readers through a series of everyday events, explaining how each seemingly meaningless moment contained it’s own kind of magic. Through the use of oxymoron, imagery and characters, Wallace developed the theme that simple pleasures are fleeting and a fulfilled life involves t`21aking time to appreciate everything.
Each of us human is alone in our hearts. It is the only place that we are afraid of letting anybody in. We rarely break through the ultimate solitude, but only to reach out to the miracles beyond our world of living, to find out that the strength of love and hope have not abandoned us. Writing about the spectacularity event of life, Marquez could not help stepping in between the magical world and the reality to tell us a tale about “The handsomest drowned man in the world”- the tale of a coastal village interrupted by a man washed up to the shore.
Kristy Cambron is a remarkable author with a unique voice. Ever since her debut novel The Butterfly and the Violin (2014), I've impatiently awaited each subsequent release. While I was initially intrigued by the synopsis of The Illusionist's Apprentice, I questioned how Harry Houdini and magic would play out in a Christian novel. With Cambron at the keys...the answer is masterfully!
It is a long and unusual journey. I still wonder what it really is. I read the selections of four wonderful authors and I am still a little confused about the real history and theory of magical realism. I do know that before a person gets into this idea of magical realism, he or she really has to have a big imagination and willingness to learn about it. I guess what I am trying to say is that magical realism depends on who a person is and what a person is willing to believe.
2002, sports final edition: pg 31. “Is Harry Potter Evil?” New York Times on the Web. 22 October. 1999.
Eva Heyman was born February 13, 1931, Nagyvarad, Hungary. In 1933-1939, Eva’s parents Agnes (her mother) and Bela (her father) divorced. Eva was the only child. Her mother remarried and moved to Budapest. She rarely saw her father, who lived on the other side of the city. She lived with her grandparents on the border between Romania and Hungary near the pharmacy they owned. Nearly one-fifth of the city’s population was Jewish. The beginning of the Holocaust had little impact on their lives.
Eliezer “Elie” Wiesel was born September 30, 1928 in Sighet Transylvania, now Romania. Wiesel was the third child of four. His two older sisters were Hilda and Beatrice Wiesel, whom he was not as close with compared to his little sister, Tzipora. His mother and father were named Sarah and Shlomo Wiesel. In 1944, Wiesel’s family and the remainder of the community were placed into two separate ghettos in Sighet, formed by the incoming Nazis. Later on, they were relocated to Auschwitz, where Elie’s mother and Tzipora were killed. Then, he and his father were moved to Buna and finally Buchenwald. In Buchenwald, Elie’s father died, and only days later Elie was liberated, now sixteen years old. Elis Wiesel did not write Night until 10 years after his liberation, and continued on to write books such as, And the World Would Remain Silent in 1956 and Dawn in 1961 (“Elie Wiesel”).
the wall. Even though it could have been a bad sign, if he had told
‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’, written by J.K. Rowling, is an excellent example of a modern novel that uses medieval influences extensively. Many of the novel’s characters are based on medieval ideas and superstitions. The settings in the book resemble old medieval towns as well as castles. The book is also full of medieval imagery such as knights in armour, carriages etc. Whilst there is no time travel involved in the novel, the medieval period is used to such an effect that the reader is encouraged to ignore the fact that the book is set in the present.
We have seen magic as a form of entertainment, from making someone disappear, to sawing a girl in half. But all great illusions have an explanation. “Magic, as we have seen, is about power- a seemingly magical power used and expressed by a skilled actor to create the illusion of miraculous happenings’. But the most mysterious part of magic is how these miraculous happenings are performed. The real power of magic lies within the native effects themselves (Blackstone, 117).