But the whole idea of the transformation... mystery, transformation, and manipulations - those were the things that Marcel was a magician at. That's his magic.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Until very recently, the artist was a magician who did his magic in public view but kept himself and his effects a matter of mystery.
The tricks of magic follow the archetypes of narrative fiction - there are tales of creation and loss, death and resurrection, and obstacles that must be overcome.
For centuries, magicians have intuitively taken advantage of the inner workings of our brains.
The novel moves like all the arts. It's transforming itself all the time.
Magic's an art where you use slight of hand or illusion to create wonder. And I was just intrigued with that idea.
You can't have a physical transformation until you have a spiritual transformation.
When you talk to an author - to any artist, really - you learn something about how they do what they do. I've never come away from that kind of experience feeling disillusioned, as if the magician had explained his tricks. I always find a greater appreciation for the form.
It was just like a digital fixation with cards and math and science and then I started to look at images of great magicians from Houdini down the line.
It seemed to me that you make magic real by making it a little prosaic, a little difficult and disappointing - never quite as glamorous as the other characters imagine.
Magic, historically, has been a man doing tricks with no wider story behind it.