胡迪尼未刊手稿在其逝世百年之日首印：逃脱大师的另一面是魔术史家
据美联社报道，美国《Strand》杂志在最新一期首次刊印魔术师哈里·胡迪尼（Harry Houdini）一篇从未发表的手稿《An Interesting Scrapbook》，刊印日10月31日正是胡迪尼逝世100周年。这篇手稿长期保存在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校哈里·兰塞姆中心（Harry Ransom Center）的胡迪尼文库中，此前从未进入公共领域。
与胡迪尼最广为人知的逃脱表演不同，这篇手稿写的不是他自己，而是早于他的魔术与戏剧表演者。文中细述塑造了舞台魔术早期面貌的表演者，并附有大量19世纪剧院海报与节目单图像，记录那个公众对超自然现象兴趣正盛的年代里，演出如何以通灵奇迹、魔术幻象等名目招徕观众。
《Strand》主编 Andrew Gulli 说，这篇文章呈现的是长期被逃脱大师名声遮住的一面，也就是作为历史学家的胡迪尼：他细致记录被遗忘的魔术师、戏剧表演者、旧海报和19世纪的娱乐世界。密歇根大学学者 Matthew Solomon 与胡迪尼专题站 Wild About Harry 的 John Cox 向 Gulli 表示，他们相信这篇手稿此前从未公开发表过。至于一生写下二十多本书、短篇与剧本、又极擅自我宣传的胡迪尼为何让这篇文字留在纸堆里，至今没有答案：是为防同行借用他的研究，还是项目没有完成，杂志的公告没有给出定论。
兰塞姆中心正在举办「胡迪尼的图书馆」展览，展期至2027年1月24日，由戏剧与表演艺术策展人 Eric Colleary 策划，展品包括胡迪尼收藏的书籍、手稿与文献，其中有1584年初版的《The Discoverie of Witchcraft》和演员 David Garrick 的手写旅行日记。校方表示，胡迪尼的表演正建立在他对前辈魔术师的了解之上。
胡迪尼本名 Erik Weisz，1874年生于匈牙利布达佩斯，幼年随家人移民美国，以手铐与密室逃脱成名，被称为「手铐之王」。1926年10月31日，他在底特律逝世，享年52岁。逝世百年之际，布达佩斯举行纪念庆典，纽约其故居安排降神会等纪念活动，均在10月31日举行。
A Century After His Death, Houdini's Unpublished Manuscript Reaches Print: The Escape Artist as Historian of Magic
An unpublished manuscript by magician Harry Houdini, titled “An Interesting Scrapbook,” has reached print for the first time in the latest issue of Strand magazine, published on October 31, the centennial of Houdini's death, according to the Associated Press. The manuscript had survived among Houdini's papers at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin and had never previously been in the public domain.
Unlike the escapes that made Houdini famous, the manuscript is not about himself. It examines the magicians and theatrical performers who came before him and shaped the early days of stage magic, and it includes images of numerous 19th-century theater bills from an era when public fascination with the supernatural was growing and acts were advertised with claims of necromantic miracles and magical delusions.
Andrew Gulli, the editor of Strand, said the article reveals a side of Houdini long overshadowed by his fame as an escape artist: Houdini the historian, painstakingly documenting forgotten magicians, theatrical performers, old playbills and the world of 19th-century entertainment. Houdini experts Matthew Solomon of the University of Michigan and John Cox of the fan site Wild About Harry told Gulli they believed the article had never previously been published. Why Houdini, a prolific author of more than two dozen books, short stories and plays and a fierce guardian of his professional knowledge, left the piece unseen remains unanswered: he may have withheld it to keep rivals from benefiting from his research, or the project may simply have been left unfinished.
The Ransom Center is also marking the centennial with the exhibition “Houdini's Library,” organized by theater and performing-arts curator Eric Colleary and running through January 24, 2027. It examines the books, manuscripts and ephemera Houdini gathered to document magic and theater, including a first edition of Reginald Scot's 1584 “The Discoverie of Witchcraft” and a handwritten travel diary by actor David Garrick. The university says Houdini's performances were informed by his awareness of earlier magicians.
Houdini was born Erik Weisz in Budapest in 1874 and emigrated to the United States with his family as a child. Known as the “Handcuff King,” he built his fame on handcuff and sealed-container escapes. He died in Detroit on October 31, 1926, at the age of 52. Commemorations of the centennial on October 31 included a gala in Budapest, the city of his birth, and séances at his former home in New York.
来源：GSM·美国（原文链接）
图片来源：图：胡迪尼肖像（约1910年，LaPine Studios 摄，公共领域，经 Wikimedia Commons）。 / Photo: Harry Houdini, c. 1910, by LaPine Studios. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
GSM Global · 本篇英文版 English edition of this story
