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Magic by Misdirection (originally published in 1945) by Dariel Fitzkee is the crucial third installment of the famous Fitzkee Trilogy (alongside Showmanship for Magicians and The Trick Brain).
The 1981 Hardcover Edition, published by Lloyd E. Jones’ Magic Limited (often bound in maroon cloth with a distinct yellow dust jacket), is widely sought after by collectors as the premier reprint of Fitzkee's groundbreaking work on psychological deception.
Core Philosophy & Overview
While most magic literature focuses on physical mechanics (moves, sleights, and secret props), Fitzkee argues that magic is an entirely psychological event occurring inside the spectator’s mind. Misdirection is not merely "looking away when a trick is performed"; it is the deliberate application of cognitive psychology to guide perception, expectation, and belief.
Key Structural Themes
1. The Psychology of Perception & Belief
The Norm: Fitzkee emphasizes that audience suspicion is triggered by anything that departs from natural behavior. The magician must maintain natural speech, natural body language, and use familiar props.
Conviction & Naturalness: To deceive an audience, the performer must first believe their own illusion. If the performer acts as though a prop is light, empty, or ordinary, the audience’s brain will automatically fill in those assumptions.
2. Deception Devices & Tactics
Fitzkee systematically breaks down the precise psychological tools a magician uses to manipulate an audience's mind:
Simulation & Dissimulation:
Simulation: Pretending to do something you are not actually doing (e.g., placing a coin in your hand when you are keeping it hidden elsewhere).
Dissimulation: Hiding or masking what you are actually doing (e.g., concealing a secret movement behind a natural gesture).
Maneuver & Ruses: Using routine structure or logical justifications to mask a secret action.
Suggestion & Inducement: Planted ideas that lead spectators to draw false conclusions automatically without being explicitly told.
3. Attention Control & Diversion
Attention Control: Controlling where, when, and how strongly the audience focuses their attention.
Diversion vs. Distraction: Fitzkee distinguishes between cheap distraction (forcing eyes to look away artificially) and true psychological diversion (giving the audience a compelling reason to think about something else, making the secret action invisible even in plain sight).
Confusion, Monotony, & Relaxation: Leveraging cognitive fatigue, rhythm, and moments of off-beat relaxation (such as immediately after a burst of laughter) when the audience's guard is dropped.
Significance of the 1981 Hardcover Reprint
Preserving the Analytic Approach: During the late 20th century, many magic texts favored basic trick instructions over theory. The 1981 Magic Limited edition ensured Fitzkee's analytical, scientific framework for performance theory remained accessible to serious theater students and performing artists.
Essential Companion: While The Trick Brain offers a blueprint for inventing tricks and Showmanship for Magicians covers stagecraft, Magic by Misdirection supplies the invisible glue that makes illusions actually function.
