Touching Down to the Duke

E.L. Doctorow adverted to many historical allusions in his novel Ragtime. Most frequently he mentions the great magician Harry Houdini, and as we progress further into the novel and further into the twentieth century, he gets introduced to the Archduke Franz Ferdinand. “Sitting in the car was the Archduke Franz-Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The Archduke was dressed in the uniform of a field marshal of the Austrian Army. …. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand didn’t seem to know who Houdini was. He congratulated him on the invention of the aeroplane” (105). Although Ferdinand wasn’t aware, Houdini was a native Hungarian and had been in Germany performing all over the country since he had arrived in May of 1900. In Houdini’s shows throughout Germany he had become more and more popular and it seems strange to think that a man of such a high position as Archduke wasn’t aware of the popular performer. Ferdinand asked Houdini to do a demonstration flight for them. This occurred during the time period when the airplane was invented and the Archduke, dressed in military attire, probably had hidden initiatives for seeing how the plane functioned as he was aware that tensions were mounting between European nations and although he had no idea that this hostility was going to erupt into World War I, he must have known or been encouraged to prepare for a possible showdown. The scene set up by Doctorow seems odd because there is no record of Ferdinand and Houdini ever interacting. Three days after Houdini returned from Europe, the heir to the throne was assassinated and an intricate system of alliances ignited World War I. However, this connection could possibly resemble another escape by Houdini. He left Europe just in time to escape epic disaster between a multitude of European countries. In turn, Houdini’s escape, in a larger sense, reflects America’s attempted escape and neutrality throughout the brutal Great War. It was an escape from casualties, foreign conflict, and destruction that later proved to be inevitably inescapable in order for America to exist in a freely democratic world.

By Kerry Krause

Brandon, Ruth. The Life and Many Deaths of Harry Houdini. London, Great Britain: Martin Secker & Warburg Limited, 1993. Print.

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