Ferdinand and Houdini

Towards the end of the novel, E.L. Doctorow once again correlates the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the magician Harry Houdini. These historical allusions have had no factual encounters, yet in Ragtime, E.L. Doctorow seems to place emphasis on and relate the American celebrity to Franz Ferdinand and European royalty. On page 316, Doctorow writes a passage intertwining the two characters’ lives once again: “He [Harry Houdini] was upside down over Broadway, the year was 1914, and the Archduke Ferdinand was reported to have been assassinated. It was at this moment that an image composed itself in Houdini’s mind. The image was of a small boy looking at himself in the shiny brass headlamp of an automobile.” Not only does Doctorow in this passage bring up Ferdinand and Houdini in a similar context for the second time, he also brings up an image from the start of the book when the small boy in the family is looking into Houdini’s headlamps when his car breaks down and he asks the family for help. In the description of Houdini at this moment at the start of the novel, he is described as “in livery” (8) or in military uniform, which draws a parallel between Houdini and the Archduke Ferdinand who in passages past has also been in full military attire. However the greater connection I believe Doctorow is trying to make between the two figures is that both men in their own ways have ignited a flame and been a symbol of a major world event. Houdini, a master magician, was the dominant escape artist and triggered the start of magic as a form of entertainment. He was the first to perform all of the escapes and he is the worldwide emblem of magic and tricks. On the other hand, the Archduke Ferdinand is not only the symbol of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but also the symbol of the flame that lit the fire of World War I. It was his assassination that ignited the war and he is the dominant portrayal of why the Great War began. Doctorow deliberately repeats the occurrence of a parallel between Ferdinand and Houdini in the novel to emphasize a deeper connection between the two figureheads. Their impact on the world stage is analogized in that they both transformed and exposed the world into something it had never experienced before.

However, in Ragtime, Doctorow seems to emphasize Houdini, the figurehead of magic, over Ferdinand, the figurehead of war. The reason that Doctorow deliberately emphasizes the figurehead of magic over Ferdinand is because Houdini better symbolizes America. Houdini, a great escape artist, has no physical limitations or situations that he cannot break out of which is similar to the all powerful America which Americans believe has seemingly no physical limitations but like Houdini, many emotional limitations that we cannot escape from. Houdini has a very intriguing relationship with his mother and when she dies, he cannot escape the hurt and the feeling of loss. In America, there is an endless supply of emotional limitations and relationships we cannot escape from. We cannot escape war, foreign relations, or internal struggles. So, although Ferdinand exemplifies a major world event that forced American involvement, Houdini is a better representation of the struggles and attempted escapes of our nation.

By Kerry Krause

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria Source: The Library of Congress - American Memory Published in: The War of the Nations (New York), December 31, 1919 Newspaper Pictorials The war of the nations : portfolio in rotogravure etchings :

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

Houdini's Lament. N.d. Hilobrow. Matthew Battles in Hilobrow, n.d. Web. 16 May
2011. .