in structure: that is, it purports to be a collection of real diaries that were kept by the protagonists and later collated. The title derives from the novel's fictional practice of stage illusions having three parts: the setup, the performance, and the prestige (effect).
The novel received the James Tait Black Memorial Prize
for best fiction and the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
.
Alfred Borden and Rupert Angier rise to become world-renowned stage magicians
.
If anybody really believed the things I did on stage, they wouldn't clap, they'd scream.
You never understood... why we did this. The audience knows the truth. The world is simple, miserable, solid all the way through. But if you can fool them, even for a second... then you can make them wonder. And you get to see something very special. ... You really don't know. ... It was the look on their faces.
Are you watching closely?
The secret impresses no one. The trick you use it for is everything.
The sacrifice... that's the price of a good trick.
You're familiar with the phrase "Man's reach exceeds his grasp"? It's a lie. Man's grasp exceeds his nerve. The only limits on scientific progress are those imposed by society. The first time I changed the world, I was hailed as a visionary. The second time I was asked politely to retire. The world only tolerates one change at a time. And so here I am. Enjoying my "retirement". Nothing is impossible, Mr. Angier, what you want is simply expensive.
Don't forget your hat.