Magician Harry Houdini has popped up as a pivotal figure in two of the best works of modern popular literature, E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime and Michael Chabon's The Amazing Adventures Of Kavalier & Clay, which merely extends his streak of being used as a metaphor. Even in Houdini's own time, the likes of Woodrow Wilson and Arthur Conan Doyle referenced his feats as proof of the indomitable human spirit, or of the existence of the supernatural, or of whatever else could be read into the profit-driven exploits of a stubborn showman. Psychotherapist and essayist Adam Phillips examines Houdini's lingering appeal in Houdini's Box, examining how the Houdini image has been instilled with infinite meaning, and then succumbing to the same temptation. As with Phillips' previous books about human behavior—lengthy, provocative essays on flirting, mortality, curiosity, boredom, and the act of psychoanalysis itself—Houdini's Box is about escapism, both as a recreational goal and as a state of mind. Phillips alternates between chapters about a patient unable to commit to women, and chapters where he obsessively analyzes the symbolism of Houdini's career. The "case history" chapters ask whether people are programmed to distrust their wants, and to flee from what they attain; the Houdini chapters explore how the magician subtly deconstructed illusions of law and order by proving that locks are no impediment to a determined man. Phillips never expressly connects the stories of a man who escapes because of a lack of will and a man who escapes because of incredible will, but in both cases, he implies truisms about the human condition through his thoughts on the paradoxes of modern life. The author's refusal to make his points directly can be annoying; it's like asking a therapist for his opinion and having him respond, "What's your opinion?" After a while, it's hard to know whether the covert but seemingly purposeful prose style is precise and artful or directionless and shambling. Nevertheless, almost every page contains useful observations, primarily concerning the inherent strangeness of admiring a person who can wriggle out of a situation into which he's been deliberately and consensually placed.
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