Magic, Horrror, and Dr. Seuss
by Fred Siegel
This is a list of books that have meant a great deal to me at different stages of my life.
Children’s Literature
- Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
- The Complete Nonsense of Edward Lear by Edward Lear
Yertle the Turtle is etched into my mind, partly because I can remember my father reading it to me and partly because it is amazingly political. I came to Lear as an undergraduate. His poem, "The Courtship of the Yhongey Bhongy Bo," makes me realize that I see myself as a tiny, unloved, large-headed man.
Magic
- The Amateur Magician’s Handbook by Henry Hay
- Jarrett Magic by Guy Jarrett (edited by J. Steinmeyer)
- The Magic Way by Juan Tamariz
I love many magic books, but these three are special. Hay’s book is a great how-to, with very difficult material despite its title. Jarrett’s book is a bizarre screed by one of magic’s most creative and peculiar characters. (He is a proponent of "the honesty principle." This means the patter for his tricks include a flat out admission of how the trick is done. He did this secure in the knowledge that the truth would not be believed.) Tamariz’s book is a loving treatise about how to make audiences feel the sensation of wonder. It’s a provocative, moving book by the best magician I have ever seen.
Fiction
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo
- Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
- Gimpel the Fool and Other Stories by I.B. Singer
Puzo thrills me, Roth makes me laugh, and Singer makes me sob.
Performance Studies
- Gray’s Anatomy by Spalding Gray
- Harpo Speaks by Harpo Marx (with Rowland Barber)
- Step Right Up: History of the American Medicine Show by Brooks McNamara
- Environmental Theater by Richard Schechner
Gray was a fabulous storyteller and an innovative performance artist, and Gray’s Anatomy was his most cohesive work. Marx’s book is my favorite show business biography (but I love many books in that category). McNamara showed me that one could study popular performance and still be respected, and Schechner showed me it was possible to play with ideas with joy and humor. Ironically, I don’t feel I am respected, joyful, or humorous.
Plays
- Four Plays by William Inge
- Angels in America (both parts) by Tony Kushner
- You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown by Gesner and Schultz
Inge’s plays are perceived as less important than Miller’s political/morality plays and Williams’ poetic ones. That’s a shame, because beneath the surface of his characters’ bland lives there is great poignancy. Kushner’s play is astounding because of its irony and hopefulness, and the cunning way it blends historical events with fantastic representations of highly stressed mental states. I bought You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown by accident when I was ten years old. I thought it was a compilation of strips. I was amazed to see that one could make a play out of such material, and I read it over and over and made up melodies to the songs.
Popular Culture
- Step Right Up: I’m Going To Scare the Pants Off America by William Castle
- The Monster Show by David Skal
Both of these books are about horror movies. Skal’s is a general history, and it is so good that I am depressed that I didn’t write it. Castle’s book is an autobiography/how-to about producing scary movies with bizarre gimmicks, with names such as "Emergo," and "Percepto." Secretly, I wish I were a cigar chomping schlock promoter.
Miscellaneous
- Over Sexteen by J.M. Elgart ed.
- The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
Elgart’s book was on my parents’ shelf, and it was the dirtiest book of my childhood. It had jokes and limericks that I didn’t understand when I first read them, but that didn’t stop me from being thrilled by them. The Complete Grimm’s Fairy Tales is a shocking book if you’re accustomed to the Disney versions of stories. Their "Cinderella" is great, but there are many lesser-known gems in there. Read "The Jew Among Thorns." It explains a lot.
Dr. Fred Siegel is a professor of English at Drexel University.