The Prestige is a 1995 novel by British writer Christopher Priest. The novel is epistolary 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).[1]
The events of the past are revealed primarily through the diaries of magicians Rupert Angier and Alfred Borden. The diaries are read by their grandchildren and chapters of present day are interspersed throughout the novel. The two fledgling magicians begin a feud when Borden breaks up a fake seance being put on by Angier and his wife for one of Borden's relatives. During the scuffle, Angier's wife is thrown to the ground and results in a miscarriage. The two magicians begin to go back and forth for many years as they rise to become world-renowned stage magicians.
Borden develops a teleportation act called The Transported Man, and an improved version named The New Transported Man, which appears to move him from one closed cabinet to another in the blink of an eye without appearing to pass through the intervening space. The act seems to defy physics and puts all previous acts to shame. Over the course of the diaries we learn Alfred Borden is the name used by identical twin brothers, Albert and Frederick. Both men are living the life of Alfred, committed to maintaining their secret to ensure their professional success with The New Transported Man. Angier suspects that Borden uses a double, but dismisses the idea when he cannot find evidence to prove it.
Unable to discern the method that Borden uses, Angier desperately tries to equal him, and with the help of the acclaimed physicist Nikola Tesla, develops an act named In A Flash, which has a similar result, though a starkly different method. For Angier's trick, Tesla successfully creates a device capable of teleporting a being from one place to another, but which has a surprising side-effect. As well as recreating the subject wherever is designed by the device, the original, now lifeless, body of the subject is also left behind in its original position, forcing Angier to devise a way to conceal it to preserve the illusion. Angier, with bitter humour refers to these shells as 'prestiges'.
Angier's new act is equal to Borden's. Borden, in retaliation, attempts to discover how In A Flash is performed. During one performance he breaks into the backstage area and turns off the power to Angier's device during the act itself. As a result, the teleportation is incomplete, and both the new Angier and the old, 'prestige' Angier continue to live, though the old feels constantly weak while the new seems to lack physical substance. The real Angier[clarification needed] fakes the death[clarification needed] of his magic act alter-ego and returns to his family estate, where he becomes terminally ill.
The clone Angier, alienated from the world by his ghostly form and discovering Borden's secret, attacks one of the twins before a performance. However, Borden's apparent poor health and Angier's sense of morality intervene and Angier does not go through with the murder. It is implied that this particular Borden dies a few days later, and the incorporeal Angier travels to meet the corporeal Angier, now living as Lord Colderdale. They obtain Borden's diary and publish it without revealing the twins' secret. Shortly afterwards, the corporeal Angier dies and his ghostly clone uses the device to teleport himself into the body, hoping that either he will return it back to life and be one person again, or kill himself instantly. It is revealed in the final chapter that some form of Angier has continued to survive to the present day.
Critical reception
Publishers Weekly said, "This is a complex tale that must have been extremely difficult to tell in exactly the right sequence, while still maintaining a series of shocks to the very end. Priest has brought it off with great imagination and skill. It's only fair to say, though, that the book's very considerable narrative grip is its principal virtue. The characters and incidents have a decidedly Gothic cast, and only the restraint that marks the story's telling keeps it on the rails."[3]
Elizabeth Hand wrote, "There is a certain amount of grim humor to The Prestige, the blatant Can-You-Top-This? careerism of dueling prestidigitators whose feud is carried out against the lush backdrop of fin-de-siècle London. And the novel provides the pleasures of a mystery as well, as the reader attempts to find the man (or men) behind the curtain, and discover the true parentage of Andrew Westley, who may or may not be related to Borden. But at its core The Prestige is a horror novel, and a particularly terrifying one because its secret is revealed so slowly, and in such splendid language... The Prestige is both disturbing and exhilarating -- one closes the book shaken, wondering how it was done; and eager to see what the master illusionist will produce for his next trick."[4]
Adam Kirkman called the novel "vastly underrated... Priest weaves together a tale of two feuding stage magicians at the turn of the century, a dark but mesmerising story that sees two men become consumed with, and eventually destroyed by, obsession. While the film hammers you over the head with clues about the final twist, so much so that you feel embarrassed when re-watching it, Priest's novel is more subtle, although a smart reader is in on the trick from the start. The real beauty of this novel is the characters, who are fleshed out more fully here than on screen, and the magical elements of the story achieve a fantastical, creepy edge. If you enjoyed the film, then Priest's novel is grander in scope and more chilling in nature, and is a gem that should not be ignored."[5]
The Guardian review said, "Behind all the surface trickery lies an intelligent and thoughtful novel about the nature of illusion and secrecy, and about the damage done to those who appoint themselves keepers of such dangerous secrets."[6]
A review in Kliatt of the audiobook version narrated by Simon Vance described it as "a spellbinding and entirely original neo-gothic thriller that moves the listener adroitly from the world of staged illusion to the otherworldly, from the historical...to the horror-laden, with all sorts of strange and dazzling stops along the way. The plot is convoluted and occasionally technical, spanning generations and incorporating multiple narrators and a large cast of characters. A lesser audiobook narrator might inadvertently muddle the story, but, as usual, Vance displays a dramatic and vocal range that is more than equal to his task. He enhances Priest's novel with superb pacing and a host of highly convincing voices and accents."[7]
^Iffergrin, Don (2006). "Christopher Priest - Future events". Retrieved 2007-03-01. ((cite web)): Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help) - Christopher Priest states he created the terms in 1995.
^Kirkman, Adam (March 30, 2007). "Reading for Pleasure: the White Horse Publications Publisher on the Subtleties of Christopher Priest". The Bookseller (5274). London: 28.
^Clark, Alex (18 November 2006). "Now You See It". The Guardian. London: Guardian News and Media. Retrieved July 11, 2013.
