1
The Collected Essays of Eugene Burger.
A CLASSROOM DISCUSSION
2
A NEW YEAR?
5
BEING "ME"
6
BETRAYING OUR INTENTIONS
8
BRIEF MEETINGS WITH GIFTS THAT LAST FOREVER
9
CAN YOU TELL ME THE BEST CARD TRICKS?
111
CHALLENGES
133
EDITING OUR SCRIPTS
144
FIVE SECRETS
17
GETTING REACQUAINTED
18
IMAGINATION, SOLITUDE AND CREATIVITY
200
IMPORTANT DISCOVERIES ALONG THE WAY
22
MAGICAL PRESENTATIONS
233
ON IMITATION
25
PERFORMING STUNTS & PERFORMING MAGIC
277
PLAYING WITH DEEP DOWN FEARS
28
REFLECTIONS
300
THE FIFTH WAY: LOST IN CYBERSPACE
311
THE LAST WORDS
333
THE THEORY AND ART OF MAGIC
35
2
A Classroom Discussion
by Eugene Burger and Larry Hass
Originally published in Linking Ring magazine
Eugene Burger has created an enviable, world-wide reputation as a superlative close-up magician and
lecturer on both the theory and performance of magic. His television appearances and lectures in England,
Europe and Japan have generated enthusiastic response. What is less known is that he has begun performing
on stage and discovered that his special brand of magic plays just as well on stage as it does at your table. The
very approachable Mr. Burger loves to interact with both magicians and lay people and this quality is very
evident in the classroom give and take discussion which follows.
It is interesting to realise that Eugene is here speaking not to one but to two different college classes which
were meeting together because of his visit to the campus. The first was a studio class in performance magic,
taught by Larry Hass, and the other was a religion class, which was studying the relationship between magic
and religion.
First, let me say something to the magicians in the magic class. One of the challenges of performing magic is
coming up with a way to present it so the sub text isn't about how cool you are.
Further, most magic is presented by magicians as exposition. By that I mean the performer is simply telling the
people what he or she is doing, "