Magic

 

It started yesterday, the experiment, with a review by Michael Dirda, of The Brothers Grimm: A Biography, by Ann Schmiesing. Dirda’s title was: “Once upon a time, there were two brothers.” I went to the fairy tales by Jacob and Wihelm Grimm, who lived in the late 18^th and first half of the 19^th centuries. The first tale begins, “In old times when wishing still helped one, there lived a king whose daughters were all beautiful.”

Wishing?  

At bedtime, reading Isaac Asimov’s Casebook of the Black Widowers, I detected a pattern. Six men gather monthly for a banquet. They consider Henry, the waiter who attends them, a member of their group. Each month the six launch into a passionate discussion on a particular topic. It raises a problem. At the end each time, Henry modestly provides a solution. The first six are sketchily described. I can’t picture them. But Henry’s quiet and sure demeanor rings true.

Asimov’s story entitled “Middle Name” reminded me of “Rumpelstiltskin,” where again everything turns on the recognition of someone’s name. But then the author of a Time magazine article on romance novels said, “For the spell to work, you need the reader’s total trust.”

The spell?

I thought about the Brothers Grimm, for whom magic was a factor. I thought about the Asimov stories, where pattern is a factor. And about Henry, who consistently performs the magic of resolution. What is it about story? What magic occurs when Author takes up his or her pen?