title: Houdini: the mythmaker. Variations on the theme of the family romance.
abstract: This component of a more comprehensive study of Houdini focuses on the unusual reification of his family romance fantasies, their endurance well beyond the usual boundaries in time, their kinship with mythological themes, and their infusion with the ambivalence that is often addressed toward the true parents.
mesh_terms: D005190:Family; D005201:Fantasy; D006666:History of Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007062:Identification, Psychological; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008273:Magic; D009229:Mythology; D011573:Psychoanalytic Interpretation; D012649:Self Concept; D014481:United States