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The Illusionist
This is a novel about Simon Magus who was a Samaritan magus or religious figure and a convert to Christianity, baptised by Philip, whose later confrontation with Peter is recorded in Acts 8:9-24. In apocryphal works including the Acts of Peter, Pseudo-Clementines, and the Epistle of the Apostles, Simon also appears as a formidable sorcerer with the ability to levitate and fly at will.
Ms Mason weaves the story of this extraordinary man around the turbulent ambience of the time. She demonstrates how during Jesus' own lifetime and later there were various miracle makers abroad, attracting great audiences with their shows. Simon Magus, a man of no religion, bisexual and with a penchant for young boys, mixes with the early Christians including Peter, not on enemy terms, but perfectly civilly. He travels around making great illusions for all to see, but always remains essentially a man.
Ms Mason weaves the story of this extraordinary man around the turbulent ambience of the time. She demonstrates how during Jesus' own lifetime and later there were various miracle makers abroad, attracting great audiences with their shows. Simon Magus, a man of no religion, bisexual and with a penchant for young boys, mixes with the early Christians including Peter, not on enemy terms, but perfectly civilly. He travels around making great illusions for all to see, but always remains essentially a man.
309 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
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292 people want to read
About the author
Anita Mason
17 books5 followersAnita Frances Mason is an English novelist. Her work includes science fiction, speculative fiction and historical fiction and explores questions of alternative communities, the tension between the individual and the collective, religion as a force of meaning and oppression, the politics of sexuality, and the relevance of history to the present.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
November 20, 2018
Rien dans ma vie ne m'aurait destiné à lire ce roman/réécriture du mythe de Simon le Magicien (ou Simon le Mage, Simon de Samarie ou Simon de Gitton). Je ne suis pas fan de roman historique, je ne connais pas Anita Mason, la période d’expansion du christianisme ne m'intéresse vraiment pas plus que ça (bien que les réécritures chrétiennes m'intéressent un peu), et donc une personne considérée comme hérétique à l'Église catholique n'est probablement pas une figure que j'aurais avidement cherché. La seule raison pour laquelle j'ai lu ce livre est que je l'ai reçu suite à une campagne de sociofinancement d'une librairie de livres de femmes rares et première édition en Angleterre.
Je dois avouer que malgré certaine incompréhension face à la langue anglaise dont les équivalents français sont très loin d'être les mêmes: Joshua pour Jésus, Simon Magnus pour Simon le Mage, etc. et donc qui m'a pris du temps avant de comprendre qui était qui dans l'histoire de l'Église catholique, une fois ça passé, c'est intéressant d'en connaître un peu plus sur les mythes et religions/sectes des années après la mort de Jésus. Une bonne partie de l'histoire est certainement fictive, je suis loin d'être assez connaissant pour savoir faire la part des choses, donc à part certaines figures historiques (dont Néron), j'ai lu le tout comme fictif d'un bout à l'autre juste au cas où.
Les chapitres sont vraiment divisés avec des actions très différentes les unes des autres: alors que le premier chapitre se concentre sur Simon, sa vie avant la découverte du christianisme, son apprenti, etc. ; un autre chapitre peut se concentre uniquement sur la réflexion autour des arguments du christianisme, la description d'une secte ou encore (dans le dernier chapitre) un duel épique de magie et miracles! (Probablement mon chapitre préféré)
Je suis dans l'ensemble content· d'avoir lu ce livre même si c'est loin d'être ma tasse de thé, je me suis certainement amusé· et je serais sorti un peu de ma bulle même si j'y trouvais parfois quelque longueur (mais le dernier chapitre est passé trop vite!).
Je dois avouer que malgré certaine incompréhension face à la langue anglaise dont les équivalents français sont très loin d'être les mêmes: Joshua pour Jésus, Simon Magnus pour Simon le Mage, etc. et donc qui m'a pris du temps avant de comprendre qui était qui dans l'histoire de l'Église catholique, une fois ça passé, c'est intéressant d'en connaître un peu plus sur les mythes et religions/sectes des années après la mort de Jésus. Une bonne partie de l'histoire est certainement fictive, je suis loin d'être assez connaissant pour savoir faire la part des choses, donc à part certaines figures historiques (dont Néron), j'ai lu le tout comme fictif d'un bout à l'autre juste au cas où.
Les chapitres sont vraiment divisés avec des actions très différentes les unes des autres: alors que le premier chapitre se concentre sur Simon, sa vie avant la découverte du christianisme, son apprenti, etc. ; un autre chapitre peut se concentre uniquement sur la réflexion autour des arguments du christianisme, la description d'une secte ou encore (dans le dernier chapitre) un duel épique de magie et miracles! (Probablement mon chapitre préféré)
Je suis dans l'ensemble content· d'avoir lu ce livre même si c'est loin d'être ma tasse de thé, je me suis certainement amusé· et je serais sorti un peu de ma bulle même si j'y trouvais parfois quelque longueur (mais le dernier chapitre est passé trop vite!).
January 26, 2012
A fascinating book which left me wondering how much was true and how much was invented by teh author. The story concerns Simon Magus, a real person, and his travels around the middle east in the first centry AD. He was an illusionist or magician and made his name and money using these skills. Some thought too highly of his triocks and he was considered by some as the deliverer. However, this was a time of religious ferment and not everyone agreed.
This story follows Simon on his travels and his changes through hislife as well as other groups and sects appealing to overthrow the religion of Rome.
Fascinating, inciteful and beautifully written, this was a real treat. Especially as I picked it up on spec with no idea of what to expect.
This story follows Simon on his travels and his changes through hislife as well as other groups and sects appealing to overthrow the religion of Rome.
Fascinating, inciteful and beautifully written, this was a real treat. Especially as I picked it up on spec with no idea of what to expect.
April 28, 2018
Started well but faded a bit for me. Good book though.
November 27, 2022
The miraculous and the magical hover in suspended disbelief, as we encounter the levitating illusionist of the title (Simon), and the even more incredible claims of those making sense of Christ's (/Joshua's) life. Mason's book is set in a primordial sense of flux, with beliefs, sects and ritual practices all contested, and vying to hegemony as the one true religion. We encounter the uncertainties of those who profess in a God, and those like the proto-Faustian, Simon, who logically conclude that God must be evil. If there is only one God, then surely he must be the root cause of evil and suffering? And all suffering be a game of His making?
The book avoids becoming an undergraduate debating exercise mainly due to its subtlety in approaching the emotions that prefigure our view of the universe. Simon Magus's desertion of his young slave and orphan (Demetrius) causes the latter to see abandonment as normal. We suspect that Demetrius would probably have taken to Chaos Theory. Others like Simon or Saul (St Paul) become more radical as a result of separate life experiences, and in reaction to groups around them (say, the persecutions of the authorities, or exclusion from the inner circle of a rival sect). The focus is thereby not on the plausibility of religious ideas, so much as on the way worldviews (not just about the infinite, but more prosaically about our relationships with other humans) are tied to how we are treated by others.
Nevertheless, I especially liked the imagined historical reasons that the early Christians used when debating whether to retain or discard shibboleths of the Jewish faith, such as circumcision. Jesus practiced the Jewish faith but also (as Saul argues) told his followers not to set store by ritual - so should they keep circumcision or, cut it? The historical lag between observation and the writing of the gospels is a strong secondary theme, and the refashioning of memories (e.g. when and by whom Jesus was seen after resurrection) undermines not only religious factuality, but also the historical record. A decade after the Second Coming had been predicted, we find the disciples having to fill the void with reinterpretation of Jesus's often paradoxical sayings.
It reminded me of Jim Crace's 'Quarantine' (1990s) on Jesus's time in the wilderness, and of the two Mason's book is probably my favourite.
Historical fiction is a fraught exercise at the best of times, and doubly so when it conjures with faith. Those closer to the facts or feelings may react more positively or negatively, but I engaged with 'The Illusionist' mainly as a thought exercise and as an observation on the formation of new religions.
The book avoids becoming an undergraduate debating exercise mainly due to its subtlety in approaching the emotions that prefigure our view of the universe. Simon Magus's desertion of his young slave and orphan (Demetrius) causes the latter to see abandonment as normal. We suspect that Demetrius would probably have taken to Chaos Theory. Others like Simon or Saul (St Paul) become more radical as a result of separate life experiences, and in reaction to groups around them (say, the persecutions of the authorities, or exclusion from the inner circle of a rival sect). The focus is thereby not on the plausibility of religious ideas, so much as on the way worldviews (not just about the infinite, but more prosaically about our relationships with other humans) are tied to how we are treated by others.
Nevertheless, I especially liked the imagined historical reasons that the early Christians used when debating whether to retain or discard shibboleths of the Jewish faith, such as circumcision. Jesus practiced the Jewish faith but also (as Saul argues) told his followers not to set store by ritual - so should they keep circumcision or, cut it? The historical lag between observation and the writing of the gospels is a strong secondary theme, and the refashioning of memories (e.g. when and by whom Jesus was seen after resurrection) undermines not only religious factuality, but also the historical record. A decade after the Second Coming had been predicted, we find the disciples having to fill the void with reinterpretation of Jesus's often paradoxical sayings.
It reminded me of Jim Crace's 'Quarantine' (1990s) on Jesus's time in the wilderness, and of the two Mason's book is probably my favourite.
Historical fiction is a fraught exercise at the best of times, and doubly so when it conjures with faith. Those closer to the facts or feelings may react more positively or negatively, but I engaged with 'The Illusionist' mainly as a thought exercise and as an observation on the formation of new religions.
August 10, 2019
Simony, the sin of buying ecclesiastical powers, was named after Simon Magus, the dictionary tells me, the Samarian magician who offered money to the apostles Peter and John to confer the Holy Ghost on whomever he pleased.
He is referred to in Acts, but Mason invents an entire history for this intriguing figure set in a post-Crucifixion Holy Land swarming with mystics, fanatics, miracle-workers and charlatans.
Simon performs astonishing tricks – levitating and making animals, people, palaces appear and disappear, illusions for which no explanation is offered, although the author offers a hint as if from the far future that distance grows between events and the disciples’ versions of them.
That qualification may however apply more directly to their Christian faith, whose tenets Simon demolishes in debates with Kepha (St. Peter), just as he scorns the idea of a God of love who burns unbelievers.
That is the main interest of the book, in which the philosophical debate is sharp throughout, as Simon moves from the idea that his power comes from an inner fire, to the power of belief, to an assertion that each man is a god, if only he knows it.
This eventually leads him to a dualism in which good equals evil, in which every law must be broken and which climaxes in a blasphemous eucharist with the exchange of semen and menstrual blood.
Apart from this, the death of Simon’s servant and a contest of equivocal result in Rome between the magus and the disciple there’s not much of a plot, and relatively little descriptive detail.
Yet the characters, including a truculent and independent-minded apostle Paul, strongly personify their competing schools of thought, and there’s a pleasing tension between the miraculous and the mundane, between erudite debate and everyday conversation that sustains an ironic undertone, and makes it seem these fantastical events are happening in a modern world in which the impossible happens all the time.
He is referred to in Acts, but Mason invents an entire history for this intriguing figure set in a post-Crucifixion Holy Land swarming with mystics, fanatics, miracle-workers and charlatans.
Simon performs astonishing tricks – levitating and making animals, people, palaces appear and disappear, illusions for which no explanation is offered, although the author offers a hint as if from the far future that distance grows between events and the disciples’ versions of them.
That qualification may however apply more directly to their Christian faith, whose tenets Simon demolishes in debates with Kepha (St. Peter), just as he scorns the idea of a God of love who burns unbelievers.
That is the main interest of the book, in which the philosophical debate is sharp throughout, as Simon moves from the idea that his power comes from an inner fire, to the power of belief, to an assertion that each man is a god, if only he knows it.
This eventually leads him to a dualism in which good equals evil, in which every law must be broken and which climaxes in a blasphemous eucharist with the exchange of semen and menstrual blood.
Apart from this, the death of Simon’s servant and a contest of equivocal result in Rome between the magus and the disciple there’s not much of a plot, and relatively little descriptive detail.
Yet the characters, including a truculent and independent-minded apostle Paul, strongly personify their competing schools of thought, and there’s a pleasing tension between the miraculous and the mundane, between erudite debate and everyday conversation that sustains an ironic undertone, and makes it seem these fantastical events are happening in a modern world in which the impossible happens all the time.
December 28, 2018
Книженция довольно скучная и рассчитана на особую публику. На ту, которая любит заниматься религиозной и философской болтологией. Действия в книге почти нет, зато имеются многостраничные философские и религиозные споры в рамках почему-то средневековой схоластики. Очередная ловушка для ума, чтобы ищущий истину завяз в этом болоте надуманных терминов, символов и теорий.
Книга с явным антихристианским душком. Поэтому не советую исто верующему читать сие произведение, дабы не оскорбиться нападками даже не на учение, а на самого Христа.
Поставил доп. звёздочку за удачный ход писательницы. Она проводит параллель между иллюзионистом Шимоном, главным героем романа и Христом, профанируя тем самым самого Христа и его учение. Шимон - антипод Христа, триксер, пародирующий его самого и его учение
Евангелисты доказывают божественность Христа чудесами. Так вот же, имеются иллюзионисты типа Шимона из соседнего Аскелона, которые и по воде, яко по суху ходят, и летают, и воскрешают из мёртвых, и вино из воды гонят и т.д.
Замечателен момент, когда Шимон вызвал демона, которого с трудом удалось изгнать из своего тела, но который, тем не менее теперь ходит по пятам Шимона. Именно в тот момент Шимон и создаёт своё учение и секту, чьё "богослужение" состоит из ритуальных оргий.
Тут же вспоминаются искушения дьяволом Христа в пустыне, после чего тот пошёл в народ и сотворил своё учение, давшее начало новой религии. И всё тот же проклятый вопрос: "Поклонился ли Христос дьяволу в обмен за владение всем миром, или нет?!" Евангелисты утверждают, что нет. Но факты говорят об обратном. Ведь Христу поклоняются во всём мире как Богу.
В книге показана уже начавшаяся в зарождающейся религии "борьба за паству" между апостолами. Кроме того, в многочисленных спорах Шимона с христианином Кефой писательница приводит ряд, хотя поднадоевших уже и банальных, разоблачающих христианство утверждений.
Книга с явным антихристианским душком. Поэтому не советую исто верующему читать сие произведение, дабы не оскорбиться нападками даже не на учение, а на самого Христа.
Поставил доп. звёздочку за удачный ход писательницы. Она проводит параллель между иллюзионистом Шимоном, главным героем романа и Христом, профанируя тем самым самого Христа и его учение. Шимон - антипод Христа, триксер, пародирующий его самого и его учение
Евангелисты доказывают божественность Христа чудесами. Так вот же, имеются иллюзионисты типа Шимона из соседнего Аскелона, которые и по воде, яко по суху ходят, и летают, и воскрешают из мёртвых, и вино из воды гонят и т.д.
Замечателен момент, когда Шимон вызвал демона, которого с трудом удалось изгнать из своего тела, но который, тем не менее теперь ходит по пятам Шимона. Именно в тот момент Шимон и создаёт своё учение и секту, чьё "богослужение" состоит из ритуальных оргий.
Тут же вспоминаются искушения дьяволом Христа в пустыне, после чего тот пошёл в народ и сотворил своё учение, давшее начало новой религии. И всё тот же проклятый вопрос: "Поклонился ли Христос дьяволу в обмен за владение всем миром, или нет?!" Евангелисты утверждают, что нет. Но факты говорят об обратном. Ведь Христу поклоняются во всём мире как Богу.
В книге показана уже начавшаяся в зарождающейся религии "борьба за паству" между апостолами. Кроме того, в многочисленных спорах Шимона с христианином Кефой писательница приводит ряд, хотя поднадоевших уже и банальных, разоблачающих христианство утверждений.
June 16, 2017
An intriguing fictional novel about a dark fringe figure of Simon Magus from the Acts of the Apostles and other early Christian source documents. Like most characters from that era, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction in the extant writings anyway.
While sticking with the reported details, which I verified from additional research, but avoiding the orthodox view that demonizes Magus for trying to buy Peter the Apostle’s power to bring down the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands, Ms. Mason produced a intriguing novel that thrusts the reader directly into the Roman-Jewish world in the years immediately after the death of Jesus. She does not hawk a specific gospel or interpretation of events, a relief for a time and tale usually left to either devotees or debunkers of the Christian viewpoint.
A must-read for those interested in the character of Simon Magus, or early Christian history and the role that magic/sorcery might have played in it.
While sticking with the reported details, which I verified from additional research, but avoiding the orthodox view that demonizes Magus for trying to buy Peter the Apostle’s power to bring down the Holy Spirit with the laying on of hands, Ms. Mason produced a intriguing novel that thrusts the reader directly into the Roman-Jewish world in the years immediately after the death of Jesus. She does not hawk a specific gospel or interpretation of events, a relief for a time and tale usually left to either devotees or debunkers of the Christian viewpoint.
A must-read for those interested in the character of Simon Magus, or early Christian history and the role that magic/sorcery might have played in it.
October 8, 2025
3.5 stars. A historical fiction novel about Simon Magus, who in the Acts of the Apostles, was renowned in Samaria as a great sorcerer. Simon Magus is an idolater, seducer, necromancer, outcast and illusionist. The master of magic. In this novel Simon dislikes Jehovah and preaches revolt against him. The story follows Simons wanderings from town to town. It also follows Kepha who preaches the Christian religion. Simon meets Helen, an ex prostitute, who he gains strength and confidence from. Simon argues against the Christian dogma. In the end he has a miracle working duel with Kepha, before the Emperor Nero.
An interesting novel about the spiritual thoughts and reasonings occurring in the era after Jesus is crucified.
This book was shortlisted for the 1983 Booker Prize.
An interesting novel about the spiritual thoughts and reasonings occurring in the era after Jesus is crucified.
This book was shortlisted for the 1983 Booker Prize.
June 24, 2019
Magic, Jesus, kinky sex; it's got it all and it's great.
November 27, 2024
A book about Simon Magnus, but also the apostles, and Gnosticism, and the paradox of Christ. Relies a lot on a reader's background knowledge of the gospels and Acts, but was rewarding regardless. Does contain period-typical attitudes towards pedastry, sexual violence against women, etc.
April 27, 2019
The elements are all there: Expansive, rich and imaginative setting, complex flawed exciting characters with kinky sex and murder, magic and ritual, religious rapture, paradigm shifts, superstition and double cross. And to top it all, its crux is the origin of a world religion in its nascent rebellious marginalised form... Somehow with all this, the novel falls flat, and is ultimately a massive chore.
The capricious emperor gladiatorial slave torture party scene is quite fun and the polysexual orgy / circle jerk in a curtained room a nice diversion but the paedophile sex addict old wizard central character is ultimately just creepy, the religious philosophy turgid and the action few and far between.
The capricious emperor gladiatorial slave torture party scene is quite fun and the polysexual orgy / circle jerk in a curtained room a nice diversion but the paedophile sex addict old wizard central character is ultimately just creepy, the religious philosophy turgid and the action few and far between.
August 27, 2011
Intriguing, provocative, and bizarre. I should point out that this isn't in any way related to the movie that came out a few years ago. It took a while to really get into it, most of it dragged with no apparent purpose, and then the ending was abrupt. I can't say or explain much about it. You'd just have to read it.
May 30, 2014
начебто спроба передати історичну атмосферу. начебто реконструкція релігійних суперечок. начебто ще одне переосмислення історії, яку тільки й роблять, що переосмислюють. але щоб позбутися отого "начебто", чогось йому таки бракує.
Want to read
July 29, 201183 shortlisted for booker prize
October 1, 2017
I read this years ago, then re-read it later. I think it's one of the best books I've ever read, with the insight it shows into complicated times (probably all times are complicated) and how people and movements develop. If you like it, check out also "Bethany" by the same author, which is very different but also very good IMHO.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews