Gabi pointed out how in literature there’s a distinction between writer and narrator, in theater between actor and character. As such, for magic he distinguished between the Prestidigitator and the Magician.
The Prestidigitator is the one who thinks, theorizes, constructs, rehearses, … The one who makes the technical decisions at the time of composing an effect, who chooses whether it’s best to do an Elmsley count in a certain moment of the routine, or if they should place the palmed cards back onto the deck after or before of the effect.
But, in the performance, the Prestidigitator disappears and yields the floor to the Magician.
The Magician is the one who the public meets. (Also referred by Gabi as “the Magic Self”) A character that inhabits a represented reality. The Magician doesn’t know about the Elmsley count; they only know how to count cards. They don’t know about sleights and methods, they only know about magic gestures and effects. They don’t know that there’s a second phase of an “Oil and water” routine, they just think, in that very moment, that it’s a good idea to repeat the “color separation” experience.
The duality of “Magician / Prestidigitator” is fundamental in Gabi’s way of conceiving fictional magic.
Sources :
The Mechanism of fiction – Javier Piniero
Through the looking glass – Gabi Pareras