Strange Magic

“Strange Magic” is a recurring musical marker in the book’s late sequence, appearing twice in association with moments that complicate the boundary between paid intimacy and affection. Its recurrence places the song title beside both the narrator’s work and a friend’s history of love and resentment, without supplying a single, fixed interpretation of the phrase.

Appearances

The title first appears after a passage in which the narrator describes becoming gentle with clients. Having hurried through her work, she chooses to caress their hair; their pleasure and gratitude stir in her a mixture of tenderness, remorse, and a strange solidarity with men who come seeking to feel more attractive. The song credit follows this account, making “Strange Magic” a frame for an intimacy that is at once performed, transactional, and emotionally felt.

Recurrence and Associations

The title returns near the end of the book among a sequence of song credits that includes “Words of Love,” “Tainted Love,” “Always See Your Face,” and “Bold As Love (instrumental).” The repetition connects the earlier scene of work and transient tenderness to the book’s broader, unresolved vocabulary of love: affection can coexist with resentment, and closeness does not necessarily become a lasting partnership.

Relation to Arthur’s Story

At its first appearance, the song credit is followed by the narrator’s account of missing the celebration of her friend Arthur’s becoming a father. She was away in the south of France, herself convinced she might be pregnant; Anne-Lise, who had loved Arthur for ten years, celebrated with him instead. Their relationship had included revenge and dramatic quarrels, yet Anne-Lise had learned to understand Arthur: she remained available when he did not want to be alone, and he opened his door when she was tired of being alone. The title’s recurrence beside these different forms of intimacy sustains an association with affection that is neither simple nor securely resolved.