Dumbstruck: A Cultural History of Ventriloquism, by Steven Connor. Oxford, $35. How to Become a Ventriloquist, by Edgar Bergen. Dover Press, $4. In the pantheon of childhood nightmare fodder, ...
With their empty stares, denture-like teeth, exaggerated human features, and odd proportions, ventriloquist dummies are the very embodiment of the uncanny valley phenomenon. These lap-based ...