Nights at the Circus
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| Nights at the Circus | |
| Author | Angela Carter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Roxanna Bikadoroff |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | fiction |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus |
| Publication date | 04 March 1984 |
| Pages | 295 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0140077030 |
Nights at the Circus is a novel by Angela Carter, first published in 1984 and that year's winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. The novel focuses on the life and exploits of its main female protagonist, Sophia Fevvers. She is an artful aerialiste with wings, the sensational, often outrageous, performer who captivates the young Jack Walser during an interview. Jack runs away with the circus and falls into a world that none of his journalistic exploits could have prepared him to encounter. Nights at the Circus can fall under many different catergories of fiction such as postmodern, magical realism, or postfeminist but, likely, is an artful blend of many different philosophies and styles. Keeping to her previous works, Angela Carter plays with many literary aspects and descecrates the fairy tale in the best possible way.
In 2006, the novel was adapted for the stage by Tom Morris and Emma Rice. It was performed at the Lyric Hammersmith, London, UK and Bristol Old Vic, Bristol, UK early that year.
Nights At The Circus is the title and inspiration of upcoming British superstar Bishi's (Bishnu Priya) first album.
Contents |
[edit] Plot Summary
[edit] London
Nights at the Circus begins with Jack Walser interviewing Fevvers in her dressing room after a performance. Lizzie, Fevver's ever watchful adopted mother is present. Fevvers, assisted by Lizzie, begins to take off her makeup and undress from her performance atire. In the process, Fevvers begins to tell Walser the story of her life which he takes very diligent notes on. Fevver's story begins with her being left in a basket outside of a brothel. Lizzie opens the door and takes her in. A perfectly normal scene, except the baby in the basket lies on a bed of broken egg shell. Fevvers continues the story and expands upon her experiences as a child growing up in a bordello until she starts puberty. The coming of her menstrual cycle, she claims, coincides with her wings springing out of her back. At this point, Ma Nelson puts her to work in the lobby of the brothel as a living statue. Ma Nelson gives her a small sword and from the time she is fourteen to seventeen, this is how Fevvers spends her evenings. In addition, it is during this period she claims to have taught herself how to fly. Eventually, Ma Nelson is run over by a carriage and her house, the brothel, falls into the hands of her brother who has plans to turn it into a reformatory for fallen women. However, before he can effect this change, Ma Nelson's girls burn the place down and go their separate ways.
After leaving Ma Nelson's, Fevvers and Lizzie move in with Lizzie's sister and help her and her family run their ice cream parlor. However, both the family and the parlor fall on hard times and Fevvers runs away to relieve them of the burden she presents. Fevvers takes a job with Madame Schreck who puts Fevvers on display in her "exotic brothel." Fevvers meets a variety of women who have all been hurt by society for some type of deformity and feel they have nowhere else to turn than Madame Schreck. Fevver's is eventually pawned off by Madame Schreck to Christian Rosencreutz'. Here, Fevvers narrowly excapes being sacrificed to heaven and returns to Lizzie's sister's home. Fevvers finds that she may have accidentally killed Madame Schreck before she was taken away by Christian Rosencreutz’. Soon after her reuinion with Lizzie, Fevvers begins performing as an aerialiste and then takes an offer to join Colonel Kearney's circus. The London section concludes with Walser telling his chief at the London office that he is going to follow Fevvers, joining the circus on its grand imperial tour.
[edit] Petersburg
The beginning of the Petersburg section finds Walser living in clown alley and typing up his first impressions of the city. The reader is then told how Walser approached Colonel Kearney and, through the mystique of Miss Sybil, received a position as a clown in the circus. Next, the reader is introduced to Mignon, the educated chimps, and Samson the strong man. This introduction results in Walser saving Mignon from being eaten by a tigress. Walser wakes up after the incident and finds that the tigeress injured his arm when he saved Mignon.
In the next scene Buffo and the clowns invoke chaos at their dinner table. Walser goes outside and finds Mignon wating for him. Not sure what to do with the abandoned woman, he takes her to Fevver's hotel room. Fevver's assumes that Walser is sleeping with Mignon, behaves jealously, but still takes care of the girl who, as it turns out, has a beautiful singing voice. Soon after this, Fevvers introduces Mignon to the Princess who incorporates Mignon into her act with the dancing tigers. During practice, the Charivaris family tries to kill Fevvers and the Colonel reluctanly has to kick them out of the circus. At the circus that night, Buffo the Great goes crazy in the middle of the clown act and tries to kill Walser and the Princess has to shoot the tigress when she tries to attack Mignon during the tiger waltz. After her performance, Fevvers goes to the Grand Duke's mansion. Here, she almost falls victim to his power over her but narrowly escapes using her sexuality to distract the Grand Duke and quickly make her way to the train where the rest of the circus is about to depart.
[edit] Siberia
The Siberian section opens with the entire circus crossing the continent to Asia. However, the train is attacked by a band of runaway convicts who think that Fevvers can help them make contact with the Tsar and help him to understand that they did no wrong and should be allowed to return to their villages. In wake of the train's destruction the entire circus, minus Walser, is marched to the convicts' encampment. Walser is rescued by a group of escaped murderesses and their lovers, who also happen to be their former guards. It turns out Walser has amnesia, and the band of women leave him to an approaching rescue party. However, Walser runs off into the woods before he is found by the rescue party and is eventually taken under the wing of a village shaman. The shaman teaches Walser the ways of his people and looks at Walser as type of magical being. As small fragments of Walser's memory come back to him, the shaman interprets the memories as signs from the gods. As time progresses, Walser becomes a member of this unindustrailized and primitive society.
While Walser is being educated by the locals, Fevvers and the rest of the party are being held captive by the convicts. Fevvers tells the convict leader that she can do nothing to help them as everything that they have heard about her is a lie. Depressed, the convicts sink into drunken mourning. Fevvers convinces the clowns to put on a show for the convicts. During this show a blizzard comes and, when it finishes, the clowns and the convicts are gone. What is left of the circus begins to walk, hopefully in the direction of civilization. They come across a rundown music school and take shelter with its owner, the Maestro. Soon after this, Walser and Fevvers paths briefly cross. This event convinces Fevvers, accompanied by Lizzie, to leave the safety of the Maestro's in order search for Walser. At the same time, Colonel Kearney leaves to continue his quest for civilization so as to build another circus and succeed where he has this time failed. Fevvers leaves Mignon, the Princess, and Samson to their contentment with the Maestro at his music school in the wilderness to quest for and rescue Walser. She eventually finds him among the natives, helps him reconstruct his memory, and the two end up in love and together. The story ends with them still among the natives.
[edit] Setting
Set in 1899, Nights at the Circus spans across Europe and Asia as it carries the reader along with the circus on its Grand Imperial Tour. The characters begin in London and then move on to Petersburg and into Siberia where they find themselves stuck for the duration of the novel. While in London, the characters are primarily in Fevver's dressing room above the Alhambra Music Hall but the action that takes place in Fevver's autobiography spans across much of London and the surrounding suburbs. In Petersburg, the story has three locations where most of the action occurs: clown alley, Fevver's hotel room, and the circus itself. Siberia begins with the entire circus on a train traversing the distance separating Europe and Asia, however, the story soon takes to, and ends within, the cold and wintry forests of Transbaikalia.
[edit] Characters
Sophia Fevvers- the questionably winged aerialiste who acts as the focal point for much of the circus. She is six feet two inches, peroxide blonde, and arguably the largest personality within the story
Jack Walser- a California native that stowed away on a departing ship at a young age. He became a journalist and eventually interviewed Fevvers, fell in love with her, and ran away with the circus to be near her
Lizzie- Fevvers' adoptive mother, a former prostitute, and political activist/revolutionary
Ma Nelson- the well-respected proprietor of the bordello where Fevvers grew up
Madame Schreck- The owner of a female freak show that also functioned as a whorehouse of sorts. Schreck eventually tries to sell Fevvers to Christian Rosencreutz’ who tries to sacrifice her
Toussaint- The male servant of Madame Schreck who was born without a mouth
Christian Rosencreutz- a rich religious maniac who believes Fevvers is a fallen angel and attempts to sacrifice her
Colonel Kearney- The extravagant capitalist and owner of the circus who can always be found chewing on a cigar. He was born in Kentucky, has an affinity for Bourbon, and considers himself an expert player of the confidence trick. In the story, he is also occasionally called the captain of the circus
Little Ivan- the son of Olga Alexandrovna; attempts to run away with the circus but is prevented from doing so by Walser
Miss Sybil- the intelligent and clairvoyant piglet of Colonel Kearney whom he unquestionably relies on to make nearly all of his business decisions
Princess of Abyssinia- The tiger tamer and musician who falls in love with Mignon
Monsieur Lamarck- Mignon’s husband and the monkey trainer of the circus. He is a drunk and constantly beats Mignon
Mignon- Originally considered the whore of the circus but eventually reformed into a beautiful singer who dances the waltz with tigers and falls in love with the Princess
Samson- The strong man of the circus that sleeps with Mignon before she falls in love with the Princess
The Professor- the head monkey who eventually tricks Colonel Kearney into allowing the chimps to leave the circus
Buffo the Great- The leader of the clowns who eventually goes crazy and tries to kill Walser
The Charivaris family- A family of trapeze artists and tightrope walkers who have a long history of performing but try to kill Fevvers out of jealousy and from then on carry a curse, doomed to never perform well again
The Grand Duke- A member of the Russian aristocracy who unsettles and scares Fevvers to the point of losing herself. With the Grand Duke she is powerless and only escapes from him by chance
Countess P.- a cruel and rich woman who kills her husband, gets away with it, but feels bad about the crime nonetheless. She builds a panopticon and tries to reform other murderesses but only succeeds in turning both the prisoners and the guards against her
Olga Alexandrovna- a prisoner of the panopticon and the first to instigate contact with one of the guards. She is also the mother of little Ivan and finds Walser after the train wreck
The Shaman- the spiritual leader of the village who takes Walser under his wing when he suffers from amnesia
The Maestro- The master of a music school in Transbaikalia that has no students. He eventually provides shelter for what is left of the circus after they escape from the convict camp
[edit] Themes
Time The concept of time appears throughout this novel, often at moments when Walser finds himself completely transfixed by Fevvers' narrative and no longer has a clear grasp on time.
"For the first time that night, Walser was seriously discomposed. 'Hey, there! didn't that clock strike midnight just a while ago, after the night watchman came around?' 'Did it sir? How could it have, sir? Oh, dear, no, sir!" [pg. 42]
"Her voice. It was as if Walser had become a prisoner of her voice, her cavernous, sombre voice, a voice made for shouting about th tempest, her voice of a celestial fishwife." [pg. 43]
This blurred sense of time represents the difference between narrative time and story time. Fevver's hold on Walser reveals the true power of narrative and its influence on an audience. Initially, it is through her narrative that Fevver's wields power over Walser. Again, Carter emphasizes that the women in the novel are able to step outside of conventional nineteenth century gender roles, but are only able to through a magical element. Indeed, as Fevvers and Lizzie reveal in the Envoi, they'd previously tricked Walser and purposefully played with his perception of time using Ma Nelson's clock. [pg. 292] During their narratives, they merely support an illusion of time coming to a standstill. Again, the women are only able to have control in a magical sense.
Postmodernism Nights at the Circus can be categorized as a postmodern piece for its complexity of language and magical elements. Additionally, the story itself is as intricate as the structure of the novel. The mystery surrounding Sophia Fevvers and the legitimacy of her wings drives the story and is reminiscent of many ambiguous postmodern pieces. The novel's turn-of-the-century setting is fitting, as modernism is generally acknowledged as encompassing the literature, music, arts and movements that occurred before 1914. As the characters make the transition into a new century, they begin to take embrace new ideas and ways of life. This transition towards the new is reflected in every aspect of the novel, as the story itself is neq and unique concept. Walser's initial skepticism Sophia Fevver's wings is reflective of postmodern thought. The women in the novel embody postmodern thought in their questioning of patriarchal social norms, as well.
Post-feminism Despite Angela Carter's reputation for feminist rhetoric, many feminists remain disappointed with this novel, arguing that it in fact promotes post-feminism. Many argue that the seemingly crude language used to describe women throughout the novel is anti-feminist.[citation needed]
"My how her bodice strains! You'd think her tits were going to pop right out. What a sensation that would cause..." [pg. 17]
Also, the fact that the women are depicted as strong, forward thinkers that can remain outside of restrictive gender roles is reflective of post-feminist thought that argues that women are not the victim and feminism is no longer an issue in our modern society. This claim is backed by the fact that Carter's novel was penned and published during the 1980s, when post-feminism was really beginning to emerge.[citation needed]
Feminism Just as the novel could be viewed as post-feminist, it may also be considered a feminist piece. Sophia Fevvers' wings could be a symbol of liberation, enabling her to escape an oppressive patriarchal society and on into a twentieth century of feminist freedom. The women in the novel may ultimately represent suffragists and the entire Women's Suffrage Movement of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Fevvers, Lizzie and the rest of the female characters represent the idea of the New Woman and a new way of thinking entirely. Even the innocent and vulnerable Mignon is able to escape her abusive husband and past life of opression for an empowering existence outside of social norms.
Magical Realism Like many of Carter's earlier works, Nights at the Circus contains elements of magical realism. In this novel, Carter combines the mythical with the realistic, creating a playful, whirlwind adventure for the reader that is often as chaotic and lively as a real circus. In adding this magical, playful element to the novel, Carter is able to infuse the story with underlying political and social messages. The whimsy in her novel is but a tool that enables Carter to address pertinent social issues such as patriarchy and individual rights. Also, the two main characters, Fevvers and Walser represent the contrast between the magical and the believable. Her status as half swan and half woman remains questionable and surreal while Walser's role as the pragmatic journalist looking for the facts grounds the story in reality. Through magical realism, Carter is able to address everyday concerns through an engaging and playful form.
Order v. Chaos Though the syntax in this novel is often as intricate and bustling as a circus itself, the novel itself is very structured. The story reverts back and from from orderly to chaotic, often when the narratives switch from Fevvers and Lizzie back to Walser. While Fevvers remains hypnotizing in her narrative, she is also disorganized and bounces back and forth in time during her tales. Walser, on the other hand, is pragmatic and grounds the reader in reality as he searches for the facts. Fevvers represents the chaotic element of life while Walser represents the orderly. Together, they are an embodiment of our world and how order and chaos cannot exist without the other as a balancing force. Fevvers represents the indulgences that Walser will never allow himself to have and similarly, he is the force that grounds Fevvers, who is constantly trying to escape reality and the roles and rules of her society.
Individualism This novel itself is a proponent for individualism, as it is a fantastically inventive fusion of various genres. Many of the characters defy the conventional gender and social roles of their century and remain true to their indivual selves. The women in the novel do not stick to their oppresive nineteenth century gender roles nor do the animals stick to their standard roles. Carter puts a magical twist on most aspects of her book, making it difficult for anything or person to remain conventional. Just as Mignon eventually finds herself and escapes her abusive past, Walser finds himself through his journey in examining the phenomenon that is the aerialiste. Additionally, Fevvers' image as half swan and half human is ambiguous throughout the novel and Walser's quest for the truth behind her famous wings further emphasizes the value of true identity and self-reliance over facades and the dependence upon any external forces. The women in the brothel and Lizze also support the concept of individualism, as they remain self-reliant and look down upon marriage as a social impediment.
Appearance v. Reality The idea of appearance versus reality is found throughout the whole story. Sophia Fevvers and her questionable wings are the main proponent for this concept in the novel. Though Fevvers may appear human, she claims to in fact have the wings of a bird. Similarly, though the women in the brothel appear to be prostitutes, they are in fact simultaneously self-sufficient, forward thinking women whom Lizzie compares to suffragists. Nothing is as it seems in this novel, as even the animals are endowed with magical features and are taken out of their conventional boxes. Through these magical elements, Carter is able to test the reader's perception of reality and challenges all to question their surroundings.
Class The issue of social class is also apparent in Nights at the Circus. Fevvers, Lizzie and even Walser are initially closer to the top of the social class order, but the remaining characters, such as the prostitutes and circus performers are all of a lower tier. Carter draws particular attention to the class dynamics in Chapter Five of Book Two where she describes the poor living conditions of the clowns in the circus. It is apparent that only the upperclass wields much power, because while Fevvers has many opportunities in London, once she is stranded in Siberia, she loses all access to power and not even her previous social standing can help her. Similarly, Walser loses his social power when he becomes a clown in the traveling circus.
[edit] Plot Structure, Form, and Perspective
Nights at the Circus utilizes several different types of narrative techniques throughout its three very different parts.
[edit] London
The story opens with a third peson narrative set in 1899 London. However, this narrator is biased and deceives the reader. The narrator has an omniscient perspective towards Walser but, as regards Fevvers and Lizzie, the narrator can only give hard facts that could have been picked up from any newspaper at the time. The narration can more or less, though third person, be seen as presenting only Walser's perspective. However, the reader is also given a very biased autobiography from Fevvers in a first person past narrative using dialogue. Here, the London section uses the form of the two narratives to confuse the reader over who the true narrator is. Even though it is obvious that the main narrator is not Fevvers, she, nonetheless, controls the pace and direction of the entire section; she steals the power of narration from the narrator and uses it to focus on herself while the narrator is left to merely comment on the information she presents. This formal trick is used to present Fevvers ability to dominate an audience and hold the center of attention.
[edit] Petersburg
The narration of the Petersburg section is very similar to the narration of the London section in that is is a third person narrative that is omniscient towards Walser. However, In this section the characters of the circus are introduced as well. Whereas in the London section, all past information is constructed by Fevvers and is contained within her story, in Petersburg the reader is given information about the characters from the actual narrator. Thus, the narration is used to show that even though Fevvers is present throughout the Petersburg section, she is not the focus. Rather, the narrator concentrates on the circus and the characters that make it up.
[edit] Siberia
The exact style of narration in Petersburg is also used in Siberia with one exception: the first person perspective of Fevvers is also presented. Fevvers internal dialogue is used to remove much, though not all, of the mystique surrounding her. Fevver's perspective not only reveals her inner, human confusions, but shifts the readers focus from what she says to what she thinks. Still, by presenting only Fevver's first person perspective, a unique treatment is applied to her that no other character receives thereby distinguishing her in a simialr manner to how her wings set her apart from the rest of the cast.
[edit] Allusions
[edit] Biblical Allusions
There are numerous biblical references throughout the course of the novel. In one such instance, Carter references the fallen angel, Lucifer in describing Fevver’s first attempt at flight.
“Like Lucifer, I fell. Down, down, down I tumbled being with a bump on the Persian rug below me…” [pg. 30]
The reference to Lucifer, often distinguished as the embodiment of evil in Christian literature, suggests that Fevvers herself is a fallen angel, rebelliously resisting the patriarchal doctrine of the nineteenth century. Like Lucifer who led the revolution against God during the “The War of the Heaven,” Fevvers may serve as a symbol for Women’s Suffrage and the fight for women’s rights in general.
In addition, Mr. Christian Rosencreutz, an obsessive customer of Madame Shreck’s refers to Fevvers as Azrael, Flora, Venus and Gabriel.
“Azrael, Azrail, Ashriel, Azriel, Azarail, Gabriel; dark angel of many names. Welcome to me, from your home in the third heaven. See, I welcome you with roses no less paradoxically vernal that your presence, who like Perseophone, comes from the Land of the Dead to herald new life!” [pg. 75]
“Flora; Azrael; Venus Pandemos! These are but a few of the many names with which I might honour my goddess…” [pg. 77]
To Rosencreutz, Fevvers is far and beyond any being he has ever come across. He is amazed by her existence, as he considers her neither woman nor bird. To him, she is no longer an entity, but rather a showpiece to be reveled. Rosencreutz believes Fevvers to be the fountain of youth and consequently wishes to offer her as sacrifice. His treatment of Fevvers reflects his overall view of women as only having value for their essence and aesthetics rather than their actual being.
[edit] Allusions to Other Works
Buchner (Woyzeck)- The story of Mignon's poor father killing her mother because she slept around with soldiers is a references Buchner's play Woyzeck which contemplated what it meant to be human and the plight of the lowest classes of society.
Hesse (Demian)- Fevvers continually refers to Walser's need to break out of his shell and into self realization and individuality. This image is borrowed from Hesse's novel Demian which presents the conflict between good and evil and its relationship to the indiviudal. In addition, Hesse draws from the philosophies of Nietzche, Freud, and Jung to present a theory of the subjectivism contained within the individual and man's ability to become human by breaking out of the shell that is the limitations forced upon him by society.
Ibsen (A Doll House)- There are numerous references in the novel that refer back to Ibsen's play, the most obvious references are usually to the title.
Shakespeare- many references are made ost often to specific scenes, interactions, or characters from various plays. For example the character of The Twelfth Night's Malvolio and Macbeth's Lady Macbeth are both presented as paralleling characters within the novel, referencing wither their modes of dress or attitude.
Herman Melville- Carter also references Ishmael (Moby-Dick), the protagonist and sole narrator of Herman Melville’s 1851 novel, Moby-Dick in describing the journalist Walser.
“Call him Ishmael; but Ishmael with an expense account, and, besides, a thatch of unruly flaxen hair, a ruddy, pleasant, square-jawed face and eeys the cool grey of skepticism.” [pg. 10]
This comparison to both the biblical Ishmael and Melville’s main character presents Walser as an outsider traveling the Earth. Additionally, like Melville’s renowned narrator, Walser considers himself the sole narrator, hoping to expose Fevvers for the fake that he initially believes her to be. However, also similar to Melville’s Moby Dick, Walser withdraws into the background and becomes a mere commentator as Fevvers and Lizzie take the reigns as the narrators of their mesmerizing tale.
Fairy Tales- There are many fairy tales implemented throughout the story most of which only briefly resemble their original context. Carter often inverts the sex of the characters typically changing the protagonist to a female. For example, Fevvers often acts as Walser's prince charming, rescuing him from several situations where he was hopeless without her.
[edit] Historical Context
The turn-of-the-century setting dictates much of the novel's content and its personas. The female characters in particular, encompass a transition between one century and the next and from one time period's ideals to another's. Specifically, Lizzie's character is not only a protector of the aerialiste, Fevvers, but of women's rights. She considers marriage a personal and social impediment and takes it upon herself to ensure that Fevvers does not fall into the trappings of a patriarchal society. Lizzie herself is a symbol of the nineteenth century's Suffrage Movement. The women of Ma Nelson's brothel similarly defy the female mold of previous centuries as Lizzie refers to them as suffragists in Chapter Two of Book One. The duality of prostitutes and suffragists is an interesting image and again depicts the females as novel forward thinking women.
Jack Walser's character also encompasses nineteenth century thought in his pragmatic approach to life, while the many members of the circus represent a transition towards a new century with different ideals as they struggle to find themselves, leaving their dark circus pasts behind.
[edit] Literary Significance and Reception
Though ultimately one of the later books of her career, Angela Carter’s 1984 novel Nights at the Circus was the first to bring her widespread acclaim, winning that year's James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. Carter’s penultimate novel was met with mixed reviews, some uncomfortable with the underlying politically driven content, while others praising it for its playfulness and originality. Many critics viewed the novel’s Sophia Fevvers as a winged version of the New Woman, able to escape the trappings of a patriarchal nineteenth century on into the twentieth century of feminist liberation. However, some feminists were disappointed with the novel, criticizing it for upholding a post-feminist stance. However, since Angela Carter’s death in 1992, both the novel and her reputation have reached even greater levels of popularity. Since then, the novel has made its way onto many academic syllabi and has since been adapted for the stage by Tom Morris and Emma Rice in 2006. Literary Encyclopedia, Tall Tales and Brief Lives: Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus
[edit] Awards and Nominations
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction (1984)
[edit] References
- Brian Finney on Nights at the Circus
- Jeff VanderMeer on Angela Carter's novels
- Literary Encyclopedia
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