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Emily
I'll let you in on a secret. This was my second reading of 'Nights at the Circus'. It was good the first time around, and even better the second!
It could well be the weirdest book I've ever read, packed to the brim with macabre clowns, a real sleeping beauty, a brothel run by a female version of Nelson (complete with a sword!) and a princess who can tame tigers to dance the waltz just by playing the piano.
Without doubt, my favourite character in the novel is Fevvers. From her position of relative poverty in Nelson's house of prostitutes, she learns to make a living for herself using her assets - her wings! In this position of power, however, she also carries with her the 'burden' of her femininity. From the beginning, she literalises the slang term for women: 'bird'. But Fevvers is not one to live up to stereotype. She is constantly using her position to surprise people and make them readjust their prejudices. At the same time as creating her as the 'ideal woman' Carter does not any idealisation of her body at all - she is instead celebrated for being a real woman with an enormous appetite for food, sex, and fun. Her virginity (which is legendary), is told to herself as a fable, but this is all against what society expects of her, because she doesn't use it to support virginity as an ideal, but to make more money! She flaunts herself before the audience, and is in direct contrast to the closed, sensible person we might expect of a respectable Victorian woman.
Nights at the Circus is about more than just celebrating life, though. At the centre of the novel, for me, was a constant idea of illusion. What's real and what's not? Does it really matter? There are lots of characters in the novel, some of which are considerably more two-dimensional than Fevvers. Carter uses these caricatures to show us that those who are all performance and no substance become increasingly unimportant. Carter shows us this through the group of clowns at the circus. Even within the circus, the clowns' performances are dangerous, but without the structure of the circus to contain their anarchy the clowns, who are entirely self-made, and who do not exist behind their painted on faces, are emblems of degeneration that for Fevvers at least is a 'crime against humanity'. In Siberia, they end up performing a dance of the ultimate disaster and disintegration. They dance themselves and their audiences out of existence! For us to be fulfilled we can use an element of illusion to protect ourselves, but we need to appreciate and understand our own inner being as well. Walser, at the beginning of the novel is presented as a handsome man of the world, but his experiences have not touched him. By the end of the book, he's realised his own complexity which has developed through his love of Fevvers. Because of this, he can separate himself from his journalist's mask of objectivity to discover 'what a piece of work is man'! Fevvers' complexity stands in contrast to the caricatures in the novel, and as they wheel about the circus, sometimes veering off into obscurity, she stays constant and strong. Her strength is her complexity.
The ultimate theme in the novel is that of reality and illusion. At the end of the day, Fevvers is presenting herself as a bird-woman. As the slogans on the posters read: 'Is she fact, or is she fiction?' The circus is a setting for unreality, and the circus performers fake their appearances with make up and costumes. Likewise with all the settings in the novel - the characters are constantly being unsettled by the mismatch between appearance and reality, and we are similarly turned head over heels! What you see is not necessarily to be believed. We've got to think to decide our own meanings.
Throughout all the confusion, Fevvers stays central, and roots us in positivity and acceptance of ourselves. The final image, of Fevvers' laughter being so enormous that it fills the whole world, is testament to Carter's message - you've got to understand, enjoy and express your true self to be fulfilled, even in a world that is filled with stereotype, prejudice and ill-will. If we can learn to use these to our advantage, but not become them, then we are on the route to true happiness.
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I said to Emily after I had finished reading 'Nights at the Circus' that I thought I might have found my favourite book! You might describe the novel as - 'out there', and you certainly would be right because it is the craziest, jam-packed-with-excitement bundle of joviality! The blurb gives the reader the impression of a fantasy-orientated plot, but in all honesty, I found the novel more real than I had ever expected.
If you have read the novel, you know that Fevvers plays the role of main character. She simply is the most extraordinary woman, or rather, an 'arealiste extroadinare!', as she is termed by the posters - she is not only a woman, but she is in possession of a puzzling uniqueness - she has wings! Yes, she is part woman, part bird, and the whole novel revolves around the enigma of Fevvers and the questionable existence of her wings - 'is she fact or is she fiction?' Carter almost seems to hint the truth in the way Fevvers is presented, however. Just 'woman' seems to describe Fevvers' whole anatomy in short, because she is the embodiment of all that is feminine, and is not ashamed to proclaim it to the world either!
The story follows the Circus' journey through London, Petersburg and Siberia and through this we experience a multitude of settings. In London, we get to know Fevvers as she reports to Walser, the American journalist who becomes so entranced with Fevvers he follows her and the circus around the world, of her interesting life prior to her fame as an aerialiste at the circus. This is a lengthy account, almost entirely spoken through the mouth of Fevvers, (a voice full of London idiosyncrasies we soon come to love), over the full length of one night in Fevvers' dressing room. Walser fills up his notebook with the wonder of Fevvers' life, and the company in the dressing room drink their way to merry idleness until the morning comes. This might be my favourite part of the novel, because we watch as Walser becomes increasingly enchanted by confident Fevvers, and we learn about the bizarre life that Fevvers has led. Carter reflects Walser's rising lust for Fevvers with frequent reference to the grandfather clock on the mantelpiece which claims it is midnight at the chime of every hour. I was really engrossed in the novel at this point - the life and soul within Fevvers' voice is amazingly apparent, and I could not help but find myself being rather drawn into the world of Fevvers just the same as Walser.
I have not written about the novel in its entirety by any means, I have merely skimmed upon a small fraction of the wondrous land (or rather, lands) you will be whisked to when you read 'Nights at the Circus' - it truly is the most exciting book I have ever read, fantastic for broadening your vocab (I had to put that in), and uplifts the system! Tell us what you think of it!
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