About this title: 'Angela Carter has influenced a whole generation of fellow writers towards dream worlds of baroque splendour, fairy tale horror, and visions of the alienated wreckage of a future world. In "Nights at the Circus" she has invented a new, raunchy, raucous, Cockney voice for her heroine Fevvers, taking us back into a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety'. "The Times".
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Acceptable. Former Library book. Shows definite wear, and perhaps considerable marking on inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Very good. Publishers Overstock. A Very Good copy with a Remainder Mark and wear to the extremities. Buy with confidence from an Independent Bookstore where the owners, a husband and wife team, have over 30 years of combined bookselling experience. read more
Edition: First US
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Viking Press, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780670803750ISBN:0670803758
Description: Good in Fair jacket. Some corner bumping. Light soiling to the bottom edge that is stamped "Not for Resale". Dust jacket is intact but has chips and tears along the edges. Clean text and a very good reading copy. read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: hardcover
Publisher: Viking, New York
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780670803750ISBN:0670803758
Description: Near fine(-) copy in near fine(-) dust jacket; Vikeship logo stamped on bottom edge; only slightest rubbing at heel of spine & to front bottom corner; unnoticeable closed tear to front top & bottom edge, else a smart copy. 8vo 8 1/2'x 5 3/8" red cloth w/ cream paper boards; gilt lettering on spine; red endpapers; 295 pgs; illus dust jacket w/ $15.95 on front flap. quotes by Victoria Glendinning on front flap and by Tom Robbins, Gilbert Sorrentino & Glendinning on back cover. jacket design by ... read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Press, New York
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780670803750ISBN:0670803758
Description: Very Good in Very Good jacket. 8vo-8"-9" Tall. First printing, advance copy with stamp to lower edge. Otherwise unmarked, fine. Dust jacket has a v-chip to lower rear panel, light handsoiling. Offered in new mylar cover. Inventive and zestful tale-spinning from one of Britain's most original and disturbing writers. 295pp. read more
Edition: First edition. American ed.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Viking Books
Date Published: 1985
ISBN-13:9780670803750ISBN:0670803758
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Edgewear, chipping and staining on dj, small stain on back cover, else fine. Sewn binding. Cloth over boards. With dust jacket. 294 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"Great! The story of a winged cockney lady turned circus aerialist (from hatching on) and the American journalist writing an article about her. A circus is the perfect backdrop to fuel Carter's imagination. Her characters include a manager running the show with advice from his pet pig, depressed clowns, a pianist who mesmerizes tigers with music, and a weak-minded strong man. They tour on a train through Siberia.
The author makes every word believable, and speaking of words, what rich vocabulary she uses! "Adenoidal," "misericordia," "prestidigitation" were a few I needed to look up."
"A wonderful postmodern, magical realist romp through the fin-de-siecle in England and Russia, with a couple of American characters thrown in for good measure. It's a wild story about a bird-woman, involving a brothel, a circus,an evil sorcerer, a good Marxist household witch, Russian bandits, murderesses, a Siberian shaman, and lots of attractions between and within the sexes. The writing's beautiful and witty. Be prepared to look up a few delicious words. Literary allusions abound, including self-conscious, self-referential ones made by the characters to their own story. While any of this could be annoying, it's all delightful instead. Couldn't recommend it more highly."
"i dunno, it was okay. maybe some things shouldnt be adapted, or maybe they should be adapted by the people who actually wrote them. i know if i had seen this as a play, rather than reading it as a play, i would have hated it, based on the amount of singing involved. underwhelming but not offensive..."
"i have thoroughly canvassed my love of angela carter in other reviews here, where i was taken to task for daring to suggest that a novella is a novella. that level of idiocy still burns my biscuits. anyway, all accounts are that this book is a bit challenging to locate within the united states, but is plentiful in australia. i am confused. i found a copy at my local used bookstore. maybe i got lucky? or maybe i was misinformed about its scarcity. it's the story of a woman who was born with wings. as she grew up & went through puberty & all that good becoming-a-woman stuff, her wings blossomed with her, & she was tutored in how to use her wings & eventually joined a circus, where she became a big star. not in a freak show way. she was whisked around by royalty & rich suitors & paid huge amounts of money for solo appearances in which she would wear spangled costumes & fly around, showing off her wings. the book is written as if a journalist is interviewing her, attempting to determine the veracity of this whole i-was-born-with-wings story. the winged woman & her constant companion/chaperone-type caretaker take on the task of detailing her life story: abandoned as an infant on the front stoop of a brothel, adopted by the madame & her girls as a kind of cherub of the whores, schooled at an early age in playing to an appreciative audience & the possibilities of selling her unique talent to the highest bidder. the story creates some doubt as to whether the wings are real, & nothing is really confirmed one way or the other, so you can believe or dibelieve according to your faith in the narrators. it's all very what-a-business-this-show-business/feminist parable/let's dip into greek myths & a dash of shakespeare. they don't make writers like angela carter anymore."
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