Copyright © 2011 by Sarah Stegall
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Doubleday, $26.95, 400pp, hc, 9780385534635. Fantasy.
Warning: this review contains some spoilers.
“Something that is wonder and comfort and mystery all together—”
There is a sub-genre within fantastic literature that has always held a strong appeal for me: the circus. Circus-themed fantasy novels include The Circus of Dr. Lao and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. Media versions range from movie versions of those novels to The X-Files, Carnivale, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and even this year’s short-lived series, The Cape. A circus, traveling sideshow, carnival, whatever you call it, it’s a refuge for freaks, outcasts, and misfits, where the ordinary rules are suspended and anything is possible. Erin Morgenstern makes it the setting for The Night Circus, which is a love story, a magic duel, a mystery. It is one of the best novels I have read in years.
“It’s about how we deal with the repercussions of magic when placed in a public venue, in a world that does not believe in such things.”
In the nineteenth century, two magicians meet and make a bet: each will train a protégé in his arts, and the proxies will duel to the death. The chosen venue: a circus. But this is no ordinary circus. It is designed, from the ground up, by a cadre of visionaries, prophets, and eccentric geniuses. The proxies—a magician’s daughter named Celia and a young orphan who names himself Marco—grow up under the tutelage of their sponsors, learning different approaches to magic. Gradually it emerges that what’s going on here is a competition between two schools of magic, a nature versus nurture argument, as it were. Young Celia is trained to use her inborn talents; Marco learns spells and incantations. Both become expert practitioners—and then fall in love. Of course they do. Their merciless sponsors, however, care nothing for their feelings and press them to an impossible conclusion. They come to realize that they cannot even opt out of this “game”, as other lives than their own are at risk. Their solution to the dilemma is believable, unexpected, and extraordinary.
“A kaleidoscope of color, blazing with carmine and coral and canary, so much so that the entire room often appears to be on fire…”
The trappings of this tale are magnificent. From the opening sentence to the last, Morgenstern shows a fine and subtle hand. Her prose is as delicate and nuanced as the delights the magicians surprise one another with. Imaginative “acts” go far beyond the dog-and-pony shows of Ringling Brothers; we are offered eternal flames, stories trapped in bottles, an ice garden, a bubble maze. The circus itself is shrouded in mystery and magic; it comes and goes overnight, without warning. The story winds about like the maze of the circus itself, circles within circles, where time is so fluid that readers are wise to check the date at the beginning of each chapter to locate their place in the story. This convoluted, non-standard narrative sometimes feels forced and mannered, but by the time the last chapters approach, the timelines converge in a terrifying conclusion, masterfully handled.
“After the circus departed, he wrote down every detail he could remember about it so it would not fade in his memory.”
Morgenstern inserts a few wry bits we easily recognize. One such is the invention of fandom: patrons of the circus seek one another out, correspond with one another, form societies. They begin dressing in distinctive costumes, share backstage gossip, follow the circus itself like Deadheads following the Grateful Dead. It’s fun to see this Internet phenomenon play out in 19th century fashion, in hoop skirts, scented stationery, and foggy train stations. Morgenstern shows us the circus not just as a showcase for magic (real and otherwise) but as a transformative experience that changes some visitors forever. And like all persons transformed, they seek out others who have shared that experience, the only people who can truly understand. Morgenstern succeeds in drawing us all into that transformative, immersive experience, as she presents us with a taut story combining fantasy, magic, love, death, and secrets.
“Then the circus was gone, vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, like a fleeting dream.”
The Night Circus scintillates in the mind, reflecting the author’s mixed-media orientation as both artist and writer. If it is not on the lists for next year’s awards, I will be astonished and disappointed. I understand that this is Ms. Morgenstern’s first novel. If so, it is a breathtaking debut. May she live long, and prosper.