Over the last few months of 2017 I took a novel I’ve been wrestling with and figured out it was less a story about people and more a story about stories.
Then I got my new place a bookshelf (at last!) and stumbled across a novel that’s sat on my reading list and in my boxes of books for too long. What irony this current reading choice was; it makes the phrase “everything has already been written” more true than ever.
The Night Circus
My latest source of inspiration has come from a book that’s sat on my list of To Read’s for a few years now.
Since I heard the name, saw the cover and heard it was similar to the film The Prestige and yet, not, I have wanted to read Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus I was fascinated.
For those unfamiliar, it came out in 2011 and tells the story of a competition between two magicians, at the end of the 19th century, who take to the stage of a circus to see who is the better.
Except it’s not really about these two magicians or even the rest of the vast cast of characters who pop up throughout. No, at heart it is about the circus.
The story unfolds in a masterful use of a multiple points of view, done in omniscient third person, just like the classic Victorian writers, and second person.
Second person is lauded as a “Do Not Touch” device in the writing world. It forces the reader to do exactly what the author wants, it feels as if the author is taking a sledgehammer to your personal thoughts. Well, at least, that’s how it feels when it’s done without clear purpose other than trying to be “edgy” or “literary.” Pick your buzzword.
Erin Morgenstern’s use of the second person is short, never more than a single page, a short scene, that acts as a framing device which brings the entire weave of tales into a sublime bow that reminds me of the classic story One Thousand and One Nights.
I can see why it’s a love or hate novel; what with the back cover giving us the thriller/romance story of two characters when really it’s about a thing (the circus). Though the circus isn’t even really a circus; it’s a collection of tents with performers, a few acrobats but mostly a lot of pretty things to explore that are made of magic and passed of as illusion. There are thrills and there is romance but those are set dressing, not the magic.
But if you want a story that spans over a decade. A story that explores the nature of magic, illusion and people’s passion for things beyond the norm, then this is a brilliant story.
It’s a story about stories.
Funny how the universe circles around like that. Though as writers, writing stories about stories probably isn’t much further off than the excess level of stories about struggling writers. At least mine does the story theme with anthropomorphized ideas, demi-gods and the ancient world.
Still, I can’t help but wonder what spell landed this book in my lap at this point in time. What’s been magical about your new year so far?
Interesting post illuminating Erin Morgenstern’s book, “The Night Circus.” You have me intrigued and now I’m going to have to find this book to figure out who is really telling this story and what the heck is it really about. I guess the real question though is WHO is reading the book. LOVED the picture you chose to open your post….obviously, YOU saw your dreams and took pictures of them too. Thanks for another inspiring blog post.