Angels and Demons

There have been multiple and extensive allusions to the Bible in Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. They were introduced in the very beginning when Fevvers if often compared to an angel, good and bad. There have also been many allusions to the story of Jesus made by Buffo the clown. In chapter four of "Petersburg" Buffo is continually compared to Jesus from his placement in the middle of the table to his and the other clown's roles in the social structure. The entire scene in the boarding house with Walser and the other clowns is very much like the scene of the Last Supper, which is directly reference in the start of the chapter. The first descriptions of him on page 116 draw him as wearing his insides out and he is seven feet tall. These descriptions are obviously absurd, but when paired with a comparison to Jesus the reader is willing the suspend their disbelief. Buffo is a clown with a lot of charisma and while he is explaining to Walser throughout chapter four about the purpose and truth about being a clown the group around him are described as being completely enthralled with everything he was saying. This to me seems to resemble the Apostles of Jesus Christ, those who truly believed his lessons and spread the word.

FACT OF FAKED

The theme of reality versus artifice is presented from the very first paragraph of the novel in which Fevvers is telling the story of her life from the very beginning to Walser. Her story is immediately related to the mythological life of Helen of Troy because they were both born from an egg. This grand statement sets the story up for the constant mixing of the fact and fiction of Fevvers' life. She sets her life story up by telling the reader of her nickname in the public, "the 'Cockney Venus'". This is distinction on her meaning as an artist and character in the story submits to the idea of sexual desire and her seductive powers. Although this name was given to her by the public, she admits that it is quite fitting, and also admits to being powerfully seductive. This can lead to multiple readings: she did spend much of her life in a brothel, which would be the easy explanation for why she has so much sexual prowess and is appears quite confident in her body, despite it's abnormalities. The reader can also use the reference to Venus to mean that she easily turns her fans onto her own personal myth. This myth being her birth from an egg. After accepting and explaining her comfort with the name "Cockney Venus," Fevvers declares that she might as well be named  "Helen of the High Wire." This is another allusion to mythology; the birth of Helen of Troy who was conceived by a Zeus disguised as a swan and Leda, wife to the Spartan King. This is another grand statement about Fevvers' character. Not only is it putting her again into the realm of myth and fiction, it is making large claims about her importance and breeding. Helen was the daughter of the King of Kings and the first lady to a very powerful nation, someone worth fighting long and bloody wars over. The theme of reality versus artifice from the beginning is quite prominent and will stay very prominent because in order for the reader to stay invested in the story they must accept her word as the most true thing, despite the fact that Walser questions her in his thoughts and Lizzie outrightly interrupts and stops Fevvers during certain points in the story.

"Martin Amis Writes Postmodern Man"

Elie A. Edmondson does an excellent job identifying and explaining the very postmodernist aspects in Martin Amis' novels. Specifically in Money, Edmondson breaks down the narrative revealing the techniques that Amis employs in order to manipulate the reader and obtain a certain reaction. What I thought was interesting in context of this weekends reading was the idea that Martin Amis (author) is using Martin Amis (character) to reveal the pattern and end of John Self's life as both character and person. During their conversation about the script that Martin Amis (character) is re-writing he reveals the author, Martin Amis', trajectory for John Self as a character. Martin Amis says, "The further down the scale he is, the more liberties you can take with him. You can do what the hell you like to him. This creates an appetite for punishment. The author is not free of sadistic impulses" (229) John Self replies to this by demanding Martin give him a deadline for the script. In that moment Martin Amis exposed John Self's fate and John Self demanded it happen soon. This is an exceptionally metatextual moment in this novel. Elie A. Edmondson uses this moment to show one side of the novel's postmodern aspects. She explains how John Self is so immersed in his own ego and capitalist nature that he views the people around him as commodities with monetary value and that "he cannot recognize when he himself is being manipulated" (Edmondson 5).