The Exploding Library

'Am I fact or am I fiction?' Kiri Pritchard-McLean melts into the glorious unreality of Angela Carter's Nights At The Circus. Who is she when the performance ends?

"Am I fact or am I fiction?"

So asks the six-foot-something winged woman, Fevvers, the acclaimed aerialiste at the heart of Angela Carter's epic, Nights At The Circus. It's a question that has haunted almost every performer who's stepped onto a stage and seen their 'real' self and 'stage' selves blur.

Yet a woman with wings with the world at her feet is almost run-of-the-mill in this extravaganza. There's dancing tigers, murderous clowns, shamanic visions in the Siberian wilderness, and the odd pair of stinky tights.

Labels and genres are flung around - gothic, magical realism, fantasy - but the book, like Angela Carter's writing in general, evades categorisation at every turn. Twist the kaleidoscope and another vision emerges, twist again and the human condition is re-revealed.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean runs off with the circus to consider the performer underneath the greasepaint, and find out what happens when the performance comes to an end. (Plus chickens).