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The Circus of Dr. Lao
Abalone, Arizona, is a sleepy southwestern town whose chief concerns are boredom and surviving the Great Depression. That is, until the circus of Dr. Lao arrives and immensely and irrevocably changes the lives of everyone drawn to its tents. Expecting a sideshow spectacle, the citizens of Abalone instead confront and learn profound lessons from the mythical made real--a chimera, a Medusa, a talking sphinx, a sea serpent, witches, the Hound of the Hedges, a werewolf, a mermaid, an ancient god, and the elusive, ever-changing Dr. Lao. The circus unfolds, spinning magical, dark strands that ensnare the town's the sea serpent's tale shatters love's illusions; the fortune-teller's shocking pronouncements toll the tedium and secret dread of every person's life; sensual undercurrents pour forth for men and women alike; and the dead walk again. Dazzling and macabre, literary and philosophical, The Circus of Dr. Lao has been acclaimed as a masterpiece of speculative fiction and influenced such writers as Ray Bradbury. This Bison Frontiers of Imagination edition features a new introduction by noted fantasy writer John Marco and striking illustrations by Boris Artzybasheff from the first edition.
154 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1935
51 people are currently reading
2,346 people want to read
About the author
Charles G. Finney
38Ìýbooks15ÌýfollowersCharles Grandison Finney was an American news editor and fantasy novelist, the great-grandson of evangelist Charles Grandison Finney.
Finney was a fantasy novelist. His first novel, "The Circus of Dr. Lao," was selected as the Most Original Book of 1935 at the first-ever National Book Awards.
Finney was a fantasy novelist. His first novel, "The Circus of Dr. Lao," was selected as the Most Original Book of 1935 at the first-ever National Book Awards.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 237 reviews
August 23, 2012
THE. MOST. UNSETTLING. THING. I. HAVE. EVER. READ.
As if in coda to my completion, a painter brought into my folks' decorating store a dead hummingbird he found in the back of his van. He brought it forward like an acolyte bearing the thin weight of his aged master, forward toward a raised dais, laying it down, then prostrating himself in supplication. The painter said to me, lying the stiff, inert carcass upon my desk, "I thought you could give it a good burial. I...I...I just don't know how it got in there..."
And so a soul was claimed.
This book is a monster. It is a monster for the mirror it shines upon us all: our humanity, and our vein attempts to circumvent it.
It begins calmly enough, an advert placed in the Abalone, Arizona newspaper, announcing the circus of Dr. Lao was on its way. But no one saw it on the roads. And no one saw it on the rails.
We meet a scattering of characters, all used ingeniously by Mr. Finney for what they bring to his plot. These characters he sets in motion, automatons in Dr. Lao's diabolical scheme.
From page one, the reader is aware of what to expect, for it is spelled out in the curving letters that slither through Mr. Lao's advert. We simply sit back, and feel the weight of suspense as it presses down upon our chests.
The weight lifts, and you feel giddy. You're standing in a warm green pasture, rolling fields in the distance. The sun shines bright above your head, warming your shoulders. Clover peoples the grass, spores float on the breeze. A butterfly, yellow, diaphanous wings, dips, swirls around your head, kisses your nose with its scratchy lepidoptera legs. You're at peace. Calm. You feel you know your place in the world, are at one with it.
You see a spark in the sky. Very tiny at first, and then it grows, expands, contorts. It is silver and it catches the sun. Glints. You hear the whine of a motor, a clunking, sputtering sound. As the glint falls, the noise rises, shivering your arms, causing the tiny hairs to stand on end. Your skin warps, thins. The sound is deafening. You feel a pulse inside your head, your eardrums beat an irregular rhythm, your legs quiver and you fall. Your arms are above your head the the weight of this object that is falling, falling, flames, you see as you look up are licking out, tasting the fragile air.
Palms pressed against your ears, you huddle into a fetal position, close your eyes, and wait for the silence that will come.
As if in coda to my completion, a painter brought into my folks' decorating store a dead hummingbird he found in the back of his van. He brought it forward like an acolyte bearing the thin weight of his aged master, forward toward a raised dais, laying it down, then prostrating himself in supplication. The painter said to me, lying the stiff, inert carcass upon my desk, "I thought you could give it a good burial. I...I...I just don't know how it got in there..."
And so a soul was claimed.
This book is a monster. It is a monster for the mirror it shines upon us all: our humanity, and our vein attempts to circumvent it.
It begins calmly enough, an advert placed in the Abalone, Arizona newspaper, announcing the circus of Dr. Lao was on its way. But no one saw it on the roads. And no one saw it on the rails.
We meet a scattering of characters, all used ingeniously by Mr. Finney for what they bring to his plot. These characters he sets in motion, automatons in Dr. Lao's diabolical scheme.
From page one, the reader is aware of what to expect, for it is spelled out in the curving letters that slither through Mr. Lao's advert. We simply sit back, and feel the weight of suspense as it presses down upon our chests.
The weight lifts, and you feel giddy. You're standing in a warm green pasture, rolling fields in the distance. The sun shines bright above your head, warming your shoulders. Clover peoples the grass, spores float on the breeze. A butterfly, yellow, diaphanous wings, dips, swirls around your head, kisses your nose with its scratchy lepidoptera legs. You're at peace. Calm. You feel you know your place in the world, are at one with it.
You see a spark in the sky. Very tiny at first, and then it grows, expands, contorts. It is silver and it catches the sun. Glints. You hear the whine of a motor, a clunking, sputtering sound. As the glint falls, the noise rises, shivering your arms, causing the tiny hairs to stand on end. Your skin warps, thins. The sound is deafening. You feel a pulse inside your head, your eardrums beat an irregular rhythm, your legs quiver and you fall. Your arms are above your head the the weight of this object that is falling, falling, flames, you see as you look up are licking out, tasting the fragile air.
Palms pressed against your ears, you huddle into a fetal position, close your eyes, and wait for the silence that will come.
August 18, 2012
This strange slender deadpan novel (I think Charles Finney is the first incarnation of Kurt Vonnegut) from 1935 charmed me half to death when I first read it years ago. And it pretty nearly did it again just now. As the years rolled by I think it's got even stranger. For one thing, for a silly fantasy about a circus full of the world's most mythical beings (a sphinx, a chimera, a sea serpent, a mermaid, a werewolf, a hound of the hedges, whatever that is, along with Appolonius of Tyana, a magician, and Yottle, a god, and so on and so forth) turning up in a hick town in Arizona, where the phlegmatic locals suppose they may as well stroll down and check it out, and mostly aren't that impressed, and say many things like "I never thought there was no sech animal" and "however did you catch this here satyr anyhow, Doctor?" and "well, did you ever" and "ma you said you'd get me a ice cream" (after Appolonius has created a live turtle out of mud), there's an awful lot of sex hanging over the proceedings. Like a muggy fog or a moggy fug it seeps into everything. For a kickoff there is the satyr, obviously, which may be three thousand years old give or take, but his musk sacs still work very well thank you, and there's many a good tune played on an old panpipe you know, and Miss Agnes Birdsong, a young school teacher, gets along with the satyr just fine. A very educational sideshow.
The story is hardly there at all. First the circus trundles into town, a weedy feeble sorry looking procession. Then a number of citizens decide they may as well go and see it. Then they visit the various crazy creatures in their tents and have banal conversations and Doctor Lao lectures them about each creature in a mock- scholarly manner. Then the main performance in the big top takes place, which is a demonstration by Appolonius of a witches' sabbath, with a fair bit of whipping of naked witches, and then:
The spectacle of the ancient city Woltercan worshipping their god Yottle, who was the first and mightiest and least forgiving of all the gods
This involves the sacrifice of a virgin.
End.
There is a bizarre metafictional epilogue called The Catalogue : An explanation of the obvious which must be read to be appreciated
This is a cast list, which lists every single human or non-human creature mentioned in the book with random comments, such as
The sons of the railroad man : a) Ed junior. Barefoot boy with cheeks of tan, except that his cheeks were pale and his mother wouldn't let him go barefoot. b) Little Howard. Papa spanked him oftener than he did Ed junior.
Or
The clowns : Pantaloons whose hearts are breaking.
For fans of odd, discarded, wayward old novels.
Want to read
May 13, 2017This book is copy 40 of 250 copies printed and is signed by:
Stefan Dziemianowicz
David Ho
Matthew Jaffe
Full color images are printed on Mohawk Superfine.
Contents:
009 - Introduction
023 - The Circus of Dr. Lao
173 - The Black Retriever
185 - The Captivity
195 - The Door
207 - The Gilashrikes
215 - The Horsenapping of Hotspur
229 - The Iowan Curse
249 - The Life and Death of a Western Gladiator
259 - Isabell the Inscrutable
279 - Murder with Feathers
285 - Private Prince
297 - The Night Crawler
312 - Acknowledgements
313 - Signature Page
Stefan Dziemianowicz
David Ho
Matthew Jaffe
Full color images are printed on Mohawk Superfine.
Contents:
009 - Introduction
023 - The Circus of Dr. Lao
173 - The Black Retriever
185 - The Captivity
195 - The Door
207 - The Gilashrikes
215 - The Horsenapping of Hotspur
229 - The Iowan Curse
249 - The Life and Death of a Western Gladiator
259 - Isabell the Inscrutable
279 - Murder with Feathers
285 - Private Prince
297 - The Night Crawler
312 - Acknowledgements
313 - Signature Page
January 13, 2021
Hace AÑOS no me conmovÃa ni me asombraba tanto una obra de fantasÃa como ésta (creo que desde de Barry Hughart). Con una premisa sencilla (un misterioso circo llega a una pequeña ciudad, cuyos asombrosos artistas cambiarán para siempre la vida de las personas), personajes con diálogos excelentes (inolvidable Apolonio de Triana adivinando el futuro de una mujer obsesionada con los videntes) y escenas muy logradas (la del inicio: ¿es un ruso? ¿es un oso? cada persona va viendo de manera distinta a los distintos personajes). Una fantasÃa muy distinta, de las que ya no se escriben, casi como una fábula, alejada del grimdark, fantasÃa épica o inspirada por los cuentos de hadas que leà este año, absolutamente merecedora del Premio al Libro más original del National Book Award (1935).
Yo leà esta edición de Bruguera, que ya está descatalogada, pero en la edición de Berenice (de 2006) se agregan las 7 ilustraciones de la edición original de 1935, realizadas por Boris Artzybasheff, que son preciosas (y que espero poder comprar) (después me enteré que hay pelÃcula: "The seven faces of Dr. Lao" asà que la veré: )
Mi mejor lectura del 2020.
Yo leà esta edición de Bruguera, que ya está descatalogada, pero en la edición de Berenice (de 2006) se agregan las 7 ilustraciones de la edición original de 1935, realizadas por Boris Artzybasheff, que son preciosas (y que espero poder comprar) (después me enteré que hay pelÃcula: "The seven faces of Dr. Lao" asà que la veré: )
Mi mejor lectura del 2020.
August 22, 2020
Abalone, no Arizona, era um lugar ermo pacato e tranquilo onde os habitantes se preocupavam tão somente com o tédio e em sobreviver à Grande Depressão. Era, até o circo do doutor Lao(mágico e misterioso) chegar à cidade e mudar a vida de todos. Só que ao invés desse circo ter leões , elefantes e tigres , tinha bestas da mitologia, animais lendários, medusas, esfinge,
Lobisomem , aberrações da natureza, serpentes que falam e animais jamais vistos. Com toda essa variedade de atrações, o circo sacode a pequena cidade fazendo com que seus moradores fossem quase todos a visitar esse circo. Cada deles vão ao circo com uma expectativa diferente; uns querem desmascarar o dr lao , uma senhora quer perguntar ao adivinho se nas suas terras tem petróleo e assim por diante. O livro levanta a questão sobre o que é ser livre,como no diálogo entre a serpente marinha e o senhor Etaoin. Enfim cada atração do circo é como se fosse uma parábola.
Publicado pela primeira vez em 1936 é um clássico da literatura fantástica, adorei o livro .
Lobisomem , aberrações da natureza, serpentes que falam e animais jamais vistos. Com toda essa variedade de atrações, o circo sacode a pequena cidade fazendo com que seus moradores fossem quase todos a visitar esse circo. Cada deles vão ao circo com uma expectativa diferente; uns querem desmascarar o dr lao , uma senhora quer perguntar ao adivinho se nas suas terras tem petróleo e assim por diante. O livro levanta a questão sobre o que é ser livre,como no diálogo entre a serpente marinha e o senhor Etaoin. Enfim cada atração do circo é como se fosse uma parábola.
Publicado pela primeira vez em 1936 é um clássico da literatura fantástica, adorei o livro .
April 19, 2012
This is a truly extraordinary book. it packs into its short length more commentary on human nature in both its sad and wonderful aspects than many authors would struggle to depict through vast volumes of work. I believe that in a just world this book would be considered among the paragons of American letters, right up there with free-thinking luminaries like Mark Twain, who Charles Finney indeed often calls to my mind while reading The Circus of Dr. Lao. The whole story takes place in a day and, indeed, you should be able to read this book in a few hours, and because of its brevity and depth it is one you can and should keep returning to. like the best works of Twain, every new reading brings something slightly new, and a different perspective.
Finney's style never fails to be engaging, and there are many scenes here that always have me laughing aloud. Some of the humour is cute, some clever, and some just makes you laugh because people can be pretty shitty and Finney just does a great job of showing exactly how and why this is, and you laugh because you know it's true as much as the hoity-toity like to pretend they can hide this part of their nature. I also found certain bits here to be wonderfully racey, especially for their time, and while I'd definitely love to read this one to my kids if I ever had any, I think only the imaginary "ultra-cool schools" would ever teach this one in class.
A lot of the characters are just there to be a part of Finney's dart board, and even though he starts by being gentle toward them they almost always fall short of his apparent expectation. It's interesting to read the catalog of characters at the back and see how he fleshes out bits of their background and personality outside of the story, like a cool bit of post-modern asidery well before the term was in vogue...."ever wonder what happened to so-and-so? No? Well I'll tell you anyway!" Finney even includes a series of questions you might just have been asking yourself while reading the book, but which you maybe were too embarrassed to voice aloud because you were afraid it might make you look stupid. "Nope," Finney seems to be saying, "you damn well should have been asking! whatsamatta, glod dam punk!?"
Basically I think your life should be somehow made better by reading this book, which is an effect that only the best literature can have. There's a lot of discussion on this page about the movie based on this work, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, which is fun but basically just light entertaining fluff compared with the original source. It's as though Hollywood sucked all the meat out of the story and left just a sweet kids' romp. Don't relate or compare this to the film; see and understand them as completely separate entities and you'll be a lot better off. This book is a piece of timeless literature; I hope that in a hundred years people will still be reading this and singing its praises.
Finney's style never fails to be engaging, and there are many scenes here that always have me laughing aloud. Some of the humour is cute, some clever, and some just makes you laugh because people can be pretty shitty and Finney just does a great job of showing exactly how and why this is, and you laugh because you know it's true as much as the hoity-toity like to pretend they can hide this part of their nature. I also found certain bits here to be wonderfully racey, especially for their time, and while I'd definitely love to read this one to my kids if I ever had any, I think only the imaginary "ultra-cool schools" would ever teach this one in class.
A lot of the characters are just there to be a part of Finney's dart board, and even though he starts by being gentle toward them they almost always fall short of his apparent expectation. It's interesting to read the catalog of characters at the back and see how he fleshes out bits of their background and personality outside of the story, like a cool bit of post-modern asidery well before the term was in vogue...."ever wonder what happened to so-and-so? No? Well I'll tell you anyway!" Finney even includes a series of questions you might just have been asking yourself while reading the book, but which you maybe were too embarrassed to voice aloud because you were afraid it might make you look stupid. "Nope," Finney seems to be saying, "you damn well should have been asking! whatsamatta, glod dam punk!?"
Basically I think your life should be somehow made better by reading this book, which is an effect that only the best literature can have. There's a lot of discussion on this page about the movie based on this work, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, which is fun but basically just light entertaining fluff compared with the original source. It's as though Hollywood sucked all the meat out of the story and left just a sweet kids' romp. Don't relate or compare this to the film; see and understand them as completely separate entities and you'll be a lot better off. This book is a piece of timeless literature; I hope that in a hundred years people will still be reading this and singing its praises.
May 27, 2018
I am fascinated by circus themes, which is why I picked up this odd little book. A Chinese man brings a circus into the small hick town of Abalone, Arizona. The advertising is itself funny, arousing the curiosity of the townspeople, most of whom end up going to the circus. What happens there and the curiosities displayed by Dr Lao are the rest of the plot.
For a start, it was quite interesting to see what an author in 1935 would have considered outlandish in a circus, considering there were "freak shows" of people with all kinds of physical conditions. I think the Russian who was a bear was the most interesting of them all. The creatures are taken mostly from folklore and mythology. I also enjoyed Dr Lao's appearances, at times talking fluently in English and at other times using pidgin, clearly showing that perceptions are in the eye of the beholder.
But beyond the excellent description of the circus and its inhabitants, the novel lacked a cohesive narrative. Some of the scary things are not scary at all. Most of the "problems" that arise are directed towards women. The story is overall quite sexist in different ways with turning a woman into stone, orgies where women try to appease a deity, and caps it all with a virgin sacrifice. Not pleased!
All said and done, however, this little book is a bit of a freak show in itself. It is wonderfully obscure and twisted and bizarre. For lovers of odd gems of literature, this is highly recommended. Just expect to get slightly offended with the racism and sexism, but overlooking these can bring its own reward.
For a start, it was quite interesting to see what an author in 1935 would have considered outlandish in a circus, considering there were "freak shows" of people with all kinds of physical conditions. I think the Russian who was a bear was the most interesting of them all. The creatures are taken mostly from folklore and mythology. I also enjoyed Dr Lao's appearances, at times talking fluently in English and at other times using pidgin, clearly showing that perceptions are in the eye of the beholder.
But beyond the excellent description of the circus and its inhabitants, the novel lacked a cohesive narrative. Some of the scary things are not scary at all. Most of the "problems" that arise are directed towards women. The story is overall quite sexist in different ways with turning a woman into stone, orgies where women try to appease a deity, and caps it all with a virgin sacrifice. Not pleased!
All said and done, however, this little book is a bit of a freak show in itself. It is wonderfully obscure and twisted and bizarre. For lovers of odd gems of literature, this is highly recommended. Just expect to get slightly offended with the racism and sexism, but overlooking these can bring its own reward.
August 6, 2007
A strange tale of a circus that comes to a quiet depression era town. The story itself is kind of fun in a magical realist sort of way, but where the author really shines is when he steps out of the story telling to give pretty scathing critiques of society and progress. Sort of reads like Kurt Vonnegut at times, especially in the glossary defining all the characters and inconsistencies in the book. Good stuff (although one reviewer is mistaken that his is Charles Finney's only book. A very quick perusal of the introduction (of which I didn't read, and probably won't read) says that he wrote books after this one, but his first novel was the only one to gain any kind of success. The said reviewer also doesn't like 'R' rated material in his books, nor effeminate actors. I on the other hand either don't notice the 'r' ratedness of books, or don't get shocked by such content, and haven't ever since the giggles and blushes of being an 8th grader reading the orgy scene at the end of Stephen Kings It.)
January 12, 2018
An odd, mordant phantasmagoria. There are traces of sexist and racist attitudes that don't sit well with me, but leavened by the urbane wit and rich imagination. It's a strange book really, frivolous but thought provoking, and blessed with a wonderful set of appendices that remind me of Ambrose Bierce in Infernal lexicographer mode.
January 29, 2015
What an odd little book! The Circus of Dr Lao is... well...odd, surreal, humorous, jarring, unsettling, magical and bizarre. It deserves to be more than an 'obscure classic'.
The book starts out strange and just gets stranger. There's not much to the story, a circus comes to the sleepy town of Abalone, Arizona and the townsfolk seem unimpressed but they've got nothing better to do, so they go.
There is a scene in which a lady has her fortune told. It's so brilliant and brutal. Wow! Shirley Jackson would have loved it!
This is an easy read, for all the weirdness, and short enough to be read in a day. I think I'll still be thinking about it for a long time. Recommended to fans of obscure classics.
The book starts out strange and just gets stranger. There's not much to the story, a circus comes to the sleepy town of Abalone, Arizona and the townsfolk seem unimpressed but they've got nothing better to do, so they go.
There is a scene in which a lady has her fortune told. It's so brilliant and brutal. Wow! Shirley Jackson would have loved it!
This is an easy read, for all the weirdness, and short enough to be read in a day. I think I'll still be thinking about it for a long time. Recommended to fans of obscure classics.
May 30, 2011
I have a fondness for the people of the sleepy little town of Abalone, Arizona. I too live in a small desert town. It's not in Arizona but it is a stone's throw away on the other side of the Colorado River. I wouldn't call it sleepy since it is on the I-10, one of the busiest interstates in the nation. Yet it does occasionally seem like it is on the verge of lapsing into a coma. We even have a circus that comes into town twice a year. It has a not-so-big-top tent, an asthmatic ringmaster and an acrobat who falls a lot. But at least it's a circus.
So I can identify with the people of Abalone, Arizona when The Circus of Dr. Lao arrives to their town. Dr. Lao's one day extravaganza exhibits mythological creatures of wonder. They have a magician that really does magic and a seer who really tells the future, which of course is usually depressing. I can understand how the residents struggle with their beliefs and skepticism, some learning but most going on with their illusions. But I would give a year of my life for one day with the circus of Dr. Lao where small town reality is given a kick in the groin and fantasy interrupts monotony.
Finney's under-appreciated fantasy novel has no real plot. It chronicles a day the circus comes into town. Yet the author weaves a fantastical story that is bolstered by Dr. Lao's wonderful descriptions of his creatures that is party traditional mythology and party Lao's own fabrication. The tension, and delight, of the story comes in the town resident's own reactions which runs the gamut from disbelief to unrealistic optimism. This is one of the books you read for the language. It is somewhere between Bradbury and Beagle in style although it would be more accurate to say Bradbury and Beagle takes their style from Finney as this book was published in 1935. It is also surprisingly racy for its time especially considering that the words "pornographic" and "hermaphroditic" appear by the second page. Unlike what those who saw the movie 7 faces of Dr. Lao may assume, this is not a children's book. But it is a witty and sometimes surrealist look at human nature and what happens when complacency is challenged.
So I can identify with the people of Abalone, Arizona when The Circus of Dr. Lao arrives to their town. Dr. Lao's one day extravaganza exhibits mythological creatures of wonder. They have a magician that really does magic and a seer who really tells the future, which of course is usually depressing. I can understand how the residents struggle with their beliefs and skepticism, some learning but most going on with their illusions. But I would give a year of my life for one day with the circus of Dr. Lao where small town reality is given a kick in the groin and fantasy interrupts monotony.
Finney's under-appreciated fantasy novel has no real plot. It chronicles a day the circus comes into town. Yet the author weaves a fantastical story that is bolstered by Dr. Lao's wonderful descriptions of his creatures that is party traditional mythology and party Lao's own fabrication. The tension, and delight, of the story comes in the town resident's own reactions which runs the gamut from disbelief to unrealistic optimism. This is one of the books you read for the language. It is somewhere between Bradbury and Beagle in style although it would be more accurate to say Bradbury and Beagle takes their style from Finney as this book was published in 1935. It is also surprisingly racy for its time especially considering that the words "pornographic" and "hermaphroditic" appear by the second page. Unlike what those who saw the movie 7 faces of Dr. Lao may assume, this is not a children's book. But it is a witty and sometimes surrealist look at human nature and what happens when complacency is challenged.
April 24, 2008
A book quite unlike anything else I’ve ever read. It concerns the visit of Dr Lao’s circus to a small Midwestern town during the Depression. This is a very unconventional circus. It’s a collection of mythological creatures, but not everyone who sees them can agree about what they are. There’s really no plot at all, the book merely deals with the effects that Dr Lao’s circus has on the various people who see it. It’s a kind of fable, with a definite touch of surrealism to it. The early 1960s movie version has very little in common with the novel. A disturbing but magical book, and one you won’t forget. Originally published in 1935.
November 7, 2018
(This stub of a review was inspired by Manuel Antão's.)
One of the most interesting conflicts between the fantastic and the mundane I've seen in literature. Here comes this carnival full of the beasts of myth and magic (the creatures of the night, as Peter S. Beagle would later call them in The Last Unicorn) ... and nobody in the hick Arizonian town gives a damn. Just juxtapose the conversations between the town people with Dr. Lao's speeches. It would be funny if it weren't mind-boggling. What do these people see when you show them a unicorn? What's happened to their sense of wonder, their capacity to marvel? Do they even care?
Etc. :)
One of the most interesting conflicts between the fantastic and the mundane I've seen in literature. Here comes this carnival full of the beasts of myth and magic (the creatures of the night, as Peter S. Beagle would later call them in The Last Unicorn) ... and nobody in the hick Arizonian town gives a damn. Just juxtapose the conversations between the town people with Dr. Lao's speeches. It would be funny if it weren't mind-boggling. What do these people see when you show them a unicorn? What's happened to their sense of wonder, their capacity to marvel? Do they even care?
Etc. :)
February 10, 2017
-Propia, distinta, mordaz, intemporal, crÃptica, bella.-
Género. Narrativa Fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. A la localidad de Abalone, en Arizona, llega el circo del doctor Lao. Nadie sabe cómo ha llegado, todos ven cosas algo distintas en el desfile y, cuando varios habitantes van al recinto, descubrirán muchas cosas desconocidas del espectáculo y de ellos mismos.
¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:
Género. Narrativa Fantástica.
Lo que nos cuenta. A la localidad de Abalone, en Arizona, llega el circo del doctor Lao. Nadie sabe cómo ha llegado, todos ven cosas algo distintas en el desfile y, cuando varios habitantes van al recinto, descubrirán muchas cosas desconocidas del espectáculo y de ellos mismos.
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Shelved as 'saw-the-movie'
July 19, 2017I have this 1935 paperback novel in a 1974 but satisfyingly yellowed printing, but I haven't read it. Instead I've seen twice, once a long time ago--not when it originally came out but in the '70s, maybe, or the '80s, so probably on tape--and once a week or so ago. I had fond memories of its being both silly and moving and had the urge to see it again. The movie's name is a little bit different: 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. Trouble brews in a tiny western town that has fallen on hard times as a villain tries to get the citizens to lose faith and sell cheap. In addition, several residents have life problems of their own. Along comes a stereotypical Chinaman who, however, has something up his sleeve. He announces a circus. The circus has six stars, and the same actor who plays the Chinaman plays them all, to great effect. It's Tony Randall. Peter Sellers was considered but wasn't yet a big enough star. The movie is one of those that could have been performed on the stage. The plot is along the lines of A Christmas Carol: after confrontation with carrots and sticks plus a little magic here and there, the individual characters change themselves and their lives for the better. The town's overall difficulty gets a happy ending too. Perhaps due to the decent economy at the time the movie was being made, the villain isn't too villainous; he was just disillusioned and was hoping to get overturned. Interestingly, although his get-rich aims were the purported problem such that the townspeople had to be warned not to sell out for silver, it seems everyone will get to cash in at the end. And, yes, the East provides what the West needs. It's a little hokey but still as I remembered.
March 14, 2019
Such a curious and odd little book. My favorite part was the end with the list of all the questions that the story never answered.
Docked a lot of points for dated and racist language and stereotypes though.
Docked a lot of points for dated and racist language and stereotypes though.
May 4, 2017
If you want to enter a strange and eerie world of outlandish beasts of myth and legend, all presided over by an enigmatic string-pulling Chinese showman of indeterminate age, then throw all disbelief overboard and let Dr. Lao's circus surround you with its mysteries and contradictions. This is what some of the inhabitants of a dusty Arizona town did on a summer's afternoon long ago, and not one of them would walk away from the experience unmoved in one way or another -- and some of them would in fact not walk away at all. Poor Kate was one of these unfortunates. She was understandably skeptical of the Medusa's powers, even though Dr. Lao was adamant that calamity would befall anybody who dared to meet the deadly stare of the snake-crowned creature directly. But Kate had a mind of her own. The result was an instantaneous transformation to stone, and an ignominious removal from the showgrounds in the back of a truck summoned for that very purpose.
The good citizens of Abalone first became aware of the momentous event about to shake up their town when they read the wondrous advertisement in the Morning Tribune for August third. It hinted none too subtly at a circus that was as far removed from the usual understanding of that word as it was possible to get. Not only would the main show be a spectacle the likes of which had never before been seen by mere mortals, but there would be sideshow displays featuring extraordinary creatures and freaks -- not to mention a peepshow for the edification of the gentlemen patrons that would bring to life before their very eyes fragments culled from the erotic dramas dating back to times immemorial. But before the start of any of these delights, there was to be a parade wending its way down Main Street as a preliminary to the sideshows and the main attraction.
Charles G. Finney's short fantasy novel introduces us to a fairly long list of characters -- the ordinary people of the southwestern town of Abalone. Among others there are Mr. Etaoin, the proofreader on the Morning Tribune; Miss Agnes Birdsong, English teacher; Rogers the plumber and his wife and children; the lawyer Frank Tull and his wife; assorted police officers, including the Chief of Police; the traffic officer and his family; Mrs. Howard T. Cassan, a widow; and Larry Kamper, ex-infantry man recently back from China where he was stationed. All these people will arrive at the grounds set aside for Dr. Lao's circus on the banks of the Santa Ana River during the course of the afternoon prior to the first of two main circus shows.
Their experiences at the midway sideshows make for entertaining reading -- sometimes farcical, sometimes philosophical, sometimes ironical -- and always highly charged with a sense of magic and dread as the prosaic workaday townspeople come face-to face with the uncanny and the fantastical. Always part of the scene, is the ageless Dr. Lao -- now erudite with knowledge of his other worldly menagerie while delivering his scholarly monologues; now indignant and hilariously pretending to spout pidgin English when a question comes a little too close to the bone; now nothing so much as an enthusiastic barker reeling in the crowds with hyperbolic and sensational terminology.
And as the hot afternoon progresses towards the anticipated main show, Miss Birdsong will have an erotically-charged encounter with a lusty satyr; the traffic officer's family will watch the hatching of a roc chick; Mr. Etaoin will converse with a sea serpent (during the course of which the reptile will recount his devouring of a "little fat brown boy"); the plumber's family will be entertained by the thaumaturge Apollonius and witness the revival of a dead man into the bargain; Larry Kamper will be privy to the werewolf's transformation; and Mrs. Cassan will be told a few harsh home truths regarding her lackluster future by Apollonius in his guise as fortuneteller. And the cavalcade of exotic creatures -- a sphinx, a unicorn, a chimera, a mermaid, a green "hedge hound" created entirely from plant matter -- will continue to bedazzle and alarm the populace of the town.
On reading this novel, it soon becomes apparent that there is more than one level on which it may be interpreted. There is the entertainment aspect -- the "wow" factor, if you will -- which is a natural reaction to spending some time in Finney's world of wonders; but underneath it all there is a wry, knowing subtext which provides succinct commentary on the human condition. An example of this would be Larry Kamper's reaction to the werewolf transformation. Picture the scene: Here is a man who has just witnessed something utterly unique, a sight he should by rights never forget for the rest of his life. Another man might have gone down on his knees in admiring gratitude to a world of endless surprises; yet another might have been rendered senseless by the experience or inclined to flee screaming. What does Larry do? He complains bitterly about the fact that the werewolf transformed itself into an ancient crone, when his sex-fueled expectation had been to behold a luscious thing of beauty and curves.
Another layer is added by Finney in his addendum to the novel. Called "The Catalogue", it provides irreverent and hilarious additional information on everything from the various characters to the food items mentioned in the book -- including in this latter group the little brown boy mentioned above!
While reading more about the author, I came across a reference to Finney being regarded by Ray Bradbury as an influence on his work. There can be no doubt that Bradbury's novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (about another mysterious circus coming on this occasion to the midwestern hamlet of Greentown) and his other famous tales of growing up in the magical Greentown, (especially "Dandelion Wine") have as creative spark the images and atmosphere created so bewitchingly by Finney as long ago as 1935. This is all to the good of the fantasy genre as a whole.
One last word of caution: apparently the George Pal movie version of 1964, starring Tony Randall as Dr. Lao, should be avoided at all cost.
The good citizens of Abalone first became aware of the momentous event about to shake up their town when they read the wondrous advertisement in the Morning Tribune for August third. It hinted none too subtly at a circus that was as far removed from the usual understanding of that word as it was possible to get. Not only would the main show be a spectacle the likes of which had never before been seen by mere mortals, but there would be sideshow displays featuring extraordinary creatures and freaks -- not to mention a peepshow for the edification of the gentlemen patrons that would bring to life before their very eyes fragments culled from the erotic dramas dating back to times immemorial. But before the start of any of these delights, there was to be a parade wending its way down Main Street as a preliminary to the sideshows and the main attraction.
Charles G. Finney's short fantasy novel introduces us to a fairly long list of characters -- the ordinary people of the southwestern town of Abalone. Among others there are Mr. Etaoin, the proofreader on the Morning Tribune; Miss Agnes Birdsong, English teacher; Rogers the plumber and his wife and children; the lawyer Frank Tull and his wife; assorted police officers, including the Chief of Police; the traffic officer and his family; Mrs. Howard T. Cassan, a widow; and Larry Kamper, ex-infantry man recently back from China where he was stationed. All these people will arrive at the grounds set aside for Dr. Lao's circus on the banks of the Santa Ana River during the course of the afternoon prior to the first of two main circus shows.
Their experiences at the midway sideshows make for entertaining reading -- sometimes farcical, sometimes philosophical, sometimes ironical -- and always highly charged with a sense of magic and dread as the prosaic workaday townspeople come face-to face with the uncanny and the fantastical. Always part of the scene, is the ageless Dr. Lao -- now erudite with knowledge of his other worldly menagerie while delivering his scholarly monologues; now indignant and hilariously pretending to spout pidgin English when a question comes a little too close to the bone; now nothing so much as an enthusiastic barker reeling in the crowds with hyperbolic and sensational terminology.
And as the hot afternoon progresses towards the anticipated main show, Miss Birdsong will have an erotically-charged encounter with a lusty satyr; the traffic officer's family will watch the hatching of a roc chick; Mr. Etaoin will converse with a sea serpent (during the course of which the reptile will recount his devouring of a "little fat brown boy"); the plumber's family will be entertained by the thaumaturge Apollonius and witness the revival of a dead man into the bargain; Larry Kamper will be privy to the werewolf's transformation; and Mrs. Cassan will be told a few harsh home truths regarding her lackluster future by Apollonius in his guise as fortuneteller. And the cavalcade of exotic creatures -- a sphinx, a unicorn, a chimera, a mermaid, a green "hedge hound" created entirely from plant matter -- will continue to bedazzle and alarm the populace of the town.
On reading this novel, it soon becomes apparent that there is more than one level on which it may be interpreted. There is the entertainment aspect -- the "wow" factor, if you will -- which is a natural reaction to spending some time in Finney's world of wonders; but underneath it all there is a wry, knowing subtext which provides succinct commentary on the human condition. An example of this would be Larry Kamper's reaction to the werewolf transformation. Picture the scene: Here is a man who has just witnessed something utterly unique, a sight he should by rights never forget for the rest of his life. Another man might have gone down on his knees in admiring gratitude to a world of endless surprises; yet another might have been rendered senseless by the experience or inclined to flee screaming. What does Larry do? He complains bitterly about the fact that the werewolf transformed itself into an ancient crone, when his sex-fueled expectation had been to behold a luscious thing of beauty and curves.
Another layer is added by Finney in his addendum to the novel. Called "The Catalogue", it provides irreverent and hilarious additional information on everything from the various characters to the food items mentioned in the book -- including in this latter group the little brown boy mentioned above!
While reading more about the author, I came across a reference to Finney being regarded by Ray Bradbury as an influence on his work. There can be no doubt that Bradbury's novel "Something Wicked This Way Comes" (about another mysterious circus coming on this occasion to the midwestern hamlet of Greentown) and his other famous tales of growing up in the magical Greentown, (especially "Dandelion Wine") have as creative spark the images and atmosphere created so bewitchingly by Finney as long ago as 1935. This is all to the good of the fantasy genre as a whole.
One last word of caution: apparently the George Pal movie version of 1964, starring Tony Randall as Dr. Lao, should be avoided at all cost.
December 31, 2016
A la ciudad de Abalone, Arizona, llega un dÃa de agosto un extraño circo. Muchas personas, tras leer el anuncio de su llegada en el periódico, se disponen a recibir las atracciones. Pero cuál no será su sorpresa cuando durante el desfile vean que no hay payasos, ni acróbatas, ni elefantes, ni nada que se le parezca. En su lugar se encuentran con una quimera, un unicornio, un sátiro, un antiguo filósofo y mago, una enorme serpiente marina, etc. Sin embargo, los habitantes de Abalone ni se inmutan ni sorprenden ante las sorpresas ofrecidas por el extraño circo, y sólo discuten por minucias.
‘El circo del Dr. Lao� (The Circus of Dr. Lao, 1935), de Charles G. Finney, es todo un clásico de la literatura fantástica, influyente sobre otros tantos maestros, como Ray Bradbury. La novela, que no es excesivamente larga, se estructura mediante el salto de un personaje a otro sin solución de continuidad, de tal manera que el lector asiste a las diferentes opiniones y visiones de los personajes. En cuanto a estos, muchas veces resultan más extraños y estrambóticos que los propios seres del circo. La historia me ha gustado bastante, sobre todo en su primera mitad.
‘El circo del Dr. Lao� (The Circus of Dr. Lao, 1935), de Charles G. Finney, es todo un clásico de la literatura fantástica, influyente sobre otros tantos maestros, como Ray Bradbury. La novela, que no es excesivamente larga, se estructura mediante el salto de un personaje a otro sin solución de continuidad, de tal manera que el lector asiste a las diferentes opiniones y visiones de los personajes. En cuanto a estos, muchas veces resultan más extraños y estrambóticos que los propios seres del circo. La historia me ha gustado bastante, sobre todo en su primera mitad.
October 11, 2020
This was an odd novella. A circus arrives unannounced in a small town in the 1930s. This circus is filled with contradictions. Three measly wagons becomes a multitude of sideshow tents filled with mythological creatures. As the town comes out, each sees things differently. One laughs at a horse wearing a horn and the next is turned to stone by a Medusa. One minute the circus owner is speaking in a caricature of the broken English of a recent Chinese immigrant, the next he sound s like a Harvard educated 4th generation American. What is real and what is illusion? Does the circus give this small town a chance to view the exotic or does it offer them a canvas on which to project the deepest or darkest desires of their hearts? This is not the edition I read. I can't find that one on GR. My edition had no pictures, no introduction, just the story.
March 19, 2022
Weird, bizarre, surreal... Do yourself a favour and read the circus of Dr Lao. The story is really simple, a circus visits a small town in Arizona, the things people will see there are beyond amazing, everyone has something to gain, something to learn, the old widow, the School teacher, the plumber... Some will be taught from the experience and some will leave non the wiser, same as the readers...
This book influenced Bradbury to write "something wicked this way comes" but where something wicked is charming and sweet this one isn't...
The book has only one chapter but manages to flow nicely and not get chaotic, in the end there is also an appendix of all the characters appearing in the story, next to each one there is a comment or even a full paragraph of Dr Lao's observations...
I can only imagine how people felt when they read this one back in 1935...
This book influenced Bradbury to write "something wicked this way comes" but where something wicked is charming and sweet this one isn't...
The book has only one chapter but manages to flow nicely and not get chaotic, in the end there is also an appendix of all the characters appearing in the story, next to each one there is a comment or even a full paragraph of Dr Lao's observations...
I can only imagine how people felt when they read this one back in 1935...
September 5, 2010
One of the most interesting things about this book is that with the exception of some of the outdated racial language (not the ones in the dialogue, but some of the narration) the prose and language is shockingly modern. If I had picked the book up blind I could have believed it was from the Sixties, or Nineties, or even from a new slipstream/modern fantasy type author.
If you come to this book after watching the movie, be aware it is more cynical, and a bit darked. It is also less plot driven. Not unlike some Bradbury of the same era, also reminiscent of Beagle in spots.
If you come to this book after watching the movie, be aware it is more cynical, and a bit darked. It is also less plot driven. Not unlike some Bradbury of the same era, also reminiscent of Beagle in spots.
June 16, 2013
A fun movie but a down-right oddball book - the paperback equivalent of an "enigmatic stranger" - its a social commentary, its a comedy, it's stream of conciousness - and it ends with a big list of questions that remain unanswered.
More to discover upon each re-read.
Oh - and what's it all about? Well, a circus comes to a small, US town...
More to discover upon each re-read.
Oh - and what's it all about? Well, a circus comes to a small, US town...
April 12, 2011
great tragicomedy. it is written before, but it reminded me strongly of the athmosphere from the movies of Federico Fellini: the parade of grotesque characters, the festival of fools setting, the humor and the sharpness of observation for humain foibles. A short , concentrated narrative, alternatively humorous, subversive, scary or lyrical.
June 13, 2009
This was one of many books--and magazines--recommended and loaned by James Koehnline, roommate at 1634 W. Chase Ave., Chicago, with Linda Harrington and me. Like most, if not all, of these books, it was, ah, "different."
January 7, 2015
I've been reading about this book for decades and finally got to it. It's one of those books that's been on the periphery, a classic that was recommended by writers I respect. So after all this time, it should have been a let-down.
MILD SPOILERISH STUFF
It wasn't, but it was a different kind of fantasy novel than I'd expected. Ray Bradbury praised it, and his SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES was influenced by it. The Bradbury has a much more suspenseful plot. LAO is more like a series of connected scenes, as we experience the wonders of the circus--the Medusa, the Gryphon, etc.--in turn. If this were written today, the book would be merely the first of three parts. But the establishment of the creatures and the impact they have on the townspeople who come in to see them is the WHOLE story. Once I picked up on this, and saw it wasn't going to be a book about a character, really (though it could be only about one character), but a series of sequences entertaining in themselves, I relaxed and enjoyed it.
END SPOILERIFIC MATERIAL
Finney had a pleasing, laconic style, perfectly in keeping with Thorne Smith's and Chrisopher Morley's mainstream approach to the fantastic; Finney wants to show how Main Street's inhabitants would react to these wonders.
I have a complaint that prevents this from being rated higher, and I might lop off half a star for the same reason: It was just too short. I wanted to spend more time in this little world that is deftly sketched without endless description or histrionics.
Recommended for fans of the broader fantasy genre--this isn't Tolkien-esque fantasy, for which I am grateful. Through no fault of J.R.R.'s, fantasy today means elves and wars. This is of the Bradbury-Charles Beaumont variety, about regular people brushing against the uncanny and having their lives altered in ways that resonate differently than dreams of being a warrior in a faraway place just cannot for me.
For further reading:
MILD SPOILERISH STUFF
It wasn't, but it was a different kind of fantasy novel than I'd expected. Ray Bradbury praised it, and his SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES was influenced by it. The Bradbury has a much more suspenseful plot. LAO is more like a series of connected scenes, as we experience the wonders of the circus--the Medusa, the Gryphon, etc.--in turn. If this were written today, the book would be merely the first of three parts. But the establishment of the creatures and the impact they have on the townspeople who come in to see them is the WHOLE story. Once I picked up on this, and saw it wasn't going to be a book about a character, really (though it could be only about one character), but a series of sequences entertaining in themselves, I relaxed and enjoyed it.
END SPOILERIFIC MATERIAL
Finney had a pleasing, laconic style, perfectly in keeping with Thorne Smith's and Chrisopher Morley's mainstream approach to the fantastic; Finney wants to show how Main Street's inhabitants would react to these wonders.
I have a complaint that prevents this from being rated higher, and I might lop off half a star for the same reason: It was just too short. I wanted to spend more time in this little world that is deftly sketched without endless description or histrionics.
Recommended for fans of the broader fantasy genre--this isn't Tolkien-esque fantasy, for which I am grateful. Through no fault of J.R.R.'s, fantasy today means elves and wars. This is of the Bradbury-Charles Beaumont variety, about regular people brushing against the uncanny and having their lives altered in ways that resonate differently than dreams of being a warrior in a faraway place just cannot for me.
For further reading:
October 31, 2021
The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles G. Finney is why I created a “What the fuck did I just read list� published in 1935 this both passes and fails the test of time. It’s passing is because this simple short story is just as fresh and interesting as when it first came out but I don’t think I will be seeing this in too many middle school libraries any time soon. It’s like if Archie Bunker from All in the family wrote a funny story about a magical circus. Chinks, Hairy Russians, Coons, Darkies, are all equally lampooned same as the plain ignorant whites of Abalone Arizona just that while the story holds up well with time the time that the story was written captured the casual racism like a insect frozen in amber which certainly causes readers to wonder why read a story that’s very out of step with today’s culture. Cringe worthy is how one might describe the scene with Munbo Jumbo and the bound faired haired-nordic girl, or the Sea serpent discussion with Mr. Etaoin about what we eat. The book is deeply interesting very dry satirical humor has some very unique observations but it’s like we prefer our racism blunt edge and un-redeeming easier to ignore or isolate it that way rather than having it wrapped in a innocent humor tinged story about a small town faced with something beyond their ability to imagine. If I thought the author’s intention was to promote a white’s only world view I would certainly make note of that here and rate the book accordingly doesn’t feel to me that the intent was malicious in nature just unmodified real clear description of the zeitgeist of the 1930’s can’t blame a thing for being true too itself so I’ll give this a solid four stars but caution readers that while I think this a definitely a worth while book to read and it’s short (always a plus) it walks the line and a lot of times it’s on the other side but that was written years ago and the road was further too the right than it is now so benefit of the doubt plus good writing and a short but interesting story it earns itself four stars.
July 16, 2010
I try to read this book every couple of years. After the first time I read it Charles G. Finney was catapulted to my favorite writer.
Each time I read it, I experience it differently. The first time I read it I thought the world was a cynical place full of hate and misery, and that humans are horrible people. The second time I read it I felt that the world was mysterious and strange, and I felt that most people don't realize this.
I am not sure how Charles G. Finney wanted to make people feel when they read this. I think it is magical that one book can make a person experience so many different emotions during different readings.
Each time I read it, I experience it differently. The first time I read it I thought the world was a cynical place full of hate and misery, and that humans are horrible people. The second time I read it I felt that the world was mysterious and strange, and I felt that most people don't realize this.
I am not sure how Charles G. Finney wanted to make people feel when they read this. I think it is magical that one book can make a person experience so many different emotions during different readings.
October 29, 2010
Finney's book is unsettling. You're given sound-bites of dialogue and gain some insight into characters, but they often don't react as you'd expect. The people of Abalone have a 'whatever' kind of attitude to the arrival of Dr Lao's fantastic circus of mythological beasts, and throughout the story I could see many parallels to our desensitized and blinkered culture. The illustrations are bizarre but in harmonizes with the plot. It is a funny little book and somehow gets under your skin.
August 18, 2009
This is an odd little book that I wasn't sure I liked just after I read it. Some parts are painfully of its time. (1940's) But the circus imagery and disturbing carnavalesque situations always seem to pop in to my head when I'm writing. A good book is one you think about later. This qualifies.
December 10, 2017
Novela de culto, secreto pasado de lector en lector, es una maravilla, un prodigio de imaginación que merecerÃa más difusión que la que tiene. No dejen de pasar la oportunidad de leer este libro, les aseguro que no se arrepentirán.
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