Ran away and joined the circus
November 1, 2010 2:15 AM Subscribe
I ran away and joined the circus, and wrote a book about it 50 years later.
Around 10 years ago, I read an excerpt in (I think) The New Yorker which was from an autobiographical novel. In it, the writer had joined a traveling circus that went around the country, as circuses are known to do...this evidently took place just after WWII. The excerpt was pretty descriptive, and went into some detail about traveling in Jim Crow southern America, and the types of people who worked in the circus, etc. I've never been able to find the book the excerpt came from, have no title, author, etc. Anyone have any ideas as to who wrote it, and the title?
Around 10 years ago, I read an excerpt in (I think) The New Yorker which was from an autobiographical novel. In it, the writer had joined a traveling circus that went around the country, as circuses are known to do...this evidently took place just after WWII. The excerpt was pretty descriptive, and went into some detail about traveling in Jim Crow southern America, and the types of people who worked in the circus, etc. I've never been able to find the book the excerpt came from, have no title, author, etc. Anyone have any ideas as to who wrote it, and the title?
A starting point?
http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?query=the+circus&queryType=nonparsed&submitbtn.x=36&submitbtn.y=11
posted by timsteil at 5:18 AM on November 1, 2010
http://www.newyorker.com/search/query?query=the+circus&queryType=nonparsed&submitbtn.x=36&submitbtn.y=11
posted by timsteil at 5:18 AM on November 1, 2010
Best answer: Just a guess: was it possibly by Edward Hoagland?
posted by fivesavagepalms at 7:20 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by fivesavagepalms at 7:20 AM on November 1, 2010
I don't know if you're referring to Water for Elephants or not, but you'll probably love it anyway.
posted by tapesonthefloor at 8:03 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by tapesonthefloor at 8:03 AM on November 1, 2010
It does sound like Water for Elephants to me also
posted by raisingsand at 8:30 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by raisingsand at 8:30 AM on November 1, 2010
Best answer: Water for Elephants wasn't excerpted in any magazines as far as I know, and nor is it autobiographical (though it is structured as an oral autobiography delivered by an elderly man).
Memoirs of a Sword Swallower isn't a novel, but an autobiography. I can't imagine that it was excerpted anywhere in the past twenty years, as it was a mid-90s small-press reprint of a long-out-of-print book.
This sounds more like The Blue Moon Circus by Michael Raleigh, which came out around ten years ago, but I don't know whether that was autobiographical (like Water for Elephants, it is structured as an autobiography) or excerpted.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:01 AM on November 1, 2010
Memoirs of a Sword Swallower isn't a novel, but an autobiography. I can't imagine that it was excerpted anywhere in the past twenty years, as it was a mid-90s small-press reprint of a long-out-of-print book.
This sounds more like The Blue Moon Circus by Michael Raleigh, which came out around ten years ago, but I don't know whether that was autobiographical (like Water for Elephants, it is structured as an autobiography) or excerpted.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:01 AM on November 1, 2010
Also, neither of these are what you're thinking of, but The Aerialist by Richard Schmitt and Roustabout by Michelle Chalfoun (who did work as a roustabout, so this might be the only strictly autobiographical circus novel I've ever read) are great reads.
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:03 AM on November 1, 2010
posted by Sidhedevil at 10:03 AM on November 1, 2010
No luck so far. I guess this book must live in my imagination.
posted by Funmonkey1 at 3:39 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by Funmonkey1 at 3:39 PM on November 1, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for the answers so far. It's definitely not Water For Elephants, which I've read recently. I'll be following the leads you've provided...if anything pans out I'll be sure to post here. Metafilter restores my faith in the investigative talent of Mefites!
posted by motown missile at 11:43 PM on November 1, 2010
posted by motown missile at 11:43 PM on November 1, 2010
fivesavagepalms has it, I think: the article is probably Edward Hoagland's "Calliope Times", which is in the 5/22/00 New Yorker - it's largely an excerpt from his book Compass Points.
posted by ryanshepard at 12:06 PM on November 12, 2010
posted by ryanshepard at 12:06 PM on November 12, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks to everyone who posted, fivesavagepalms came up with the correct answer. I've ordered Edward Hoagland's book Compass Points and expect to be reading it in a few days. Thanks again, Hivemind!
posted by motown missile at 9:23 PM on November 18, 2010
posted by motown missile at 9:23 PM on November 18, 2010
Response by poster: And also thanks to ryanshepard for identifying Compass Points as the title of the book the excerpt was pulled from.
posted by motown missile at 9:24 PM on November 18, 2010
posted by motown missile at 9:24 PM on November 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ChefJoAnna at 3:01 AM on November 1, 2010