C E L I A ⠀ B O W E N — THE ⠀ILLUSIONIST

“we cannot feel the bars unless we push against them.”

You think, as you walk away from Le Cirque des Rêves and into the creeping dawn, that you felt more awake within the confines of the circus.
You are no longer quite certain which side of the fence is the dream.

—  THE NIGHT CIRCUS, ERIN MORGENSTERN.

literature aesthetics:
                 _{the night circus (2011)}

“The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.”  [x]

the night circus; the circus arrives without warning. no announcements precede it. it is simply there, when yesterday it was not.

lit otps ≡ the night circus: celia bowen & marco alisdair
“Please,” Marco says, refusing to let her go, his fingers holding tightly to the lace of her gown. “Please don’t leave me.”
“It’s too late,” she says. “It was too late by the time I arrived in London to turn your notebook into a dove; there were too many people already involved. Anything either of us does has an effect on everyone here, on every patron who walks through those gates. Hundreds if not thousands of people. All flies in a spiderweb that was spun when I was six years old and now I can barely move for fear of losing someone else.”
She looks up at him, lifting her hand to stroke his cheek.
“Will you do something for me?” she asks.
“Anything,” Marco says.
“Don’t come back,” she says, her voice breaking.