# The Green Man and the Circus *The Urth list — 1 messages, 1 voices, 09 May 1998* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### William H. Ansley *09 May 1998, 01:02* Is anyone else reminded of _The Circus of Dr. Lao_ by Charles G. Finney when reading the passage describing Severian's encounter with the green man in ch. 3 of _Claw_ (pp. 229-231, Orb ed.)? I think the echoes are faint and distorted but unmistakable. The green man combines characteristics of the hound of the hedges and Apollonius of Tyana in his role as fortune teller. There are many other resonances, as well. The chapter is even called "The Showman's Tent". For people that haven't read _Circus_, I highly recommend it, with one caveat: it contains passages that might not be considered politically correct by some today. But taking into account it was first printed in 1935, I think the likelihood of anyone taking offense is minor. It is an unique fantasy and it has had a wide influence in the field. Finney's writing is lupine at least to the extent that he leaves the reader with some deliberately unanswered questions and ambiguities. William Ansley ---