the circus of Dr. Lao

David Stockhoff · 14 Oct 2011, 18:34 · from 2011-October.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:34:33 -0400
Subject: (urth) the circus of Dr. Lao
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On 10/14/2011 12:54 PM, Sergei SOLOVIEV wrote:
> Did Gene Wolfe ever mention the book called "The circus of Dr. Lao"? 
> It's a curious
> book, first published in 1935 by Charles G. Finney. I recently got a 
> second edition -
> University of Nebraska Press, 2002. There is curiously many parallels 
> with GW writings.
>
> The story goes that to a small town, Abalone in Arizona, comes (in 
> 1930-es) the circus
> of Dr. Lao. Then the development goes along surrealistic/magic lines, 
> but the style
> sounds very modern.
>
> Direct parallels:
> 1) there is a catalogue of characters, like in the BotLS and BotSS
> books - in somewhat similar style
> "Dr. Lao: A Chinese
> Mr. Etaoin: A corrector of errors
> Appolonius of Tyana: A legend
> ...
> Teddy Roosevelt: An American President
> ...
> "
> 2) there is a Hound of the Hedges - it is a green dog who uses 
> photosynthesis, like the Green Man
> in the BotNS
>
> 3) There is a Gadarene Swine (one of the swine from the Bible, Jesus 
> sent devils into
> it) like in the short story about the Pig in Chains by GW.
>
> 4) There is a She-werevolf.
>
> 5) A Mermaid
>
> 6) A lot of dialogs (GW mentions that he loves dialogs) in particular, 
> between human and
> non-human personnages - Mr. Etaoin speaks at lenght with the Sea Serpent.
> ...
>
Nice! I must read this book.

Etaoin Shrdlu, btw, was an old typesetter's joke.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETAOIN_SHRDLU


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