Circus as Multimodal Discourse : Performance, Meaning, and Ritual

225 Pages·2012·3.05 MB·English

by  Bouissac, Paul

Circus as Multimodal Discourse
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Circus as Multimodal Discourse
Performance, Meaning, and Ritual
Paul Bouissac
LONDON (cid:129) NEW DELHI (cid:129) NEW YORK (cid:129) SYDNEY

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Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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www.bloomsbury.com
First published 2012
© Paul Bouissac, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or
retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.
Paul Bouissac has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting
on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication
can be accepted by Bloomsbury Academic or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
EISBN: 978-1-4411-0261-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available at the Library of Congress.
Typeset by Newgen Imaging Systems Pvt Ltd, Chennai, India
Printed and bound in Great Britain

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To Alexander Lacey, mansuetarius princeps1

1 In ancient Rome, the mansuetarii were wild-animal trainers who used nonviolent methods to tame
their animals and were performing tricks in close contact with them. Th ese lions, tigers, and bears
could be safely touched ( mansuetus means accustomed to the hand).
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Contents
Introduction: Playing with Fire 1
1 Circus Performances as Rituals: Participative Ethnography 1 0
2 Th e “Textility” of Circus Acts: Disentangling Cognition and Pleasure 28
3 Magic in the Ring 4 8
4 Horses which Speak, Count, and Laugh 58
5 Steeds and Symbols: Multimodal Metaphors 7 4
6 Th e Staging of Actions: Heroes, Antiheroes, and Animal Actors 92
7 Circus Animals as Symbols, Actors, and Persons 1 04
8 Dancing with Tigers, Lying with Lions: Translating Biology into Art 1 15
9 Clowns at Work: A Sociocritical Discourse 1 44
10 Th e Imaginary Circus 1 59
11 Ideology and Politics in the Circus Ring 170
12 Th e Postanimal Circus 188
Conclusion: Pleasures of the Circus: Attraction, Emotion, and Addiction 1 99
Bibliography 2 09
Index 2 15
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Introduction
Playing with Fire
T his book is about circus, a generic form of popular entertainment whose roots are
lost in the deep time of immemorial traditions. The iconography of the most ancient
cultures provides evidence that the body techniques and the tricks we admire in the
ring were practiced millennia ago in temples, royal courts, and public spaces. The
circus’s modern avatar is a secular institution which developed during the past three
centuries. It has maintained a resilient presence until today, constantly adapting to
the evolution of its cultural, technological, and socioeconomic contexts. Through the
12 chapters which compose this volume, I endeavor to describe and document some
typical circus acts and to reflect upon the meanings they create for their audience. My
examples come from the direct observations of performances in the Americas, Europe,
and India. The latter is evoked by the illustration on this book’s cover. From time to
time, I will interrupt the flow of the ethnographic and analytical discourse to offer, in
italics, anecdotal glimpses of the circumstances which brought me during the past four
decades in direct contact with the fascinating world of the circus.
My plane to Bombay—which had not yet reversed to the precolonial name
Mumbai—had landed well before daybreak. I was now in a taxi rushing toward my
hotel in Kolaba. It seemed the city never slept. Th e driver was an educated Muslim
who proudly pointed to the mosques we were passing on the way. Suddenly, as he
slowed down at a crossroad before running a red light, I noticed an emaciated,
longhaired, half-naked, ageless man who was standing still in front of a tall fi re
which was brightly burning between two venerable trees. It was quite warm outside.
I turned to the driver with an inquisitive look. “Oh! Th at? Hindu religion! Th ey
worship fi re. Th ey call it Agni. Th e Parsis do something like that too. Th ey keep an
ancient fi re in their temple but you cannot see it. Th ey don’t let anybody inside.” As
the taxi speeded up along Cuff e Parade, memories were now fl ocking to my mind
from the time when I was studying Greek and Roman mythologies. Fire was ever
present in narratives and rituals. During my childhood, the most daring boys and
girls were jumping over the fi res we were lighting each year at the summer solstice.
As St. John’s fi res, they had become a part of the Catholic yearly public celebrations
but kept for us their mysterious pagan attractiveness. Later, I learned that making
cattle and other animals cross over burning fences or clear a gap through a circle of
fl ames were common rituals in India’s villages. So were people who walked on red
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