Book Review: "All the Fear of the Fair" ed. by Edward Parnell

Full Title: All the Fear of the Fair: Uncanny Tales of Circus and Sideshow edited by Edward Parnell

When I was in university, I did a ton of research into the periodicals regarding freak shows. Basically it was all to do with writing about Victorian carnivals and the way in which nowadays, for some reason, it has become a frightening prospect for some. We have books like Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Graham that pay testament to that fact. In this British Library Tales of the Weird anthology - we see how time has changed the idea around the freak show and the carnival and of course, how the whole idea of the funfair came about. Let's take a look at how that atmosphere is translated to some of the stories within...

The anthology opens with the story Hop-Frog by Edgar Allan Poe. It's about a physically disabled court jester enslaved by a cruel, joke-obsessed king, and his friend Trippetta who are routinely abused and humiliated for the court’s amusement. I have to admit it feels a bit old-world for my usual requests of Edgar Allan Poe - more along the lines of what people who would read The Masque of the Red Death would enjoy. I'm not saying I didn't like it, I'm just saying it felt more formulaic than many of his other stories. However, to get Edgar Allan Poe as the author that opens an anthology of horror is never a mistake.

A High Dive by L.P Hartley is another story. It features a struggling circus who employs a mysterious diver (or is rather about to). It is a story which reveals how desperate the manager is to get his audience numbers up and yet, seems not to be able to pay the man what he needs to be paid for diving. It's a very short story, it is a very odd story. It's a great and tense argument that happens during the end. I have to say that I read this one a couple of times. I haven't really read much L.P Hartley in my life but after this short, but intense story, I think I will have to give the books a go.

However, I have to say that my favourite story in the whole anthology was The Swords by Robert Aickman. This is definitely saying something because usually, I would not pick up Aickman's books but when it comes to anthologies, sometimes I cannot avoid his short stories within. This story is about a man who comes across a circus show already in progress in which a woman is the main moment of the performance. I won't reveal too much about what happens to her but there is a lot of extended metaphor. I've read some in-depth analyses that even state that this story is a metaphor for the way men treat women as if they are items without feeling rather than whole people who may bleed, live and also die. It is a fantastic story that, if you were to read this anthology - would definitely leave you with so many questions about what the story means. You can start with the obvious and work your way down. This story, of course, closes the anthology because of its brutal portrayal of the interaction of gender and class, the ideas behind what is considered 'seedy' and what is 'sensible'. If I could write a whole article about this one story I would, and I might - you never know. It was fantastic.

I have to say, even though there were stories by people I had not heard of and some that I had, I didn't really feel like I was somewhere completely new most of the time. Sometimes, the stories did not do it for me, but other times (like Swords) they could surprise me with their brutality. I think this anthology probably would have benefitted from being a bit longer and perhaps having more of a variety of writings about fairs and circus shows within, but I didn't edit it. There are a few stories that I know of from the sub-genre that I was surprised were not considered. I've already mentioned Nightmare Alley by William Lindsay Graham but there are a few more. This anthology was a fun read, but I don't think it will be put in my top ten British Library Tales of the Weird books.