Chase Rathgeb

Dr. Jamison

9th Grade Adv. Lit

11/16/15

Frederick Thiessen, accomplished writer, reviewed the 1892 Le Cirque des Rêves. He wrote only five sentences, but these five sentences paint a picture of much more than a circus. It describes a beauty of a tent, where Chandresh poured his heart on to every little detail.

 

Often in the review, Thiessen writes of circles. He quotes, “The whole Cirque des Rêves is formed by series of circles.” Thiessen believes that the origin of the word circus comes from the Greek word kirkos, meaning circle. It is true that American and European culture adapted the word circus from the Latin culture but the Europeans and Americans changed the idea of the circus. It is unknown as to when the first modern circus was, but it is believed to be in 1793, when “a Scotsman named John Bill Ricketts opened an 800-seat riding academy at the corner of 12th and Market Streets in Philadelphia, and on April 3, 1793.” This was believed to be the first modern style circus. I say modern circus only because Thiessen quoted, “It is hardly a traditional circus.” The “traditional” circus would contain one or very few basic tents. It would contain the original aspects of the circus, like, acrobats, clowns, horse riding, and comic relief.

 

Later in Thiessen’s review, he quotes “Rather than a single tent with rings enclosed within, this circus contains clusters of tents like pyramids, some large and others quite small. They are set within circular paths, contained within a circular fence. Looping and continuous.” I thought it was funny that Thiessen related the circus to pyramids because they relate through the human pyramid and the arrangement of the pyramids, “Looping and continuous.” The way the largest pyramids in Egypt were arranged were in a fashion in which the paths loop around one pyramid and continued the path to another pyramid. The pyramids were meant to be a monument and they were to be admired, almost like the tents in Le Cirque Des Rêves. The way Le Cirque Des Rêves was created, it made the large tent seem endless with smaller tents with their own little exhibits, just like the Sahara has the three main pyramids, while there are at least seventy smaller pyramids arranged in the Nile River valley and other parts of Egypt.

 

This review was in 1892, around the time of the true birth of the popularity of the circus. According to graphs on the use of the word “circus” worldwide and the popularity of the circuses, a spike occurs near the late 1890’s. This time is where the American circus really took off. This means that Le Cirque Des Rêves is the true beginning to the popularity of the circus. The way this was spread, was through the detailed, all-inclusive writing and reviewing of Frederick Thiessen.

 

Thiessen Review 1 Review

 

While I was reviewing this review, I actually learned a few things I never would have expected. Surprisingly I learned about history of the circus, something I never thought I’d look at, but the history is surprisingly interesting. I also learned throughout this project, how to use literary analysis to understand text a lot more. I turned what Frederick Thiessen wrote, only a few sentences, into a page and a half piece, because there was so much information jam packed into the quote.