If not a writer, an astronaut, or a singer, or a trapeze artist. Those were my dreams. As a fan of circus and a distant fantasizer of being a trapeze artist, Without a Net is a special treat. Kudos to all the Cirque du Soleil shows and artists I have had the pleasure of witnessing.
The world is just a supersized merry-go-round, sometimes we lose our grip and we all fall down.
Is what came to my mind when I read the Prologue of Without a Net by Ana Maria Shua (translated by Steven J. Stewart). The Prologue, titled Secret Wish is as entertaining as the circus itself. Secret Wish starts with giving a glimpse of what the rest of the book is about; life as a circus.
Secret Wish starts with probing into a cruel yet beautiful aspect of human nature; we secretly wish for the worst–probably cause it’s safe–and then hope for the best.
It makes me wonder about how at times the thrill lies in fearing the worst, worrying about the awful, thinking of all things horrible, only to be catapulted into an intense joyride of hoping for the best. It’s like the more one pulls the rubber band back back back, the further one goes.
Isn’t all this about the journey then? The ebb and flow of pain and pleasure. The crest and trough of our feelings. The rise and fall of the self. The light and the dark in all of us, in all of the world. Isn’t the absence that makes presence so precious?
Is this the secret to cherishing life? But how does one cherish life in face of the worst hurt ever? Death of a loved one? Loss of self? And is death the worst possible milestone in life?
Ana Maria Shua tells us the circus is like life. But what is life, anyway? If not delusions and illusions. What if it’s just a dream?
The Literature
The Writing:
The especially beautiful thing about Without a Net is the writing. The Poor Circus and the Poorest Circus.