Today’s Issue 044 author interview takes us to two of our favorite places. The title of Melodie Corrigall’s story tells us what these places are: “The Circus and the Library“!
LSQ: This is so short but so powerful. I could read it over and over again and get something new from it each time. What inspired this novel take on a circus? Additionally, I love the contrast between the library and the circus, the one self-satisfied and unmoved, the other constantly at the edge of ruined. How did you settle on these takes for the characters? Did you consider making the library its own type of unsettled and desperate as well, or were you set on the characterization early on?
Melodie: These two personalities—the Circus and the Library—came to me almost fully formed. As the characters developed I found that the more I described them, the more they supported my original choice. The library: learned, respected, self-confident, and supported financially and philosophically by his world and the circus, enjoyed but considered frivolous, needing to find and keep a paid audience, and therefore frantic for support and attention.
LSQ: The marriage between the library and the circus ends the way so many marriages do—with misunderstandings, with assumptions, and finally with a firm exit. I assume the library will continue doing what it’s been doing without pause, but do you have any idea what might be next for the circus-turned-ship?
Melodie: I hope that the future for the circus will be happier and allow her to be appreciated for what she has contributed to our scommunity. I imagine that the library will keep on with the same behavior and find a way—amongst the tomes—to justify it. But as the story ends I cannot be sure of the future for either of them. Circus’s from the first days have not had as much appreciation as libraries.