The Circus Performers’ Bar is a second collection of finely crafted stories by David Arnason, written in every conceivable style: the urbane New Yorker story, the fireside chat, the war correspondent’s report, the poignant personal memoir and the hysterical small-town gossip. Hilarious role reversals and role substitutions provide the context through which a male neo-consciousness takes shape in a world dominated by the feminist vision. Various adorations of Snow White by her seven dwarves and the de-fanging of the wolf by Little Red Riding Hood are guaranteed to leave the reader choking with laughter and howling far into the night. Each story constitutes a new search for competence in a world where innate ability may have become historically déclassé, and laboriously-acquired facility may lead only to seasickness.

David Arnason was born in Gimli, Manitoba, in 1940. He has a Master’s Degree from the University of Manitoba and a PhD from the University of New Brunswick. He divides his time between Winnipeg, where he teaches Canadian literature and creative writing at the University of Manitoba, and Gimli, where he does most of his writing. He has also taught Canadian literature and creative writing in Tasmania, Trier, and Strasbourg.His works include two collections of poetry, Marsh Burning and Skrag, and four collections of short stories: Fifty Stories and a Piece of Advice, The Circus Performer’s Bar, The Happiest Man in the World, and The Pagan Wall.

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“This is a clever, trenchant stuff, by a master of the art.”
— Globe & Mail