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Books and Arts; Book Review; New fiction; A magical mystery tour;
近十年來，隨著JK羅琳的和菲利普普爾曼的成功，小說中的魔法元素大有復興繁榮的趨勢。在此方面，艾琳摩根斯坦的第一部小說《午夜馬戲團》正好趕上了潮流。這本書有著傳統童話故事里都有的情節：嚴酷殘忍的父母，被阻撓的感情，生死攸關的斗爭，但這些普通的情節被作者運用其天賦將它們串起來時，這本小說煥然一新，值得一讀。情節扣人心弦，讀者讀起來欲罷不能，它肯定會很很暢銷。
Le Cirque des Rêves, the circus of dreams, arrives without warning and opens at dusk. A celebration of the senses for its late-19th-century audience, its black-and-white tents host a tattooed contortionist, an ice garden, a wishing tree and a labyrinth with a dizzying network of chambers, such as one piled high with suitcases and another bedded with snowflakes.
馬戲團之夢的故事毫無征兆的開始了，開頭設定在某日的一個黃昏。此書是為了向19世紀晚期的觀眾們獻禮，黑白相間的帳篷里上演著一位有紋身的柔術師的表演，里面還有冰花園，一棵許愿樹，和如迷宮般錯綜復雜的房間，有的用手提箱將里面堆地滿滿的，有的里面飄滿了雪花。
The circus is not just about punters' fun, though. It is also the setting for a secret and strange battle between two people, Celia and Marco. Though they meet only as adults, they have long been groomed in the art of magic for an ongoing competition to perform the most elaborate, fantastical feat. But the rules are unknown and the stakes high: this is a duel to the death, a fact only gradually revealed to its two main players.
馬戲團并不是都是些唱唱跳跳的快樂。在書中，這也為西利亞和馬爾科之間秘密和不可思議的斗爭提供了背景。數年來，他們一直學習訓練魔術，為了展現最為精巧和奇幻的表演而一直較著勁，但他們直到長大后才彼此相遇。游戲的規則仍然未知，設置的獎金高的誘人：這是一場生與死的決斗，事實在他們倆之間慢慢展現開來。
A circus is a popular stage for colourful literary escapades that mine its transgressive space. But besides the carnival and hocus-pocus, this book also considers deeper questions about life and fate. We are introduced to a set of twins, for example, the brother can read people's pasts, the sister their future—but which ability is more powerful?
馬戲團為文學創作提供了一個絢麗多彩的舞臺，上面上演了各種奇異的冒險犯罪活動。在表面的喧囂狂歡和把戲之下，這本書也探討了深層次的生與死的問題。例如，書中有一對雙胞胎，哥哥可以看到人們的過去，而姐姐可以預見他們的未來，你認為這兩種能力，哪一個能為強大呢？
Here the concept of magic is hardly simple. The competitors perform “real” feats (Celia heals a stab wound instantly), yet must present them as tricks because audiences prefer illusion to truth. This tension, between the force of the material world and the will of the imagination, lies at the centre of this book. It neatly addresses a paradox at the heart of all fiction: that the best fabrication seems true; that a make-believe world can be built so intricately that readers feel its edges. Ms Morgenstern has crafted a thrilling and transporting tale. In so doing she makes it clear that of all the shapes magic may take, storytelling is often the most powerful of them all.
這里，魔術的概念一點都不簡單。作家們上演著“真實”的奇跡（西利亞立刻就可以治好劍傷），但是卻要用一種魔術的方式呈現出來，因為讀者們更喜歡接近于真實的幻象。真實世界的力量和無窮的想象力之間的較量，正是此書的核心。此書闡明了所有小說的一個悖論之處：編的最好的故事一定是看起來最真實的；作者精妙構思的虛擬世界看起來如此真實，讀者們幾乎可以感覺到這個世界就在身邊。摩根斯坦創造了一個扣人心弦的故事，大受歡迎廣為傳播。她以她的行動證明了，盡管魔術可以以很多種形式呈現出來，但其中最具影響力的一定是講故事。
