NEONS

I bought this book, Memoirs of a Sword Swallower, by chance on a depressing day. The author's name – Daniel P. Mannix – sounded very familiar, I was so sure I heard it before but I couldn't put my finger on it. Unfortunately, there was no list of his precedent works anywhere inside the book. Back home, I checked on the internet and, fuck yeah, of course I knew him! Dan Mannix is the author of many books I cherish, more particularly  ''The Hellfire Club''  (1959) and ''Freaks : We Who Are Not As Others''  (1990, Re/Search Publishing). Two jewels I strongly advise you to read. Memoirs Of a Sword Swallower gets close to the last one, since he tells his experience on the road across the USA with a traveling sideshow in the late 30s or early 40s. “ I probably never would have become America’s leading fire-eater if Flamo the Great hadn’t happened to explode that night in front of Krinko’s Great Combined Side Shows” After having witnessing t...

Vintage Books (USA). 1991. Serpent à Plumes (France). 2004.   "A number of months ago I read in the newspaper that there was a supreme court ruling which states that homosexuals in america have no constitutional rights against the government's invasion of their privacy. The paper states that homosexuality is traditionally condemned in america & only people who are heterosexual or married or who have families can expect those constitutional rights. There were no editorials. Nothing. Just flat cold type in the morning paper informing people of this. In most areas of the u.s.a it is possible to murder a man & when one is brought to trial, one has only to say that the victim was a queer & that he tried to touch you & the courts will set you free. When I read the newspaper article I felt something stirring in my hands; I felt a sensation like seeing oneself from miles above the earth or looking at one's reflection in a mirror through the wrong end of a ...