Cirrus@Austlit

'The mature loquat tree hung over their fence and every spring dropped succulent, silky-stoned fruit into their yard, while other fruit hung on the tree in abundant oversized clusters like tarnished yellow stones.'  (Introduction)

'Mardi Gras, Shrove Tuesday. You get up and pad to the window. Part the curtains. Pitch dark behind the frost on the window pane. You don’t need to see through. You know it snowed overnight. Not a sound. All is blanketed. Hushed. You tiptoe to the landing past the mirror with your shadow in it. Past your uncle Gustave’s bedroom. Rrrr-snorrR. Rrrr-snorrR. The coast is clear, as they say. You fix your gaze to the ray of light at the bottom of the flight of stairs. You go down, careful to skip the step that creaks—fourth from the bottom. A smell of coffee seeps from under the door. Muffled noises. A fart. You hold your breath. Put your eye to the key hole.' (Introduction)

'Academics and artists have been talking about carnival-the-concept for about a century now, and still finding fresh things to say. In very broad terms, the concept can be understood as bifurcated between two opposing logics. The first, somewhat nostalgically, celebrates carnival as a space of freedom, and of opposition to the established relations of power (e.g. Bakhtin 1984a). The second, somewhat unsentimentally, identifies carnival as a means for authority to mask, and thereby maintain, the status quo (e.g. Turner 1969).' (Introduction)