Čhávata z manéže (The Chavos from the Circus Ring)

Ladies and gentlemen, a round of applause for Čhávata z manéže, a book full of hidden surprises! This small, inconspicuous book, packed with hundreds of pages, may fit in your coat pocket, but it hides an endless amount of both entertainment and education. In the stories of a travelling Romani circus, circus performers, Roma, hoboes, cowboys, and Indians meet—ordinary, working-class people wandering through impoverished 1930s America—who are looking for a way to survive the difficult and protracted economic crisis together. They find a home, good treatment, and a future with the Brewers family circus. They also find guidance on how to remain human even in the most difficult of times.

As a member of a Romani circus family, Gary G. Steele knows a thing or two about life in the ring. He understands the importance of solidarity, togetherness, dedication, respect for both people and animals, and humour for the survival of a travelling community. However, he perceives these as universal values. He presents his family's ability to get through difficult times with their heads held high as an inspiration for the present day, which, not only because of the war in Ukraine, is robbing us of our sense of automatic certainty and security. As they keep travelling from one stop to the next along bumpy roads, readers learn about the 1930s in America not from the perspective of bankers and stock market figures, but as seen by the people who had to bear the burden of economic collapse on their shoulders.

Čhávata z manéže (originally published as The Gypsy Family Circus of 1933: Stories from a Long-Gone Era) is a book that is different in every respect. Its form, reminiscent of chapbooks (popular street literature of 15th to 19th century), full of dramatic stories, songs, and pasted-in pictures, stimulates the reader's imagination, and its pink colour evokes cotton candy sold at funfairs. Apart from a distinctive graphic design, it also offers a glossary of Pararomani, the language of the English Roma, and authentic photographs of the author's family from the circus environment, which were hand-pasted into the appropriate places by disabled workers from KP Inva, Ltd. in Prachatice. This makes each copy unique. Take a look at the sample (see below) and judge for yourself.

This book has been published thanks to the kind financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic.