Frontmatter -- Contents -- Introduction. A semiotician at the circus -- Chapter 1. The production of circus space -- Chapter 2. The time of the circus. Cognitive and emotional dimensions of acrobatics and other circus acts -- Chapter 3. In what sense is a circus animal performing? -- Chapter 4. Horses' feathers: from tacit knowledge to circus metaphors -- Chapter 5. Circus and cycles -- Chapter 6. The pyramid and the wheel: the visual discourse of circus acrobatics -- Chapter 7. The logic of clown faces -- Chapter 8. Incident, accident, failure: life and death at the circus -- Chapter 9. There's no business like show business: the marketing of performance -- Chapter 10. The researcher as spectator: the pragmatics of circus performances -- Conclusion. Circus in perspective -- Backmatter