What is the theme in Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter?

Time is an essential theme of the novel. Time here is both malleable and outside of human control. During Walser’s interview of Fevvers, time seems to stand still through the night: Big Ben strikes midnight three times. Lizzie possession of Ma Nelson’s clock seems to give her the same control over time that it had lent to the brothel, which remained always in a liminal state.