Igor Karash's illustration is of the unnamed woman-narrator in The Bloody Chamber.
Angela Carter -- The Catalyst of a Million Awakenings
The most incandescent work to arise from the feminist explosion is undoubtedly The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter, a stretch of virtuoso imaginative writing and potent critique. . .The Bloody Chamber (1979) has become the founding charter of modern fairy tale, and the catalyst of a million awakenings for readers (especially girls) coming upon it for the first time." -- Marina Warner, Once Upon a Time, A Short History of Fairy Tale
The impact of Angela Carter's (1940-1992) courage and creativity continues to this day. The Bloody Chamber book contains ten tales, rewritten from the early, traditional versions. They are dark tales, but the women protagonists are now empowered. The first tale, gives its name the book. It was inspired by the version that came from Perrault. She had translated Perrault's Tales in 1974. The writing in Carter's provocative version has a totally different style and format from Perrault's tale, and an empowered woman protagonist.
The painting by Gina Litherland was inspired by Carter's The Conpany of Wolves.
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Angela Carter
"She was a wise child herself, with a mobile face, a mouth which sometimes pursed with irony, and, behind the glasses, a wryness, at times a twinkle, at times a certain dreaminess, with her long, silvery hair and ethereal delivery, she had something of the Faery Queen about her, except that she was never whispy or fey." -Marina Warner, A Virago Keepsake, 1993.
Photo credit: Mike Laye/Corbis.
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The Opening Sentence of The Bloody Chamber
"I remember how, that night, I lay awake in the wagon-lit in a tender delicious ecstasy of excitement, my burning cheek pressed against the impeccable linen of the pillow and the pounding of my heart mimicking that of the great pistons ceaselessly thrusting the train that bore me through the night, away from Paris, away from girlhood, away from the white, enclosed quietude of my mother's apartment into the unguessable country of marriage." -- Angela Carter
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The Marquis
Nearly all her writing is strikingly full of cultural and intertextual references, but this story (The Bloody Chamber) is extremely so. It is an artfully constructed edifice of signs and allusions and clues. The Marquis, as he is called (suggesting, of course, the Marquis de Sade), is a parodic evil aesthete and voluptuary with his monocle and beard, his gifts of marrons glacés and hothouse flowers, and his penchant for quoting the juicier bits of Baudelaire and De Sade. On the walls of his castle hang paintings of dead women by Moreau, Ensor and Gauguin; he listens to Wagner (specifically "Liebestod" - "love-death" - in Tristan und Isolde); he smokes Romeo y Julieta cigars "fat as a baby's arm"; his library is stocked with graphically- described sadistic pornography . . . Helen Simpson -- The Guardian.
The illustration of the Marquis and his new wife is by Martha R. Ford.
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Intellectual Intensity
"Her writing style has often been labeled 'magic realism,' but she has remarked that 'it's more realism than not. I can't define it until after it's done except that it is definitely fiction. It's more in the genre of Latin American writers like Marquez and Borges. Borges was by far my most important influence. I first read him in 1969, and it was like the Revelation -- the extraordinary things he could do in his stories.'
Carter's own extraordinary sensitivity has an intriguing aspect that, in my opinion, goes beyond Borges and Marquez. As Walter Kendrick has noted in The Village Voice: 'Carter's fiction somewhat resembles magic realism, but she's got an intellectual intensity that makes Garcia Marquez look slack and moonstruck.' " Jack Zipes-- Personal Memories
This lino print, inspired by The Bloody Chamber, is credited to Spanish Fans.
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A Torrent of Posthumous Acclaim
When Angela Carter died – aged just 51, on 16 February 1992 – her reputation changed from cultish to canonical. Her obituaries in the British press received more space than any others that year except Francis Bacon, Willy Brandt and Marlene Dietrich. Their tone was rhapsodic. “Angela Carter … was one of the most important writers at work in the English language.” “She interpreted the times for us with unrivalled penetration.” “Her imagination was one of the most dazzling of this century.” . . .
Her friends and long-term admirers regarded this torrent of posthumous acclaim with a touch of exasperation. For more than 25 years Carter had been producing novels, short stories, drama and journalism that stood defiantly apart from the work of her contemporaries. At a time when English literature was dominated by sober social realists, she played with disreputable genres – gothic horror, science fiction, fairytale – and gave free rein to the fantastic and the surreal. -- From an excellent Guardian article by her biographer, Edmund Gordan.
The illustration, inspired by The Bloody Chamber, is by Barba Azul.
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Personal Memories of Angela Carter, a Down-to-Earth Working Girl by Jack Zipes
All my memories of Angela Carter, whom I knew personally from 1985 to 1992, are unique and distinct. Actually, my initial contact was through the mail during the early 1980s when I asked for her permission to reprint “The Company of Wolves” and “The Donkey Prince” in two books that I published during that time. Then, when I was in Paris on a sabbatical in 1985, I traveled with my wife, Carol, and our newborn daughter, Hanna, to London, and asked whether we could meet. Angela had recently given birth to her son, Alexander, and welcomed the idea that our “young” families might get together.
So, we drove to her flat in the South of London which took hours, and when we entered the flat, her son, who had a bad cold, was being cared for by Angela’s husband, Mark, and my wife was upset because our daughter was in danger of getting this cold. Angela was happy because she thought we had been lost, and she proceeded to plunge into a conversation about fairy tales and the film adaptation of “The Company of Wolves.” Indeed, she was wearing a t-shirt with an illustration of a scene from the film and had a wild excited look about her – she wanted eagerly to talk about tales, culture, and politics while we were starving. Finally, she turned to making our meal -- tuna fish from a can with lettuce. Though we were famished, Angela wanted us to keep talking for three hours, just as long as my wife and Mark looked after the babies, and it was clear that she would not be denied. Angela was persistent and curious.
From that point on until she died, I saw Angela about three times when she came to America and kept corresponding with her after her visit. There was always something sparkling and provocative about her letters, and I want to share a few along with my memories . . . When I began teaching there (University of Florida) in 1987, she sent the following letter on March 18:
"Herewith a little something for your collection, unless you think your wee girl would like it better. [It was a gift of a Red Riding Hood doll.] Please note that it is made in China. Do you think that they know the story there? I’m very sorry that I can’t get to Florida next month. I was pleased & startled when William Logan [American poet, who taught at the University of Florida] rang, but it just isn’t possible to get away at such short notice, even though the magnolias are in bloom. . . Thanks for having me sent Victorian Fairy Tales – it’s a lovely book, lots of old favourites (The King of the Golden River, & George Macdonald, whom I love) and lots of ones I don’t know. Hope all goes well. – Love to Carol and Hanna & hope to see you next year if not before. Angela
The photo of Angela and her young son is from Alamy. The illustration of Red Riding Hood and the wolf is by Lina Litherland.
After a Few More Letters . . .
After a few more letters, I received one the following year dated October 26, 1988.
"I’ll be coming by myself to Florida next week – Mark & Alex will be sad to miss visiting, but just as we were pondering the stark reality of the rest of the project (and maybe the Disneyland brochures did make me feel that only the most case-hardened theoretician of popular culture could get a buzz off it) Alex developed a roaring ear infection that contra-judicates flying. So he’ll stay home with his daddy; & I’ll come & do my thing & stay over & go home on the Friday. It is a brief visit, but we’ll have a chance to get together – I look forward to seeing you all , especially your wee girl, to compare notes . . . Love to all – Angela"
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Angela in Gainesville
When Angela finally arrived in Gainesville the following week, there was a packed house in one of the largest auditoriums on the campus of the University of Florida, and here is how I introduced her.
The publicity information distributed by Angela Carter's publisher stresses that she is one of Britain's most original and disturbing writers. Now there is no doubt that she is original, but I am uncertain about the term "disturbing." If anything, Ms.Carter is a disturbed writer, disturbed by the perverse nature of so-called “normal” social relations and the political machinations that we have developed in our sexual relations. If anything, Ms. Carter is a compulsive writer, who has felt an urgent need to respond to the disturbances in the world she has experienced, and her works are relentless imaginary endeavors to explore what we all repress to try to appear normal . . .
Photo by John Mahler, The Totonto Star, 1988.
More from Jack Zipes Personal Memories of Angela Carter in our next (April) blog
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The Company of Wolves is one of three stories in the Bloody Chamber where wolves are a focus. Making a coherent movie that combines these these stories is most unlikely. And yet Angela Carter and Neil Jordan collaborated and made it happen. I find the review (below) by the exceptional Roger Ebert to be brilliant.
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"The Company of Wolves" is a dream about werewolves and little girls and deep, dark forests. It is not a children's film and it is not an exploitation film; it is a disturbing and stylish attempt to collect some of the nightmares that lie beneath the surface of "Little Red Riding Hood."
The movie is based on a novel and a screenplay by Angela Carter, who has taken Red Riding Hood as a starting-place for the stories, which are secretly about the fearsomeness of sexuality. She has shown us what those scary fairy tales are really telling us; she has filled in the lines and visualized the parts that the Brothers Grimm left out (and they did not leave out all that many parts). The movie has an uncanny, hypnotic force; we always know what is happening, but we rarely know why, or how it connects with anything else, or how we can escape from it, or why it seems to correspond so deeply with our guilts and fears. That is, of course, almost a definition of a nightmare." The film was directed by Neil Jordan.
Excerpted from http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-company-of-wolves-1985
The photo is of Sarah Patterson in the role of Rosaleen in the movie, The Company of Wolves.
Here is a link to the trailer of The Company of Wolves.
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“Many bowdlerized versions indicated a Victorian-minded censorship, which feared that Little Red Riding Hood might some day break out, become a Bohemian, and live in the woods with the wolf.”
― Jack D. Zipes, The Trials and Tribulations of Little Red Riding Hood
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Exceptional Independent Animation
O MATKO (Oh Mother)
Stylized, surreal fun and imagination
Created by Paulina Ziokowska
Music Giorgio Giampa,
Momtage: Karol Stadnik
Link O MATKO Time-56 seconds
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Warm Liguria
Original, warm, humanity
People are a mirror of the place they live.
Created by twin sisters Olga and Tatania Poliektova
Music: Schwarzweiss "Ups and Downs"
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One Minute for Katrina
Memory lane, storm aftermath
Created by Serafima Serafimova, Studio; Nice and Serious
Animation/Design by Max Halley, Luke Marsh, Mads Broni
Sound Design/Editor Serafima Seraimova
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As I Write This
Russia is brutally invading Ukraine.
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Link to Awesome Video Update by Rufugees International Video
This is our world.
Are Wonder tales for children or adults being created by or for them?
I hope so.
Heseke Refugee Camp, Home Sweet Home, Syria
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Why Am I ? by Ari Wulff Amazon Customer Review
A simple question leads to a Universal quest
(Reviewed by a teacher)
First time parents who don’t have much previous involvement with kids are often bemused or even befuddled by the simplicity of many popular kids’ books. Everyone summons respect for Seuss, and other unique iconic work, but many look at some enduring but seemingly simple books by the likes of Eric Carle, Susan Boynton, Margaret Wise Brown, Crockett Johnson, and Mo Willems to name just a few, . . This is the best time to mention the charm and imagination of the wonderful, colorful artwork: Wulff's drawings are enchanting and delightful. My students adored them and looked at the book many times after each reading. That's a nice bonus, but to me, the overwhelming value of the book is the seemingly simple story that looms larger as it's told.
Why Am I was written and illustrated by Ari Wulff.
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The Stone City Warriors Will Attack Green Valley. . .
"I love this series of books and Planet Of The Dogs sets the stage for all that follows. . . The story borders between reality, a dream world, fantasy, fiction, reality and wonderful imagination. . . the author has done a wonderful job of weaving this tale, making it a first rate fantasy read, while at the same time addressing quite real problems and indeed, how to fix those problems". . . Don Blankenship, Teacher, Editor/Reviewer at Good Books For Kids, Amazon
It was a cold, dark night when the howling dogs awakened Prince
Ukko from his sleep. It was a sound he had never heard before, and
caused a cold feeling of fear to move through his body. After a few
minutes, the howling stopped, but now Prince Ukko was unable to
sleep.
His bedroom was in the high tower of the ancient castle that his
father, King Ukko, leader of the Black Hawk tribes, had taken from
the forest people.
Now wide-awake, he rose from his bed, shouted orders to the
guards outside his bedchamber door, and went to the window. He
pulled open the wooden shutter and gazed out. Except for the open
area directly in front of the castle, everything was covered in fog
and mist.
As he looked out, trying to see something, trying to understand, the
awful sound once again rose in the air. Something was out there
that should not be there. Something unknown.
Here is a link for sample chapters from the Planet Of The Dogs Series.
Here is a link to Goodreads for more reviews
The illustration from Castle In The Mist is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
"Man is troubled by what might be called the Dog Wish, a strange and involved compulsion to be as happy and carefree as a dog."
James Thurber
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