Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories

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Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories

by Angela Carter, Salman Rushdie (contributor)

4.32 of 5 stars 4.32 · rating details · 1,183 ratings · 84 reviews

One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents—as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales—are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from pub...more

Paperback, 480 pages

Published August 1st 1997 by Penguin books (first published 1995)

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The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter

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Jan 06, 2008 Adam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror-disguised-as-literature

This is a complete collection of Carter’s excellent short from her sadly short career. Her work takes stock imagery of our imagination (legends and historical figures) and plunges it into her surreal and gothic imagination and re-imagines, demythologizes, or makes it utterly unrecognizable. Resembling the work of Borges, Dineson, Brothers Grimm, Burroughs, Hoffman, and Poe but still really being unique and in her own voice. Highlights include “Loves of Lady Purple”, “The Tiger Bride”, “Fall Rive...more

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Dec 28, 2007 Elan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, lezzzbehonest-queer-fiction

an ex-lover gave me the gift of angela carter, and when she did, she confessed that every time she opened her copy of "burning your boats" that she found some new story she had not read before. shortly after that, i got my own copy of the collection. i've had it for several years, travelled with it, kept it close to my beds and my toilets, and the same seems true for me. i am forever falling in love with this book, forever reading tales of werewolves and purple-madam-puppets and tigers outloud i...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Mira rated it 5 of 5 stars

More people need to know about Angela Carter. There are several reasons for this- she did dark and sexual fairy tales before they were cool and better than anyone else has, she wrote a nonfiction coherant analysis of the Marquis de Sade’s writing in relation to feminism that wasn’t just throwing up her hands and giving up, she blurred the lines of magical realism in a manner comparable to Borges- but an incentive I’d like to add is that she’s one of the best writers of gothic short stories I’ve...more

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Oct 30, 2012 Orna Ross rated it 4 of 5 stars

The world of an Angela Carter short story is a world at once fantastic and familiar. Tigers, werewolves and other beasts stalk through; Bluebeard, Red Riding Hood and Puss-in-Boots perform new, startling acts. Hollywood, pantomime, the fairground, Shakespearean comedy all lend their forms to have them smashed up and put back together as something quite different.

But through it all the feeling of familiarity is there, not because we have heard the tale or seen the show before, but because it is...more The world of an Angela Carter short story is a world at once fantastic and familiar. Tigers, werewolves and other beasts stalk through; Bluebeard, Red Riding Hood and Puss-in-Boots perform new, startling acts. Hollywood, pantomime, the fairground, Shakespearean comedy all lend their forms to have them smashed up and put back together as something quite different.

But through it all the feeling of familiarity is there, not because we have heard the tale or seen the show before, but because it is our own psyche which is being rummaged through, its murkiest corners revealed in the light of Carter’s brilliance.

Burning Your Boats is the first in a series to be published of the collected works of Carter and it gathers together her four published short story collections, along with early stories and uncollected works.

She always claimed that what she wrote were not short stories but tales. “The tale does not log everyday experience, as the short story does,” she said, in the afterword to ‘Fireworks’, her first collection. “It interprets everyday experience through a system of imagery derived from subterranean areas behind everyday experience.” Many of the stories in that collection were set in Japan, a country she “ran away to,” in 1969, and where she “learnt what it is to be a woman and became radicalised.”

In ‘Journey to the Heart of the Forest’, a 13-year-old brother and sister find carnivorous water-lilies which bite, tree trunks covered in milk-dispensing breasts and an apple tree with fruit so juicy that the girl has to “extend a long, crimson, newly sensual tongue to lick her lips,” for the knowledge the tree imparts is “the hitherto unguessed at, unknowable, inexpressible vistas of love.” And incestuous love, at that.

Carter was not just interested in the moral or psychological function of fairy tales but also in the way they conveyed information about the material lives of those who invented and retold them: “Fairy tales, fold tales, stories from the oral tradition, are all of them the most vital connection we have with the imaginations of the ordinary men and women whose labour created our world,” she said, in her introduction to The Virago Book of Fairytales.

In “The Bloody Chamber’ she insists that such tales are not mere repositories for dominant cultural assumptions but metaphors for the deepest sexual dangers and desires. For this and her staking out of the taboo, she was labelled politically correct by some, dismissed as cultish and marginal by others. But many who looked askance while she was alive came to praise her when she died three years ago.

For to attach the PC catchall to as wayward and wicked a writer as Carter is, of course, ridiculous. As for marginality, she once said: “The tale has not been dealt with kindly by literati, and is it any wonder? Let us keep the unconscious in a suitcase.” She is now the most studied 20th century writer in British universities, a development which her friend Salman Rushdie in his introduction describes as “a victory over the mainstream she would have enjoyed.”

What is unusual about Burning Your Boats, is the lack of a sense of development. It seems Carter’s gift emerged almost fully formed. ‘A Very, Very Great Lady and Her Son at Home’, begins: “When I was adolescent, my mother taught me a charm, gave me a talisman, handed me the key of the world.” The mother’s gift to her shy son? When awed by people, imagine them on the lavatory for “the bowels are great levellers.” At the end of the story he turns the same question on her with the result that “she crashed forward on to the carpet and lay there, a tree felled,” and he “vanished, laughing into the night.”

Here already are her love of gothic imagery and ideas, her preoccupation with language, her mingling of high culture with low flesh. And from start to finish her concerns remain the same: violence, magic, love, the frailty of the flesh, the strength of the spirit. Each successive volume of stories in Burning Your Boats demonstrates not so much an author extending her range as a wild imagination giving form to itself. It’s like watching a high diver perform one virtuoso display after another, using the same spins and twists to dazzling new effect.

For that reason, it is not a book which you can read from beginning to end without succumbing to imaginative vertigo. Neither is it one you dip into, in the usual sense. But take a periodic plunge with her into deep, dark Cartesian waters and witness your imagination emerge clutching pearls of “hitherto unguessed at,” richness.
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Apr 27, 2012 Jean-marcel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Angela Carter is a phenomenal stylist, of this there can be no doubt. I truly enjoy her juxtaposition of the beautiful and the grotesque, often depicted in single sentences, so that one doesn't quite know whether to be smitten or disgusted. Many of her tales possess a sort of profound, gothic heaviness that occasionally appeals very much to my sensibilities.

It has to be said though that quite a few of the stories in this collection, especially some of the early ones, feel like writing exercises...more

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May 11, 2012 Melanti rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: anthology, omnibus, intotheforest-2012

I really should have put a review on each of the collections in this omnibus separately. But, in my eagerness, I neglected to do so and now am writing one for the omnibus as a whole, since I can't help but see them in relation to each other.

I love how the stories are arranged in more or less chronological order. It really allows one to see how Carter's style improved and evolved over time. The first collection, Fireworks, is by far the weakest of the four and that is in part due to Carter strugg...more I really should have put a review on each of the collections in this omnibus separately. But, in my eagerness, I neglected to do so and now am writing one for the omnibus as a whole, since I can't help but see them in relation to each other.

I love how the stories are arranged in more or less chronological order. It really allows one to see how Carter's style improved and evolved over time. The first collection, Fireworks, is by far the weakest of the four and that is in part due to Carter struggling to find out exactly what her style is.

Then you have The Bloody Chamber, which is in its own way evolving even during the collection. The stories in the beginning are more straightforward fairy tale retellings - very little changed, no real motivations or choices added, but still managing to make me think of the stories in a different way. But by the end of the collection, Carter has added in the feminist twists that she is so famous for.

It makes me think of the essay about McKillip in Fairy Tales Re-Imagined, where it's argued that choices were what differentiated the later Beauty from the early Beauty and were what allowed her to break free of the set fairy tale narrative. By the end of the collection, her characters are making their own choices, though in many ways those choices do still seem inevitable.

Next up is Saints and Strangers, which was my favorite collection of the set. There are re-tellings here - but they're not re-tellings of fairy tales, but of other stories and real people. What exactly was Lizzy Borden's motivation that morning? Why did Edgar Allen Poe write as he did? What was the story behind Oberon and Titania's estrangement in Midsummer Night's Dream? Stylistically, its much improved from Fireworks and even slightly better than The Bloody Chamber.

The last is American Ghosts and Old World Wonders, which is a mix of fairy tale retellings, other story retellings, and non-retellings. I did love these as well, and would rank it just slightly behind The Bloody Chamber.(less)

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Jun 12, 2010 Lisa M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, short-story-collection

I first encountered Carter in an English class, where I was required to use a school of literary analysis to analyze one of three given texts (I choose Carter's "The Tiger's Bride.") I selected feminism (although I almost chose deconstruction!) and found that this story changed my personal life and how I view sex and my sexual relationships. So, I had to buy the book. This review will pertain primarily to "The Bloody Chamber" section of this book, which contains her collected fairy-tales, one of...more I first encountered Carter in an English class, where I was required to use a school of literary analysis to analyze one of three given texts (I choose Carter's "The Tiger's Bride.") I selected feminism (although I almost chose deconstruction!) and found that this story changed my personal life and how I view sex and my sexual relationships. So, I had to buy the book. This review will pertain primarily to "The Bloody Chamber" section of this book, which contains her collected fairy-tales, one of which is "Tiger's Bride."

Carter's style does not differ much from story to story; motifs appear again and again, such as that of the white rose or the beast. She even uses certain descriptive words in different stories. This may be a negative trait in any other genre, Carter has chosen the one where she can get away-- even succeed-- by doing it. The point of a fairy tale is to enter a realm that we may not live, but we are familiar with: the characters serve as archetypes, in a sense, and there are a few basic plots that are always returned to. When I read "The Bloody Chamber" I felt I was entering this fairy tale realm; this realm particularly addresses women, especially young women who are beginning to explore intimate relationships with men.

These stories provide a safe space for women to confront situations that are rather stereotypical of what will occur in their own lives. For example, the fear of surrendering to a man-- whether that be by marrying him or by giving up virginity-- is addressed in typical plots (as in, individual personalities are not considered and the plot is focused on.) Although these stories can be at times terrifying, after reading one women can experience terror on their own time and at their own pace. This allows them to become aware of and empowered in their own lives.

I did not like all of the stories in this collection although all of them were well written and well done. I preferred those with beasts and wolves as opposed to the others, but I am sure I will be revisiting this again and again for guidance in my own life. (less)

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Nov 30, 2012 Aaron Jansen rated it 4 of 5 stars

I didn't notice until I was almost finished, but this book has a cool symmetry in its organization. Burning Your Boats opens with three diverse, previously uncollected pieces and closes with three more. Between these bookends, which serve as a sort of "before and after" portrait of Carter as a writer, are her four collections.

EARLY WORK

The first story is unremarkable and unrepresentative. The second is prototypical: the dreamlike strangeness that pervades her work is present, as is her signature...more

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Jun 18, 2011 Michelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, compilation-anthology, fiction, psych-social, book-club

Okay, so first a disclaimer. Angela Carter makes me feel a little uncomfortable and she's okay with that. I'm okay with it too, because she is a good writer, and because she does not shy away from disconcerting topics and strong, often anti-typical female characters.
Burning Your Boats is a collection of all of her short stories. Topics covered include incest, murder, Edgar Allan Poe, Lizzie Borden, Vampires (not in a "Twilight-y" way), Wolves, Japan, and Puppets. But the reason I started reading...more Okay, so first a disclaimer. Angela Carter makes me feel a little uncomfortable and she's okay with that. I'm okay with it too, because she is a good writer, and because she does not shy away from disconcerting topics and strong, often anti-typical female characters.
Burning Your Boats is a collection of all of her short stories. Topics covered include incest, murder, Edgar Allan Poe, Lizzie Borden, Vampires (not in a "Twilight-y" way), Wolves, Japan, and Puppets. But the reason I started reading this book, and the reason that my friend let me borrow his copy is for her adaptations of common fairy tales. I was complaining about YA rip-offs of classic fairy tales (most recently the movie adaptation of "Beastly" starring Vanessa Hudgens) and he got this from off his shelf. Basically, this is the anti-YA fairy tale collection, along with a few other short stories which lack the basis in the Brothers Grimm, et al.
The first story in the collection is titled "The Man Who Loved a Double Bass," and is a great introduction to Carter's stories. It is short, sweet, sad, and just unreal enough for my tastes. From there, she dives into more intense stories (Burning Your Boats is chronological, so there is a very real progression from one section to the next in terms of intensity).
"The Bloody Chamber", an adaptation of the story of Bluebeard, the man who forbids his wife to enter a particular chamber while he is away, in which we discover the bodies of his former wives, is perhaps one of the better-known stories. Carter invests her bride with naivete and a devoted mother, and he new husband with a thirst for deviant sexuality and sadomasochism. He desires his young bride to open the chamber so that he may punish her for her indiscretion. Similarly, adaptations of Erl-King and Red Riding Hood seek to find a more fleshed-out character for a traditional tale.
Not all the stories are as intense and violent "Puss-in-Boots" is invested with all the inherent confidence of its narrator, a tom in his prime, and "The Kitchen Child" is ridiculous in its own way. Even Lizzie Borden, infamous suspect in the Fall River Axe Murders, gets two stories, which paint a scene from her childhood, and provide a sketch of the Borden household at the time of the murders.
Angela Carter's topics are interestingly chosen from modern Japanese, traditional European, and historical American source material, among others. Her prose is all of her own,it is artful, and I enjoyed it, but if you do not, you probably won't get very far in this book. She writes though the voices of women both notorious and victimized, and isn't afraid to delve, but the use of a fanciful plot lines and familiar stories keeps her work from becoming too dense.(less)

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Dec 09, 2010 Suna rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: angela-carter

Well I enjoyed it, but as I hadn't realized that this book incorporated anthologies I'd already read, it wasn't the glittering treasure trove I'd hoped for.

The absolutely smashing introduction by Salman Rushdie far outstrips some of the stories in this book. Heresy, I know.

For starters, The Bloody Chamber keeps coming out on top as The One, with Fireworks as a very close second, so nothing elated me as much as these sets of stories did.

And then there were stories that just plain missed the mark...more

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Dec 09, 2008 Ciara rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: werepeople, folklore enthusiasts, people with good attention spans

Shelves: read-in-2008

i was first introduced to angela carter in college, when we did a writing exercise contrasting her verbose prose against the clipped, controlled style of lorrie moore (another author i like a lot). after reading carter's novella the bloody chamber (included in this collection) for the exercise, i decided to seek out more of her writing. this is a collection of her short stories & novellas, which are mostly perverse & feminist-minded updates of classic fairy tales. "the bloody chamber" wa...more

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Ciara uh...'cause it is a novella. length-wise. nothing against it. it's still quite good, & i wouldn't really want it to be longer. i think it's perfec...more
Dec 08, 2008 04:52am

Jason A novella is a short novel -- a single narrative given in brief. The Bloody Chamber is a collection of short stories, or, more accurate still, a colle...more
Dec 08, 2008 05:34am

Ciara um, who the hell are you? also, have you actually read "the bloody chamber," or are you just showing off? this review that i wrote was for the carter...more
Dec 09, 2008 08:45am

Feb 06, 2008 Anuar Kassim rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book is kind of dark for me. Nevertheless, I still find this collection of short stories by the late Angela Carter, fascinating. As a first time reader of her book, I initially find the subjects covered in these stories were somewhat bewildering and difficult to fathom. Her outright openness on the subject of sexuality, mysticism, fantasies, folklore, etc, can be overwhelming at first. Her style of writing soon grows on you though. Her play on well known tales from the past told in a new wa...more This book is kind of dark for me. Nevertheless, I still find this collection of short stories by the late Angela Carter, fascinating. As a first time reader of her book, I initially find the subjects covered in these stories were somewhat bewildering and difficult to fathom. Her outright openness on the subject of sexuality, mysticism, fantasies, folklore, etc, can be overwhelming at first. Her style of writing soon grows on you though. Her play on well known tales from the past told in a new way with a twist or two is somewhat refreshing albeit still remaining dark or even darker than the original.

I have my favourite stories in the book which I find more captivating than others. In particular, I like her coverage of folklores involving werewolves such as "The Company of Wolves", "Wolf-Alice" and "Peter and the wolf". It seems that there's a fascination with the man-wolf subject. One dark story which I find fascinating is "The Bloody Chamber", a story about a male version the "black widow". Next, I find the story "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter" disturbing. A story that dwells on the subject of incest and the punishment meted for this "great sin". In fact the subject of incest crops up again in another story, "John Ford's, 'Tis a pity she's a whore" and coincidentally the perpetrators always die from execution. "Penetrating to the heart of the forest" seems to be touching on the subject of Adam and Eve, and the forbidden fruit. "The courtship of Mr Lyon" is all about Beauty and the Beast. I guess, Cinderella has now been better explained in the "Ashputtle or the Mother's Ghost". "The Lady of the House of Love" is about the creature of the night, a read that sends a chill through my body while reading at night. "The Loves of Lady Purple" is eerie, the puppet that comes to life and "suck the life out of its owner". I also like the story "The Lady of the Massacre" with a setting in the land of North America, a tale of slavery and physical brandishment.

Some stories ends with a question mark, at least for me as I found them puzzling and they left me with a sense of bewilderment. These include "A Victorian Fable" and "In Pantoland".

Finishing the book, I realize that authors like Carter seems to have the ability to be wild in their imagination. Certainly, only the gifted can produce such intricacies in their stories, mind you, put into words and paragraphs for our enjoyment. You may never really know what exactly is going on in their mind. That, I find fascinating as I don't have the ability nor time to indulge in such fantasies. Take for example, "Tales from 1000 and 1 Nights". Personally I find the ability to weave a story with so much imagination with a touch of audacity is remarkable. However I find this easiness to accommodate wild imagination may not be too good for the soul because, if not careful will make one unable to differentiate reality and dreamworld. But then, who am I to judge?

"The world is but a dream. When we die, then we will truly be awake".(less)

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Dec 27, 2007 Felicity rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dreamers with a morbid bent

Shelves: short-stories, grad-school, fiction, fabulism

If I had only one word to describe Angela Carter, I think I might go with "audacious". One lonely adjective, however, never satisfied Carter or me.

Carter's imagination is dark, elemental and disturbing, and it wends its way through a rich intellectual landscape. I happen to share Carter's interests in certain motifs, themes and tropes -- fairy tales, folklore, the ocean and forest in myth, and others -- and the rich variety of topics, settings and structures in the collection was engaging.

Carter...more

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May 20, 2009 Nick Black marked it as to-read

Never heard of Angela Carter until an oblique mention in a recent Telegraph article, but I was feeling froggy and thus jumped up on it (Amazon 2009-05-20). Seems to have some strong reviews here, as well as some weak ones; we'll see how it goes. Mmmm, speaking of which, I want to reread some of Ms. O'Connor's stories tonight or tomorrow.

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May 22, 2008 Krista rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: English Lit Majors, fans of magical realism

Shelves: fiction

WARNING: Angela Carter uses disturbing, dreamlike and at times very sexual images in her fiction so if that bothers you stay away.

That said, I enjoyed reading some of her short stories again. I was introduced to Carter and her lush prose in my 500 level Lit Theory class. I suppose my professor wanted to use Carter as an example of feminist theory. Or maybe it was deconstruction...(guess I should have paid more attention! Believe it or not I got an A in that class.)

Carter is a word sorceress and...more

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Sep 14, 2011 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

These stories are dreadful and uncomfortable. You find yourself reading against your better judgement as the dread greets you and sticks around until the end. I am personally not a huge fan of "dark" retelling of already dark folklore and fairy tales, or so I've been learning after reading this and Fables in the same week. But, she is a remarkable author, despite me making my "ugh ew what no gross really?" face while reading her stories.

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Oct 04, 2009 Orionisisgray rated it 4 of 5 stars

This collection includes a number of juicy treats, including The Bloody Chamber series of dark fairy tale reworkings from the gothic, bizarre, feminist master of the macabre. What a pleasure. Angela does have a tendency to go WAY over the top sometimes, but not so in these short stories. I think the format gives her a chance to shine. Like Haruki Murakami says, some writers are just short story writers, the way some runners are just sprinters.

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Sep 18, 2008 Ollie rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: dreamers, jungians, fairy tales lovers

Reading a short story by Angela Carter is the equivalent of visiting a friend who has travelled the world and now lives by herself in an apartment filled with cats, trinkets and incense. Some days, as you sit in this friend's living room, waiting for her to brew some exotic tea, the scent of burning incense lulls you into a reverie, the way in which the sunlight hits the smoke gives her living room a mysterious feel. At other times, your friend makes the mistake of lighting too many incense stic...more

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Apr 19, 2011 David rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is probably, hands down, one of the best collections I have every read. Carter's prose makes Nabokov's look downright clumsy. Her stories are an electric mix of fairy tale and feminist punk rock. No offense to Neil Gaiman, but a mediocre story from this collection could bite the head off the best in any of his collections. I'm just sad that this is it as far as her short fiction goes. On to the novels.

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Oct 29, 2011 Christopher Stevenson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: feminism

If she were alive today, they would say, "Bad woman! Bad!" because of her lack of compromise on textual aesthetics. When she was alive, they said, "Bad woman! Bad!" because aesthetics of her characters. You can't just like Angela Carter. You can't say, "Oh! this was a good book..." You have say, "Even though I oppose the idea of marriage, I would wed this collection."

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Feb 07, 2013 Vicky Norton rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well when I say "read", I mean, I read the first couple of stories and found that Ms. Carter is definitely not for me. Incest is not my genre of choice. I only got this out to see her take on fairy tales as commented on by Sara Maitland in From the Forest, so I might flick through some more, but otherwise, it's going back to the library.

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Jan 03, 2009 Megan rated it 4 of 5 stars

I kind of love Angela Carter right now. Maybe you'll dismiss this review because I'm such a fan of retold fairy tales and, umm, introductions written by Salman Rushdie (one of my all-time faves) ... but I really enjoy Carter's writing and I even liked the stories that weren't related to fairy tales.

Some of the stories in this collection are better (or worse) than others, but I was pretty happy with all of it.

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Sep 23, 2012 Gina rated it 3 of 5 stars

I love Angela Carter because her stuff is a mix of fairytale and weird and grotesque, often with a Flannery O'Conner shock ending (my favorite kind of ending). This collection of her short stories was a mixed bag and I was surprised how many of her earlier stories really didn't grab me. Honestly, my favorite thing about this (besides the stories from The Bloody Chamber, which I had already read) was the intro by Salman Rushdie!!

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Mar 02, 2012 noelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: do-not-own, ebooks

i looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved "the bloody chamber" and some of the other fairytale re-imaginings from that particular collection but a lot of the other stories didn't really grab me. carter is a fantastical, brilliant writer tho and i'd be happy to revisit the other stuff separately.

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Jun 30, 2009 Jesse Bullington rated it 5 of 5 stars

Carter's short stories are peerless, and this little beast houses all of them. Taking it off the shelf and reading a story or two from time to time restores my faith in the world and in writing. All hyperbole aside, Carter is one of the most brilliant authors of this or any other age.

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Sep 12, 2010 Gisela rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, horror, short-stories

Angela Carter deveria ser de leitura obrigatória.
Neste volume estão reunidos todos os seus contos, dos quais destaco os que foram anteriormente publicados como [book:The Bloody Chamber|49011, contos de fadas para adultos.
Fabuloso...

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May 04, 2012 Helena rated it 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes her stories become too confusing and/or philosophical and i did eventually tire of EVERY SINGLE character having sex with EVERTHING SINGLE thing in the universe, including fruit :) But i still LOVE this book!

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Nov 27, 2012 Jean rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-stories

This book was a different kind of read for me. Kind of" fairytale-ish." I really enjoyed those stories that I read and found myself pondering each tale. I believe that, for me, pondering books is a good thing. Probably would have given it a five had I read all the tales.

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Mar 11, 2009 Lord Beardsley rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: read2009, favorites

I don't really know how to describe my love for Angela Carter. Her work is magical and hilarious, horrific and heart-warming all at the same time. Her imagery is so vivid and her descriptions so exact you feel that her writing can create all the senses to come straight from the page and into reality. Also, judging by her frequent mention of cats, I can definitely assume she was a crazy cat lady. This = one more reason to adore her.

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Feb 08, 2013 Gigi Romano rated it 4 of 5 stars

She is a very interesting author and I really enjoyed reading her works. They made me think and kept me entertained at the same time.

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About Angela Carter

From Wikipedia: Born Angela Olive Stalker in Eastbourne, in 1940, Carter was evacuated as a child to live in Yorkshire with her maternal grandmother. As a teenager she battled anorexia. She began work as a journalist on the Croydon Advertiser, following in the footsteps of her father. Carter attended the University of Bristol where she studied English literature.

She married twice, first in 1960 to...more From Wikipedia: Born Angela Olive Stalker in Eastbourne, in 1940, Carter was evacuated as a child to live in Yorkshire with her maternal grandmother. As a teenager she battled anorexia. She began work as a journalist on the Croydon Advertiser, following in the footsteps of her father. Carter attended the University of Bristol where she studied English literature.

She married twice, first in 1960 to Paul Carter. They divorced after twelve years. In 1969 Angela Carter used the proceeds of her Somerset Maugham Award to leave her husband and relocate for two years to Tokyo, Japan, where she claims in Nothing Sacred (1982) that she "learnt what it is to be a woman and became radicalised." She wrote about her experiences there in articles for New Society and a collection of short stories, Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces (1974), and evidence of her experiences in Japan can also be seen in The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972). She was there at the same time as Roland Barthes, who published his experiences in Empire of Signs (1970).

She then explored the United States, Asia, and Europe, helped by her fluency in French and German. She spent much of the late 1970s and 1980s as a writer in residence at universities, including the University of Sheffield, Brown University, the University of Adelaide, and the University of East Anglia. In 1977 Carter married Mark Pearce, with whom she had one son.

As well as being a prolific writer of fiction, Carter contributed many articles to The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman, collected in Shaking a Leg. She adapted a number of her short stories for radio and wrote two original radio dramas on Richard Dadd and Ronald Firbank. Two of her fictions have been adapted for the silver screen: The Company of Wolves (1984) and The Magic Toyshop (1987). She was actively involved in both film adaptations, her screenplays are published in the collected dramatic writings, The Curious Room, together with her radio scripts, a libretto for an opera of Virginia Wolf's Orlando, an unproduced screenplay entitled The Christchurch Murders (based on the same true story as Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures) and other works. These neglected works, as well as her controversial television documentary, The Holy Family Album, are discussed in Charlotte Crofts' book, Anagrams of Desire (2003).

At the time of her death, Carter was embarking on a sequel to Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre based on the later life of Jane's stepdaughter, Adèle Varens. However, only a synopsis survives.

Her novel Nights at the Circus won the 1984 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for literature.

Angela Carter died aged 51 in 1992 at her home in London after developing lung cancer. Her obituary published in The Observer said, "She was the opposite of parochial. Nothing, for her, was outside the pale: she wanted to know about everything and everyone, and every place and every word. She relished life and language hugely, and reveled in the diverse."
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“They were connoisseurs of boredom. They savoured the various bouquets of the subtly differentiated boredoms which rose from the long, wasted hours at the dead end of night.” — 22 people liked it

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