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Meerkater und Drachenkönig
When a jealous dragon spies an adored sea-cat, lessons are learnt about friendship, jealousy and a mother's love.
Unknown Binding
First published December 1, 2000
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About the author
Angela Carter
213 books3,742 followersBorn 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."
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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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 17, 2024
Poor poor Dragon King. He just wants someone to tell him he’s beautiful
December 18, 2011
I've never read any of Angela Carter's adult fiction, so this charming, quirky book seems a perfect introduction to her work. It's always interesting reading stories for children by authors who are more known for their adult work. This book seems to have been published posthumously in 2000 (Carter died in 1992). Sea-Cat lives at the bottom of the sea with his mother. Because he is a cat his fur gets rather bedraggled when he is wet, and because he lives under the sea he is wet all the time. So his mother makes him a beautiful suit by knitting seaweed, and embroidering it with found objects from the sea floor. The Dragon King is the Lord of the Ocean. He is dreadfully ugly, and very ashamed by it, he last looked in a mirror over 3,000 years ago. He is very jealous of Sea-Cat's beautiful suit, and the admiration that Sea-Cat gets from everyone including the gossipy Sea-anemones.
March 17, 2022
I’d say that although it’s short enough for younger kids, it’s better for teens or adults. It’s very silly and strange, but really doesn’t necessarily have the best moral. Basically it ends with the very ugly self-conscious Dragon King feeling better about himself because he wears a pretty outfit that covers him up. There is definitely a message about love being unconditional and not dependent on looks as well as a message of kindness and generosity and remembering that beauty is fine, but wisdom is far more important. So there’s good stuff in there too. If you don’t think your kid can handle hearing the word “ugly” without running around calling people ugly afterwards, don’t read them this book. I’d say that with the right intonation read aloud and with an intentional conversation afterwards, this is a great children’s book. On its own, it was fun for me to read to myself!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 15, 2016
dubious lessons about beauty but I love it anyway.
January 11, 2024
Just really awful. Odd set up that tries to find amusing sea fantasy alternatives for a fantasy of a talking land cat mother and child. Most of this is hackneyed or doesn't really work. Then an unhappy sea dragon story who is ugly, mean and jealous but made happy through ownership of a ruby studded costume. A proto capitalist fable? Not sure but definitely a mess. Imagine that Angela Carter did this on a wet Sunday to see if it might come to something and someone else decided to publish it.
January 20, 2012
I found this a really touching book. It presented the moral without thumping you over the head, unlike, for instance, The Rainbow Fish and a myriad of others. Fantastic black and white illustrations. A favourite for me and my young daughter a few years ago. I haven't been able to find any of Angela Carter's adult works, but am always on the lookout for them.
September 24, 2015
In 3rd Grade I wrote a crappy book called "Iris: A Love Story" and it pretty much read like Carter's little fable about inner vs. outer beauty. Except I was eight and Carter is a grown-ass woman. This is terribly written, the text layout is off-putting, and when joined with the depressing illustrations and an overall boring story, you get this world-class stinker.
February 19, 2011
I wanted to read Carter's revised fairy tales but this was all that was available on the library shelves. Didn't really like it much, though the idea was neat. I would read it to my kids, but I was hoping for something awesome from the much-touted feminist author.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews