What do you think?
Rate this book
Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings by Carter, Angela (1982) Paperback
Long autobiographical pieces on her life in South Yorkshire and South London are followed by highly individual inspections of 'abroad'. Some of her most brilliant writing is devoted to Japan exotically and erotically described here - so perfectly suited to the Carter pen. Domestically, Angela Carter uses her mordant wit and accurate eye to inspect England and Englishness as it manifested itself throughout the land. Than she turns to her own craft, and her extraordinarily wide-ranging book reviews are masterpieces. This collection shows Angela Carter as one of the funniest and most perceptive critics of our age, a maverick who didn't miss a thing.
Paperback
First published December 31, 1982
4 people are currently reading
493 people want to read
About the author
Angela Carter
212 books3,723 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."
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 22, 2020
‘In the pursuit of magnificence, nothing is sacred.’
A dazzling, diverse and astute collection of journalism. From thoughts on Japanese erotica to grilling the femme fatale, Angela Carter is endlessly perceptive, illuminating and hilarious.
I enjoyed this collection more than Expletives Deleted, the main reason being that this was more accessible. Besides, an insight into 1970s Japanese culture is inevitably more interesting than the cookbooks of Elizabeth David. Some articles were more engaging than others – there are a couple that even Angela admits are overwritten. One or two go as far as to melodramatically drown in their own artifice. But they are all wildly entertaining to read in their sheer enthusiasm, regardless of whether you follow what she’s saying or not.
Angela is indeed magnificent, as we always knew.
A dazzling, diverse and astute collection of journalism. From thoughts on Japanese erotica to grilling the femme fatale, Angela Carter is endlessly perceptive, illuminating and hilarious.
I enjoyed this collection more than Expletives Deleted, the main reason being that this was more accessible. Besides, an insight into 1970s Japanese culture is inevitably more interesting than the cookbooks of Elizabeth David. Some articles were more engaging than others – there are a couple that even Angela admits are overwritten. One or two go as far as to melodramatically drown in their own artifice. But they are all wildly entertaining to read in their sheer enthusiasm, regardless of whether you follow what she’s saying or not.
Angela is indeed magnificent, as we always knew.
March 24, 2015
I'm in a kind of mode where I'll happily listen to Angela Carter discuss nearly anything. Though apparently get impatient with her familial reminiscences, while eating up everything she has to say about film, fashion, or Japanese culture. (She actually worked in a Hostess bar there for a while??!) Since this collects a number of short articles written over decades, mostly for New Society, she never really gets to go into as much depth and development as I could hope, but her rapid density of conceptual thought is very much appreciated.
June 16, 2013
Journalistic and nonfiction essays by the wildly imaginative and astute Angela Carter. A terrific counterpoint to her fiction work, providing interesting insight to a great feminist (and plain great) writer's mind.
June 20, 2020
The articles about Japan were the most interesting ones in the book.
July 24, 2016
Interesting book if you've already read one of her fiction works. This collection of essays/reviews will help you understand how the author thinks, & learn about her life. I would not recommend it as th first book you read by Angela Carter (it wasn't the first for me).
September 1, 2019
A sparkling collection of articles, on a variety of topics, in a variety of moods and modes. A fun read, which makes me want to read D.H. Lawrence and Colette.
October 23, 2020
"Not every girl can insert a foot inside her vagina and those with this talent are surely entitled to public recognition..."
Read
August 29, 2021i just love how she writes. the texts on yorkshire and the one slagging off british acting are brilliant, but the stuff about japan is dubious, and shes (unsurprisingly ig) got some odd things to say about trans women. never veers into full terf territory but her comments do frame new eve in a new light. problematic fave! ugh!
August 22, 2023
I may not always agree with her but I love her observations and dissections. Her reflections on Wuthering Heights (and in Expletives Deleted her study of Jane Eyre) deeply moved me, made me desperate to revisit. As much challenges me and provides me affirmations, I adore Carter and her whipping wit and wisdom.
July 5, 2021
It was a slow read for me, but the articles are well written and although old, they are relevant in many ways and very interesting. I've heard about Angela Carter when they discussed her on a radio (BBC Book Club) and knew nothing about her. But I am glad I'd got to know her.
June 1, 2022
"Long autobiographical pieces on her life in South Yorkshire and South London are followed by highly individual inspections of 'abroad.' Some of her most brilliant writing is devoted to Japan -- exotically and erotically described here -- so perfectly suited to the Carter pen. Domestically, Angela Carter uses her mordant wit and accurate eye to inspect England and Englishness as it manifested itself throughout the land. Then she turns to her own craft, and her extraordinarily wide-ranging book reviews are masterpieces. This collection shows Angela Carter as one of the funniest and most perceptive of our age, a maverick who didn't miss a thing.
~~back cover
I enjoyed a few of the essays, but most of them just weren't my cuppa tea.
~~back cover
I enjoyed a few of the essays, but most of them just weren't my cuppa tea.
February 7, 2009
Shannon gave me several Angela Carter books years ago and it's well past time I cracked them. It's clear she knows so many things I want to learn, and also I lately keep seeing her name everywhere. I even saw someone on a TV show watching Pandora's Box after I read the essay where she discusses it. The world is trying to teach me!
I thought the collection of journalism would be a good introduction to her voice, which is true, but actually I felt like it wasn't quite the right first choice. I wanted to see so many of her arguments through, to have her keep discussing a thesis, but they're all pieces written for magazines and newspapers so they don't do that. (I think I might read The Sadeian Women next, to indulge that interest.)
Her literary criticism is so famous for good reason, so it was great to read it. "Alison's Giggle" and "Love in a Cold Climate" will be read again, and made me want to reread or read the literature discussed. In general I wanted to learn more about what she's writing about. The other pieces I enjoyed most were the biographical ones, on the Wordsworths and Frida Kahlo and Colette. Her style really suits analysis of a famous life.
And I keep laughing at her joke about her neighborhood in Japan being so clean "You could eat your dinner off the children."
Thanks Shannon!
Also it is annoying me I can't find the right cover art on GoodReads. Mine has a cute photo of her in a hammock.
I thought the collection of journalism would be a good introduction to her voice, which is true, but actually I felt like it wasn't quite the right first choice. I wanted to see so many of her arguments through, to have her keep discussing a thesis, but they're all pieces written for magazines and newspapers so they don't do that. (I think I might read The Sadeian Women next, to indulge that interest.)
Her literary criticism is so famous for good reason, so it was great to read it. "Alison's Giggle" and "Love in a Cold Climate" will be read again, and made me want to reread or read the literature discussed. In general I wanted to learn more about what she's writing about. The other pieces I enjoyed most were the biographical ones, on the Wordsworths and Frida Kahlo and Colette. Her style really suits analysis of a famous life.
And I keep laughing at her joke about her neighborhood in Japan being so clean "You could eat your dinner off the children."
Thanks Shannon!
Also it is annoying me I can't find the right cover art on GoodReads. Mine has a cute photo of her in a hammock.
May 4, 2016
I really enjoyed the autobiographical elements to this collection - I wish that there had been more of them!
This collection was great for developing an understanding of Angela Carter's personal perspective of feminism and the treatment of women (writers and characters) in literature.
This collection was great for developing an understanding of Angela Carter's personal perspective of feminism and the treatment of women (writers and characters) in literature.
August 25, 2013
For some unknown reason, this bores me even though I like it a lot. I love the author's style yet I simply cannot make myself read it. I will return to it when my mood changes
Want to read
January 9, 2017Ich habe ein Buch bei BookCrossing.com registriert!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14351481
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/14351481
July 7, 2024
In the pursuit of magnificence, nothing is sacred
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews