Angela Carter: A Literary Life

by Sarah Gamble

By the time of her death in 1992, Angela Carter had come to be regarded as one of the most successful and original British authors of the twentieth-century, and her writing has subsequently become the focus of a burgeoning body of criticism. This book disentangles the cult of Angela Carter as 'the fairy godmother of magical realism' from her own claims to be a materialist and a 'demythologiser' by placing her within the social, political and theoretical context within which she wrote. Drawing on Carter's own autobiographical articles as well as her novels and short stories, this study examines her engagement with topical issues such as national (particularly English) identity, class, politics and feminism, assessing the relationship between her life, her times and her art.

247 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm surprised there hasn't been a major biography of Carter yet. This is a good attempt, but the author clearly had little access to Carter's effects and doesn't appear to have interviewed anyone who knew her, so basically she evaluates what is already known of Carter's life in relation to her literary works.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marred by some truly awful transmisogyny.