Carter, Angela - Carter, Angela 1940–
Carter, Angela 1940–
Ms Carter is an English writer of fantastical short stories and novels. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 53-56.)
Fireworks are Gothic tales, not stories, as [Angela Carter] explains in an Afterword. Written 'in a room too small to write a novel in', they are the result of her preoccupation with the imagery of the unconscious. Some of these tales refer to a primitive past, or rework myths. The real world—principally, here, her experience of Japan—is reshaped subjectively so that real cities, real situations, blossom strangely. Her phrasing is superb, and her imagery sometimes unforgettable: 'stagnant eyes' for example. She stalks through many of her own tales, a wanderer 'sad by nature' and attracted to anguish.
The tales are full of puppets, mirrors, forests, sequined eyes, shells, flowers and diffuse lust, like the Dadd pictures at the Tate. It is exciting and provocative; but it is familiar....
[The entire page is 2180 words long]
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