Magical Realism at its Best! (The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter)

Member Name: BlackSwan

Product:	The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
Date:	27/08/09 (45 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A seminal collection of Angela Carter's work

Disadvantages: Violent, sexually explicit and others might be put off by the surrealism

Angela Carter was one of the boldest writers of the 20th century. Championed by feminists, Carter is not the usual PC promoting puritan that became a cliché in her time. Instead she strengthened female role models through her own imaginative ideas and often sourced through real evidence. She did this without diminishing other male characters in fiction. Her research into gothic fiction and, in particular, folk stories reveals this best. Her short collection of stories The Bloody Chamber served as the source for the screenplay she wrote, A Company of Wolves, one of the most startlingly original films of the 1980s. In Carter's works, characters familiar like Red Riding Hood do not overwhelm or emasculate the male characters rather they compliment them with a different and yet equal strength.

There is a wonderful feeling of unrestrained exploration in Carter's storytelling. The collection does not comfortably fit common conventions. Beauty and the Beast gets two versions and Red Riding Hood gets three, but Snow White barely gets a page. Some fairy tale themes are common, others are not so familiar. Tones change from the bawdy and amusing Puss in Boots to the very disturbing and poetic aforementioned Snow White influenced Snow Child to the Sadean inspired horrors of the book's titular tale.

Folk and fairy tales derive their strength from being able to explore human nature unhindered via the vehicle of magical realism. The Bloody Chamber shows that Angela Carter was undeniably one of the best at conveying these ideas back to the adult reader or listener.

Summary: Taking the themes and plots of traditional tales, and bringing them back to an adult audience