Angela Olive Carter, The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

Caroline Webb (University of Newcastle)
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Angela Carter’s short story collection

The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories

, first published by Gollancz in 1979, has been recognised as a major work of postmodernism and late-twentieth-century feminism, as well as an important intervention in the fairy tale tradition. The collection consists of ten stories, all of them based on versions of traditional European fairy tales. Carter’s language is distinctive: generally eschewing the simplicity of folk tale redaction, she appears to revel in a lushly adjectival prose and frequently elaborate syntax that highlight the stories’ theoretical sophistication. Carter’s emphasis throughout is on sexuality, particularly female sexuality, as that has been culturally constructed over time: the postmodernism of the collection inheres especially…

2610 words

Citation: Webb, Caroline. "The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 December 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1432, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1432 The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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