ECU Libraries Catalog

The invention of Angela Carter : a biography / Edmund Gordon.

Author/creator Gordon, Edmund author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info New York : Oxford University Press, [2017]
Copyright Notice ©2017
Descriptionxvii, 525 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, portraits ; 25 cm
Subject(s)
Contents 1. A matriarchal clan -- 2. 'States of grace are always evil -- 3. Flight from a closed room -- 4. Just a wife -- 5. A slapstick nightmare -- 6. Giving the flash more substance -- 7. Happiness is ego-shaped -- 8. The edge of the unimaginable' -- 9. Vertigo -- 10. The dressing-up box of the heart -- 11. Blueprints for new lifestyles -- 12. Constructing a personality -- 13. Yet another foreign country -- 14. Isn't the identity fragile? -- 15. The silences with which the English compose intimacies -- 16. The tales of terror groove -- 17. No. I lash lady -- 18. American ghosts -- 19. A psychedelic Dickens -- 20. Doomed to love -- 21. A lifestyle of paradoxical propriety -- 22. I refuse to play in tragedy -- 23. Perhaps writing is a matter of life and death -- 24. Call it a happy ending -- 25. How sweet it was! -- Epilogue.
Abstract "Widely acknowledged as one of the most important English writers of the last century, Angela Carter's work stands out for its bawdiness and linguistic zest, its hospitality to the fantastical and the absurd, and its extraordinary inventiveness and range. Her life was as vigorously modern and unconventional as anything in her fiction. This is the story of how Angela Carter invented herself - as a new kind of woman and a new kind of writer - and how she came to write such seductive and distinctive masterworks as The Bloody Chamber, Nights at the Circus, and Wise Children. Because its subject so powerfully embodied the spirit of the times, the book also provides a fresh perspective on Britain's social and cultural history in the second half of the twentieth century. It examines such topics as the 1960s counterculture, the social and imaginative conditions of the nuclear age, and the advent of second wave feminism. Author Edmund Gordon has followed in Angela Carter's footsteps - travelling to the places she lived in Britain, Japan, and the USA - to uncover a life rich in adventure and incident. With unrestricted access to her manuscripts, letters, and journals, and informed by interviews with Carter's friends and family, Gordon offers an unrivalled portrait of one of the twentieth century's most dazzlingly original writers. This sharply written narrative will be the definitive biography for years to come."-- Provided by publisher.
Abstract "With unprecedented access to its subject's personal records and informed by fresh, unvarnished anecdotes from family, friends, and colleagues, Edmund Gordon's biography provides the first full account of Angela Carter's amazing life and enduring work"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references and index.
Genre/formBiographies.
LCCN 2016042329
ISBN9780190626846 (hardcover)
ISBN0190626844 (hardcover)
ISBN(epub)
ISBN(epub)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks PR6053 .A73 Z682 2017 ✔ Available Place Hold