The invention of Angela Carter : a biography

561 Pages·2017·1.15 MB·English

by  Gordon

the invention of angela carter

THE INVENTION OF
ANGELA CARTER
A Biography
Edmund Gordon
1
1
Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford.
It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship,
and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of
Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries.
Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press
198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America.
© Edmund Gordon 2017
Originally published in the United Kingdom as The Invention of Angela Carter by
Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Vintage, 2016.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press,
or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with
the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning
reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the
Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above.
You must not circulate this work in any other form
and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Gordon, Edmund, author.
Title: The invention of Angela Carter : a biography / Edmund Gordon.
Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2017. | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016042329| ISBN 9780190626846 (hardback) |
ISBN 9780190626860 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Carter, Angela, 1940–1992. | Authors, English—20th
century—Biography. | BISAC: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / General. |
BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Literary.
Classification: LCC PR6053.A73 Z682 2017 | DDC 823/.914 [B] —dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042329
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc.,
United States of America
For Sophie

‘Self-possession. To be in possession of oneself.
That’s the only thing really.’
Angela Carter, journal, 1972

Contents
Introduction xi
PART I
1 A matriarchal clan 3
2 States of grace are always evil 18
3 Flight from a closed room 37
4 Just a wife 52
5 A slapstick nightmare 68
6 Giving the flash more substance 87
7 Happiness is ego-shaped 106
8 The edge of the unimaginable 118
9 Vertigo 137
PART II
10 The dressing-up box of the heart 153
11 Blueprints for new lifestyles 172
12 Constructing a personality 186
PART III
13 Yet another foreign country 203
14 Isn’t the identity fragile? 227
15 The silences with which the English compose intimacies 250
16 The tales of terror groove 265