Angela Carter

"An electrifying intellectual autobiography, with all the narrative expanse, drama, outrage, and high comedy of the author's fiction. Angela Carter is revealed here, anew, as one of the most important thinkers of twentieth-century world literature--and one of its most pungent voices."--Rick Moody One of contemporary literature's most original and affecting fiction writers, Angela Carter also wrote brilliant nonfiction. Shaking a Leg comprises the best of her essays and criticism, much of it collected for the first time. Carter's acute observations are spiked with her piercing matter-of-factness, her devastating wit, her penchant for mockery, and her passion for the absurd. Whether discussing films or food, feminism or fantasy, science fiction or sex, Carter consistently explores new territories and overturns old ideas. No cultural icon escapes her scrutiny; as in her fiction, Carter offers glorious evidence of the transforming power of the imagination. From delightfully wicked commentaries on Gone with the Wind, a Japanese fertility festival, and fellow writers, including Lawrence, Lovecraft, Borges, and Burroughs, to enchanting personal essays, Carter shares her thoughts and herself with glee. "What a wonderful collection--sharp, funny, too decent for sarcasm but great wit and humanity, an unusual combination. But it makes us miss her, miss laughing with her, that real, intelligent, tough writing woman."--Grace Paley

One of our most imaginative and accomplished writers, Angela Carter left behind a dazzling array of work: essays, citicism, and fiction. But it is in her short stories that her extraordinary talents--as a fabulist, feminist, social critic, and weaver of tales--are most penetratingly evident. This volume presents Carter's considerable legacy of short fiction gathered from published books, and includes early and previously unpublished stories. From reflections on jazz and Japan, through vigorous refashionings of classic folklore and fairy tales, to stunning snapshots of modern life in all its tawdry glory, we are able to chart the evolution of Carter's marvelous, magical vision.

The winner of the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1968 is set in the swinging sixties full of the wit and irreverence for which Carter is renowned.

From the master of the literary supernatural and author of The Bloody Chamber, a startling tale of the redemptive power of physical and emotional love One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother's wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave the comfortable home of her childhood, she is sent to London to live with relatives she has never met: Aunt Margaret, beautiful and speechless, and her brothers, Francie, whose graceful music belies his clumsy nature, and the volatile Finn, who kisses Melanie in the ruins of the pleasure gardens. And brooding Uncle Philip loves only the life-sized wooden puppets he creates in his toyshop. This classic gothic novel established Angela Carter as one of our most imaginative writers and augurs the themes of her later creative work.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SALMAN RUSHDIEAs well as her eight novels, Angela Carter published four wonderful collections of short stories during her lifetime, and contributed stories to several anthologies. The stories were scattered amongst different publishers, and a couple of the volumes are now out of print.

Based on real people, this volume offers a collection of stories focusing on mingling history, invention, literary criticism, high drama and low comedy.

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY HELEN SIMPSON From familiar fairy tales and legends - Red Riding Hood, Bluebeard, Puss in Boots, Beauty and the Beast, vampires and werewolves - Angela Carter has created an absorbing collection of dark, sensual, fantastic stories.

In her first novel, Angela Carter tells a disturbing and delicious tale of shattered beauty and male camaraderie. It shows one of the 20th century's greatest writers at the start of a dazzling career.

Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe's capitals, part swan...or all fake? Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney's circus.

Shortly before her death Angela Carter was preparing this volume of short stories, one which does full justice to the glory of her imagination and the range of her talent. It is divided into distinct parts. The first comprises a group of stories inspired by America: Lizzie Borden visits a circus; a John Ford Western is spiced with the story of 'TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE' and there is a wonderful Gothic extravaganza set in Hollywood. The second section - OLD WORLD WONDERS - draws on fairy tales (Cinderella), on the story of Mary Magdalene, on the folklore of pantomime, on ALICE IN WONDERLAND, an on medieval legend. These stories represent Angela Carter at her most acrobatic and dazzling: erudite, witty, sexy and enthralling. A book to delight her many, many fans.

Presenting a selection of her writing, the author covers more than a decade of her thought, which ranges over a diversity of subjects giving a measure of the focus of her interests.

After the apocalypse, society is divided into three endlessly warring factions. The Professors and Soldiers maintain what is left of civilization while the superstitious Barbarians constantly attack them. The Barbarians are in turn attacked by the deformed and diseased Out People, who struggle to survive in a netherworld of incinerated cities. When Marianne, a Professor's daughter, is kidnapped to become the captive bride of the Barbarian Jewel, a dangerous, erotic love story begins. For as Marianne gives herself over to the exotic life of the jungle, she also begins to discover her own capacity for barbarism and violence. Playful, sensuous, violent and gripping, Heroes and Villains is an ambiguous and deliriously rich blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, gothic fantasy, literary allusion and twisted romance.

Winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction From the master of the literary supernatural and author of The Bloody Chamber, her acclaimed novel about the exploits of a circus performer who is part-woman, part-swan Sophi Fevvers--the toast of Europe's capitals, courted by the Prince of Wales, painted by Toulouse-Lautrec--is an aerialiste extraordinaire, star of Colonel Kearney's circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover Fevvers's true identity: Is she part swan or all fake? Dazzled by his love for Fevvers, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser joins the circus on its tour. The journey takes him--and the reader--on an intoxicating trip through turn-of-the-century London, St. Petersburg, and Siberia--a tour so magical that only Angela Carter could have created it.

The transformation of Desiderio's city into a mysterious kingdom is instantaneous: Hallucination flows with magical speed in every brain; avenues and plazas are suddenly as fertile as fairy-book forests. And the evil comes, too, as imaginary massacres fill the streets with blood, the dead return to question the living, and profound anxiety drives hundreds to suicide. Behind it all stands Doctor Hoffman, whose gigantic generators crack the immutable surfaces of time and space and plunge civilization into a world without the chains - or structures - of reason. Only Desiderio, immune to mirages and fantasy, can defeat him. But Desiderio's battle will take him to the very brink of undeniable, irresistible desire.

* A magnificent selection of Angela Carter 's journalistic and critical work, this shows her as one of the funniest and most perceptive critics of our age, a maverick who didn't miss a thing.

In this, her second novel, (awarded the 1967 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize) Angela Carter's brilliant imagination and starting intensity of style explore and extend the nature and boundaries of love.