| Angela Carter (1940-1992), one of Britain's most original and provocative contemporary writers, was a cultural subversive at once fascinated with and disturbed by the impact of popular culture on gender politics. Her work probes the manifestations of repressed, unconscious human fears and desires, treating issues of female sexuality, eroticism, and violence with a transgressive humor that stuns and unnerves.;In this study, I examine Carter's ideas about language, literature, and gender politics as they are presented in her non-fiction, and I point to ideological as well as thematic connections that surface in her fiction. Juxtaposing Carter's journalism with her novels and short stories, I trace the author's development as a writer who moved from the mimetic, to the speculative, to the fairy tale genre, and I argue that the mode of the fantastic was Carter's most effective vehicle of subversion.;It is my purpose to show that Carter's fiction is aimed directly at undermining traditional gender stereotypes, and that it protests the repression of female sexuality by debunking culturally-constructed ideologies, specifically myths about femininity, marriage, and motherhood. Carter's later fiction, in particular, redefines the sexual politics of desire as separate from romantic love and procreation, suggesting that sexual impulses are potentially dangerous and in no way gender-specific. In Carter's fictionalized universes, male as well as female characters can freely (even if sometimes violently) play out their desires.;This study positions Angela Carter as an important literary figure of the post-modern era who deserves recognition both for her innovative narrative strategies and for her representation of strong female characters whose smarts and sexuality are celebrated without restraint. Carter created a gallery of spirited women, young and old, who are lovable "bad girls"-prostitutes, circus performers, and music-hall dancers. Moreover, she appropriated a place in contemporary fiction wherein these wayward women can parley their feminine wiles into pleasure and profit. |
