Angela Carter Month

Posted on | April 1, 2010 | 44 Comments

Welcome to the first day of the Angela Carter month that I am hosting. This is not a challenge, but more of a celebration, where I will be revisiting Angela Carter’s work, reading that which is new to me, and sharing with you my love for the author; I have some fun and interesting things planned and I do hope you enjoy what I’ll do during this month. It is an open month and I hope that you will join me in either experiencing Angela Carter’s work for the first time or by re-discovering/discovering more of it. For those perhaps unsure of whether they will read her, Angela Carter’s work will make the perfect contribution to Carl’s Once Upon a Time Challenge, which may help you decide.

To start the celebrations off (and to help those of you out that perhaps would like to join in but don’t have any Angela Carter books on-hand), I have copies of The Magic Toyshop and The Passion of New Eve to give-away (the ones with funky Roxanna Bikadoroff covers) courtesy of Virago Press.

The Magic Toyshop is the Carter novel that seems to be the popular choice for people to begin with and a good one at that (I personally started with Nights at the Circus, which remains my favourite, but that was through circumstance as opposed to choice); it is also consistently used as a study text for young students as an introduction to Carter’s work. For a great review of The Magic Toyshop read this one by another cookie crumbles, which highlights the sheer shock-value of Angela Carter’s writing and subject matter. Here too is the synopsis from Amazon to help you decide:

‘This crazy world whirled around her, men and women dwarfed by toys and puppets, where even the birds are mechanical and the few human figures went masked…She was in the night once again, and the doll was herself.’ Melanie walks in the midnight garden, wearing her mother’s wedding dress; naked she climbs the apple tree in the black of the moon. Omens of disaster, swiftly following, transport Melanie from rural comfort to London, to the Magic Toyshop. To the red-haired, dancing Finn, the gentle Francie, dumb Aunt Margaret and Uncle Phillip. Francie plays curious night music, Finn kisses fifteen-year-old Melanie in the mysterious ruins of the pleasure gardens. Brooding over all is Uncle Philip: Uncle Philip, with blank eyes the colour of wet newspaper, making puppets the size of men, and clockwork roses. He loves his magic puppets, but hates the love of man for woman, boy for girl, brother for sister…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.

The Passion of New Eve can be best-described as reading something like you have never read before; it is really a love or loathe novel and in the case of Verity it was the latter. Verity was “repulsed” by the novel and thought that it worked better as something to study rather than to read for enjoyment; I appreciate where she is coming from and it is the novel from Carter’s oeuvre that I am reluctant to recommend without reservations as I know that it isn’t a book for everyone. I studied The Passion of New Eve in a class on gender and sexuality in a Master’s in Modernities class and I would say that if you love books on gender, sexuality, feminism or are simply attracted to it through its controversy and with a love for exuberant language and bizarre premise, then this is the book for you. Here is the synopsis for it, to help you make up your mind:

‘I know nothing. I am a tabula erasa, a blank sheet of paper, an unhatched egg. I have not yet become a woman, although I possess a woman’s shape. Not a woman, no: both more and less than a real woman. Now I am a being as mythic and monstrous as Mother herself…New York has become the City of Dreadful Night where dissolute Leilah performs a dance of chaos for Evelyn. But this young Englishman’s fate lies in the arid desert, where a many-breasted fertility goddess will wield her scalpel to transform him into the new Eve. New York has become the City of Dreadful Night where dissolute Leilah performs a dance of chaos for Evelyn. But this young Englishman’s fate lies in the arid desert, where a many-breasted fertility goddess will wield her scalpel to transform him into the new Eve. THE PASSION OF NEW EVE is an extraordinary journey into the apocalyptic vision of the author Lorna Sage called ‘The boldest of English writers’.

To enter into my prize-draw for a copy of one of these books, tell me which one you would prefer to win, The Magic Toyshop or The Passion of New Eve, and also what you would like to see me address during Angela Carter month. I’ll keep this competition open for one week (closing at 12pm BST on April 8th; it is open worldwide) to hopefully allow you to receive the prize copy before the month ends.

Category: Angela Carter Month, Challenges, Competitions
Tags: Angela Carter > Virago

Comments

44 Responses to “Angela Carter Month”

Jackie (Farm Lane Books)
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:14 pm

I haven’t read any Angela Carter so am looking forward to trying her. I’m going to start with Nights at the Circus and may read Fireworks if I enjoy the first one and have the time to squeeze it in. I would love to win The Magic Toyshop and look forward to seeing what others think of her. I’d just like you to compile the reviews everyone writes – giving us a general idea of how much people enjoy each one.
Verity
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:18 pm

This is going to be itneresting, and I hope like Jackie suggests, you will compile some of the reviews. Thank you for linking to my blog I’ve read both of those, so please don’t enter me for the draw, but as I said on my blog yesterday I’m hoping to participate by reading the two AC VMCs that I haven’t yet read.
Beth
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:40 pm

I first encountered Angela Carter when I read The Bloody Chamber at uni for an essay on Fairy Tales and Sexuality and fell in love with her work. I’ve since read Nights at the Circus and just finished Wise Children last week, which I also adored. I can’t wait to see what you have to say and what further recommendations arise from this month. I’ll certainly try and fit in reading another of her books, and would love to be put in the draw for The Passion of New Eve. Thank you!
Teresa (Lovely Treez Reads)
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:42 pm

Oh how serpendipitous (sp???)! I have a few Angela Carter novels languishing on my shelves and just acquired The Magic Toyshop the other day so this could be the encouragement I need. I’d love to win The Passion of New Eve and look forward to sharing opinions of our ventures in Carterland.
Vasilly
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:43 pm

I would love a copy of The Magic Toyshop. I think you should address what it is about Carter that makes her so special.
Sasha
April 1st, 2010 @ 2:56 pm

I’ve read one story by Angela Carter for a Literature class in school, and it came from The Bloody Chamber–hopefully you’ll tackle that this month.

For the giveaway, I’d let you choose–Carter’s almost like new to me, so, well, it’s your rec ultimately!
Aarti
April 1st, 2010 @ 3:42 pm

I would love the chance to win The Magic Toyshop. I’m hoping to get to read Nights at the Circus this month, as you introduced me to that book

As for what I’d like you to do this month, I’m not sure. If Carter is a fascinating person in real life, too, I’d love to know more about her!
Tracey
April 1st, 2010 @ 3:56 pm

What a great idea, I think you should look at the fairy tales in all their brilliant gruesomeness.

Would love to win The Magic Toyshop. Thanks
Rosalind
April 1st, 2010 @ 3:57 pm

Oh how exciting! I’d love to be entered into the competition!

I’m going to say The Passion of New Eve because I love the image of her being like an ‘unhatched egg’. It reminds me of the Margaret Atwood short story Bluebeard’s Egg, in which the narrator is writing a short story from the point of view of an egg for her creative writing class. Do you know it?

I’ve only ever read Nights at the Circus, which I absolutely love.
Jenny
April 1st, 2010 @ 4:06 pm

I’d love to win The Magic Toyshop. The Passion of New Eve sounds like Advanced Theoretical Angela Carter, and I may only be ready for an Angela Carter Primer.
Annabel (gaskella)
April 1st, 2010 @ 4:21 pm

The Magic Toyshop appeals more to me. I’d love to hear more about her fairy tales – I hope to read some of them during the month.
Mae
April 1st, 2010 @ 4:29 pm

I’d love the Magic Toyshop. In terms of topics, I’m sure you’ve got everything covered – from feminism to fairy tales and the whimsy.
Teresa
April 1st, 2010 @ 5:54 pm

Angela Carter is one of those authors I keep telling myself to try but never actually get around to trying. I might not manage it this month, what with having a massive tome to read, a paper to write, and international travel to do, but I’d love this month just to get a general overview of some of her books, for people who, like me, don’t know much about her.

As for which book I’d like to win, well, even though The Magic Toyshop would probably be the better place to start, I’m putting my name in for The Passion of Eve, partly because I do like a little controversy but mostly because my library doesn’t have it.
Eva
April 1st, 2010 @ 6:02 pm

I have Nights at the Circus and The Infernal Machinations on my shelves…sounds like I’m starting w/ the former!

I actually began it ages ago, when you told me to on Twitter. And I loved the first chapter to death. But I decided to wait until Angela Carter month, so that I could revel in my enjoyment even more.
claire (kiss a cloud)
April 1st, 2010 @ 7:27 pm

I’d love to win The Magic Toyshop please!! I’d like to see you address how different her renditions of fairy tales are from the originals and how bloody and gory she is (I’m assuming, based on the covers). I think the blood and gore are the only things keeping me from picking her up before. But maybe I’m exaggerating in my head?
vivienne
April 1st, 2010 @ 8:42 pm

The Passion of New Eve is the one I shall be reading this month in order to join in with the Angela Carter month.
Nadia
April 1st, 2010 @ 9:02 pm

I’d love to win The Passion of the New Eve – that book sounds like its right up my alley. The only Carter I’ve ever read is Nights at the Circus – which I don’t think I truly grasped its meaning, so I’m looking forward to the reviews and any recommendations as to which other Carter books stand out. As far as a suggestion with regards to your Angela Carter Month, I suppose it would be neat to know a bit of biographical info about Carter because perhaps that will provide some insight as to what inspires her works. Cheers!
Mrs.B
April 2nd, 2010 @ 1:10 am

I’d love to join the draw and my choice is The Magic Toyshop. I’m so looking forward to your Angela Carter month. I’ve just read a few stories from The Bloody Chamber and really enjoyed it!
Michelle (su[shu])
April 2nd, 2010 @ 8:33 am

I’d love love love to win The Passion of New Eve. I’ve got one non-fiction book by Carter on my shelf that I’m going to get to in the next few days (The Sadeian Woman), and I’ll see if time permits me to also read The Bloody Chamber.

I have an uncanny feeling that Carter is going to be a writer to love.
Jennifer Dee
April 2nd, 2010 @ 10:09 am

I first came across Angela Carter when I was studying with the OU.I did a course that was in it’s final year ‘Women Sudies’ and Carter’s ‘Waward Girls and Wicked Women’ was a set book. I think I’m right in saying that she was quite involved with the OU at that time. So was Sarah Waters who was a lecturer on the said course. A pity that course didn’t carry on.ww
murf61
April 2nd, 2010 @ 11:30 am

I love Angela Carter and Nights at the Circus is my favourite, along with her Fairy Tales. I read The Magic Toyshop years ago but have lost my copy So I would love to win a new copy! I would like you to explore how Angela Carter influenced and inspired a new legion of women writers.
Great idea to have a whole month dedicated to such an amazing author.
uberVU - social comments
April 2nd, 2010 @ 11:37 am

Social comments and analytics for this post…

This post was mentioned on Twitter by paperbk_reader: Today is the first day of my Angela Carter month! Read my launch post and enter my give-away here: http://bit.ly/aoHhbZ...
Nymeth
April 2nd, 2010 @ 11:38 am

I’d love to be entered for The Passion of New Eve. It was my very first Carter and I loved it to death, but I read a library copy and don’t own it. I’m very much looking forward to the lovefest this month
Stujallen
April 2nd, 2010 @ 12:08 pm

i ve night at the circus to read at some point in the month
Simon (Savidge Reads)
April 2nd, 2010 @ 1:02 pm

Don’t enter me in for the prizes, just thought would pop and say perfect excuse for me to read The Bloody Chamber over the forthcoming month.

I did for a minute wonder if this was an April Fool even though you mentioned this some time ago, its the date it makes you doubt everything hahaha.
mee
April 2nd, 2010 @ 1:10 pm

The Magic Toyshop sounds awesome! I have doubts now whether I had made the right decision choosing The Bloody Chamber over The Magic Toyshop at the bookshop. I’ll be reading Bloody this month for sure, and I can’t wait to hold Nights at the Circus in my hands
Anothercookiecrumbles
April 2nd, 2010 @ 7:44 pm

Please don’t enter me in for the prize draw either. Already have both books

Kicked off the month with a couple of short stories from the Angela Carter Book Of Fairy Tales, and will start The Bloody Chamber tomorrow. Looking forward to it, as well as seeing how everyone else gets on with Carter.

Can’t wait to see what ‘interesting’ things you have in the pipelines.
Carl V.
April 3rd, 2010 @ 5:18 am

I’m in!!! I picked up a huge collection of her short stories for Once Upon a Time. Great idea you have here. I’d like to see you and/or anyone talk about why it seems Angela Carter’s work is going through a sort of resurgence. At least that is my admittedly ignorant impression.

If I won I would like The Magic Toyshop.

Thanks for hosting, it will be so fun to read more of her stuff.
Mystica
April 3rd, 2010 @ 4:51 pm

I havent read Angela Carter nor had I heard of her till I read your post. Both excerpts are completely out of my genre and choosing is hard!

Should I win could I start with the Magic Toyshop as you suggest for a total beginner.

Thank you for hosting and offering us a choice as well. Much appreciated. Happy Easter to you.
Magic Toyshops | Paperback Reader
April 4th, 2010 @ 11:54 am

[...] Venture last year that focuses on The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter, a copy of which you can win here. The post provides a brief overview of Carter’s relationship with Virago Books and how they [...]
Mrs.B.
April 4th, 2010 @ 1:33 pm

I love the green VMC covers and also the second one from the top. I’d love to read this book. Looking forward to learning more about Angela Carter.
Christine Coleman
April 4th, 2010 @ 5:29 pm

Beautiful covers! I know we’re not supposed to make judgements about a book, based on its cover, but for me, a visually pleasing cover adds to my whole-sense experience of the book.

I was rather resistant to reading Angela Carter for several years, though I can’t remember why. I was amazed and delighted by The Magic Toyshop when it was chosen as my book reading group’s book for that month.
A year or so later I lapped up The Wise Children – I love her sense of humour!
roxanna bikadoroff
April 4th, 2010 @ 8:56 pm

Hi ! Very appropriate. It just so happens I have a birthday this month …
Thanks for this great site !

Roxanna Bikadoroff, Carter cover creator
desperate reader
April 4th, 2010 @ 11:38 pm

Really looking forward to this, have the passion of new eve to read, the sadien woman, and infernal desires, so will try and read at least two of those whilst your doing this.
A Bookish Space
April 5th, 2010 @ 8:35 pm

I would love to be entered for The Magic Toyshop
Frances
April 6th, 2010 @ 12:37 am

Again, will you be so good as to pick for me? They both sound so good. You are giving an amazing gift to readers by introducing them in depth to a favorite author. Such fun too!
Dot
April 6th, 2010 @ 9:21 am

I’ve not read any Angela Carter but have only heard positive things, I shall have to try one from the library!
Paperback Reader
April 8th, 2010 @ 12:08 pm

***The draw for Angela Carter books is now closed and shall be announced shortly.***
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[...] Angela Carter, especially as it was released the day after my birthday and on the first day of the Angela Carter month I am hosting. This is one of only two Carter novels that I haven’t yet read hence the [...]
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