Book Review | ‘Heroes and Villains’ by Angela Carter

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angela carter, Bloody Chamber, book review, Fiction, heroes and villains, shadow dance, Stockholm Syndrome

Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I am now pretty certain that no one ever really gets used to Angela Carter’s brand of vitriolic love or her genre-defying characters. I mean, when I try to figure out ‘Heroes and Villains’, I really struggle to put a label on what I have just read. Instead I come up with crazy statements like: it’s a futuristic fairytale with elements of creation mythology that registers roughly on the ultraviolet section of the story-telling rainbow. Yeah. It’s like THAT.

The main ingredients of a typical Carter novel are a fistful of folktale blueprints, which are then stripped from all the pretty ‘Perrault‘ restraints and marched at gunpoint into the roiling, acerbic crucible of the author’s mind. And from this magician’s melting pot which consists of a curious alchemy of brains, barbarism and wily femininity come out twisted versions of the tales themselves; genetically spliced monsters that would and could turn upon themselves at the slightest provocation. Actually, imagine the cannibalistic fairies that feature in ‘Pan’s Labyrinth‘ and you’re more than halfway there to figuring out just how brutal Carter can be in her own re-telling of events.

Take our main character for example, one bony slip of a girl called Marianne, who quite literally grows up in an ivory tower surrounded by luxuries. The tower and her social status as a professor’s daughter places her as the ‘princess’ of the story. A quick glance outside those castle walls and we instantly see how privileged she really is; as only two other caste systems remain in this bleak post-apocalyptic world. The dreaded barbarians are the ‘noble savages’ made up of wandering gypsies, thieves and vagabonds. Then there are the Out-People; a genetically corrupt version of humanity that have devolved into monsters. From these Carter makes up the misunderstood ‘other’ who are not as intellectually inferior as they seem and the half-man, half-monster types that would rank among the minotaurs and Centaurs of ancient mythology. The sad irony of this is that even though the latter group emulate the glory of demigods, the reality is quite the opposite as Carter marks their existence as unnatural and the undoing of man.

Marianne therefore surprises us when she tires from her closeted upbringing and decides to defect into the wilderness with a dangerous barbarian who is held captive in the fortress. Even worse is the fact that she runs away with the very boy who murdered her own brother. So begins a very strange tale of love (if love it can be called) between a savage and a professor’s daughter as they form an odd alliance that can only be described as a type of Stockholm Syndrome.

Within the span of the story, Marianne shows her true colours, as her life with the savage tribe exposes her to vulgarity and sexual assault. Male/ female relationships are brought down to their bare primal essentials and we realise how Marianne is made of much, much sterner stuff. As the story progresses we see how Marianne by instinct has finally found the place where she is most happy; beside the beautiful but violent raven-haired Jewel.

As a reader I enjoyed the progression of their relationship, this unlikely romance that would go sour in some places and then pick up again when you least expected it. There story is underpinned by the Adam and Eve mythos, and this also handsomely features in the form of a grotesque tattoo on Jewels torso of the scene where Eve offers Adam the forbidden fruit. In fact, Jewel is somewhat of a synthetic messiah; a puppet controlled by the ominous ‘Doctor’; a madman who is trying to fabricate his own religion using members of the savage tribe. Jewel with his imposing physique and handsome looks doubles as Adam, Jesus and other religious characters.

So, dystopian fiction or post-apocalyptic nightmare; barbaric romance or feminist literature, you read and decide.

View all my reviews

Related articles

• Marina Warner on Angela Carter (gatherednettles.com)
• Angela Carter named best ever winner of UK’s oldest literary prize (guardian.co.uk)
• Angela Carter Titled “Best Winner Of The James Tait Black Award” for Novel “Nights At The Circus” (booksnreview.com)
• Feminism and Fairy Tales? (sallyshaktiwillow.wordpress.com)
• Book review: “The Passion of New Eve”- Angela Carter (selfmadewomanblog.wordpress.com)
• Recommended Reading: (windling.typepad.com)
• Read “The Werewolf,” A Short Fable by Angela Carter (biblioklept.org)

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Book Review | ‘Shadow Dance’ by Angela Carter

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angela carter, Annunciation, Bloody Chamber, book review, Evelyn, gothic fiction, literary fiction, Morris, Nights at the Circus, Passion of New Eve, shadow dance, violence

Shadow Dance by Angela Carter

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“She was a beautiful girl, a white and golden girl, like moonlight on daisies, a month ago. So he stared at her shattered beauty… ‘She is a burning child, a fiery bud’ said Honeybuzzard, before he knifed her.'”

This is a very strange story about a ghastly nymphet called Ghislaine whose beauty verges on the grotesque even before her face gets slashed to pieces by the equally beautiful and androgynous villain Honeybuzzard. I am beginning to see a common theme in Carter’s particular stance on the nature of feminine beauty in that she loves to concoct her characters as a delirious mix of sexual depravity in virginal garbs.

‘Shadow Dance’ is a complex novel where the sexuality of characters are always suspect. The medusa-like Ghislaine (even her name is a monstrosity that smacks of the absinthe-odoured Lautrec ladies) is presented as an insatiable young woman who is forever scarred after a violent sexual attack cruelly orchestrated by two men; Morris, a nondescript antique-dealer who beneath the thin gloss is basically a failure in life and his flamboyant and dangerous sidekick Honeybuzzard.

“In the flickering blue light, Honey’s long, pale hair and high-held, androgynous face was hard and fine and inhuman; Medusa, marble, terrible… She gaped up, baffled, wondering, like the Virgin in Florentine pictures meeting the beautiful, terrible Angel of the Annunciation.” 

The two men are very unlikely friends and partners in crime, however the thing drawing the two together is the very thing that makes them incompatible: total incongruity of character. Morris is the total opposite of Honeybuzzard. Where he is all shy and retiring, Honeybuzzard is all knives and sharp corners. Like the title suggests, there is a very subtle shadow dance that occurs between these two men, they are both too much of one thing and not enough of another and it is through this need that they come into close proximity and tolerate each others intolerable acts. Even more subtle is the sexual tension between the two and the sense of how they can never truly enact the forbidden sexual desire for one another because they are, in a symbolic sense, each other.

Honeybuzzard and Ghislaine were the most interesting characters and I find Carter is at her best when creating the most outrageous personalities. She really does shine as she makes the most incredible habits credible. Ghislaine’s magnificent entrance at the beginning of the novel and Carters exquisite description of her will stay with me for a long while. It was nice to see the initial workings of ‘The Passion of New Eve‘ in this, her first novel; as I think Ghislaine and Honeybuzzard may have been test versions of the Tristesse and Evelyn to come.

Carter is also a master of jerking sympathy out of her readership for the most absurd of reasons. As poisonous as Ghislaine is, we cannot help feeling horror and shock at her attack by the hands of Morris, who was the one who planted the demonic seed of thought into the impressionable mind of Honeybuzzard. In roundabout ways we can decide for ourselves who was more or less to blame for the events of that night and how the aftermath affects not just the victim, but many other innocent bystanders who have no more than a fleeting acquaintance with the main people involved.

The most amazing thing about ‘Shadow Dance’ has to be the detailed descriptions of various degrees of depravity, whether this be in the state of a house or a relationship. Things are always a little bit tainted in Carter’s world and that’s what gives this a very gothic flavour. Everything is in a certain stage of its’ own undoing and even those who think they have finally captured a rag of relative happiness soon have it cruelly torn from them.

I adore authors who are not afraid to put their characters through their paces, who are brutal and precise if the story demands it. Carter cares very much for her characters, which is why she is so careless with them. They are not wrapped in cotton and protected by events, they live them out for us and brings us ‘the taste of pennies’ on our tongue. It’s always a pleasure to read Carter, for she belongs in the rare gallery of women writers such as du Maurier, Atwood and Morrison, who boldly go where no others have been and eke out new, savage pastures for readers to lose themselves in. They bring with them their own brand of femininity, one that tries to cleanse itself of the barbie-coloured optimism, and allows us to glance at the depths of our forbidden selves for a few therapeutic minutes – at the overwhelming burden of our dark ‘life-giving’ gifts and what this means in its terrifying totality.

View all my reviews

Related articles

• Marina Warner on Angela Carter (gatherednettles.com)
• Book review: “The Passion of New Eve”- Angela Carter (selfmadewomanblog.wordpress.com)
• Read “The Werewolf,” A Short Fable by Angela Carter (biblioklept.org)
• Recommended Reading: (windling.typepad.com)

So you think you know what a book is?

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angela carter, Bloody Chamber, book art, public library, Shawnee County Kansas, Topeka Kansas

For most of us books are usually made of paper and ink. We concentrate on enjoying the story and don’t really give much thought to alternative ways in which a story can be told. However all parts of the book can actually contribute towards the telling of the story; the cover, the binding, even the words on the page and the way they are positioned. Sometimes a series of images can tell a story more vividly than words. This video illuminates the many different kinds of books out there in the world and challenges our understanding of books and the various functions it may serve.

This has highlighted how mainstream books are missing that all important tactile element. We should enjoy looking at and touching these ‘vessels’ of thought.

So what do you think? Are they books or something else? I’d dearly like to know how the last ‘book art’ opens up. It reminds me of Angela Carter‘s ‘The Bloody Chamber‘! Anyway, if you are ever around Kansas, then you might want to drop by the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library to see all these artefacts in real life. I know I’d like to some day.

Related articles

• 2013 Book Bingo Reading Challenge (thebookishsideofme.wordpress.com)

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (18/10)

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50 books a year, angela carter, hubert selby jr, Its monday what are you reading?, meme, Robert Rankin, wilkie collins

Another Monday, another meme. Things have slowed down since the last time I posted. The good news is, I’ve finally reached my 50 Books A Year target (yay!). And I’ve also began to focus more on my writing, which is why I haven’t been posting as frequently. More posts will follow on my thoughts and feelings on that.

But here is what’s going on from the book front:

Books Read
1. ‘The Passion of New Eve’ by Angela Carter
 
This gets 5/5 stars. An absolute joy to read. Review coming up!

2. ‘The Room’ by Hubert Selby Jr.

Scary stuff. This gets two ratings: 3/5 for story and 5/5 for execution of the writers’ craft. I’ll elaborate later in a full review.

Currently Reading
1. Retromancer by Robert Rankin

Still monkeying around with this one, but that’s only because (look below)…

2. ‘The Woman in White’ by Wilkie Collins

… this one has taken over! Who’d have thought Collins would turn out to be such a brilliant writer?

That’s it for now. Happy reading everyone!

Teaser Tuesday | Androgyny Is Not An Option: ‘The Passion of New Eve’

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angela carter, dystopian, meme, science fiction, teaser tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

The quote for today’s Teaser Tuesday comes from Angela Carter’s ‘The Passion of New Eve’. At first it didn’t really notice it, but the title might be a play on ‘The Passion of the Christ’. I get the feeling I’ll be coming across a lot of biblical references on creation and the fall. 

The book itself is set in the near future between London and America. With dystopian landscapes galore, it really is a feast for the senses. This is the story of one man’s (Evelyn) journey through feminine sexuality. Without giving too much away, it’s an extraordinary story about sex-change, feminine revenge and weird woman cult’s. It’s a fantasy/ science-fiction/ psychological thriller type of book, which explores the mythologies built-up around gender roles. Even though I’m still at the beginning, I’m already hooked.

“I would go to the desert, to the waste heart of that vast country, the desert on which they turned their backs for fear it would remind them of emptiness – the desert, the arid zone, there to find, chimera of chimeras, there, in the ocean of sand, among bleached rocks of the untenanted part of the world, I thought I might find that most elusive of chimeras, myself.

And so, in the end, I did, although this self was a perfect stranger to me.”

Carter’s work is highly feminist and political in it’s approach to gender roles. When Evelyn is captured by a cult  and surgically changed into a woman (Eve), he begins to experience the inequalities facing the fairer sex. This is a very dark tale of transgression, but incredibly fascinating at the same time. I agree when they say that Angela Carter is the best woman writer of her time. ‘The Passion of New Eve’ is a rare post-feminist gem that should be read by all dystopian lovers.

It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? (27/09)

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angela carter, hubert selby jr, Its monday what are you reading?, meme, Robert Rankin

I missed last weeks ‘Monday’ meme, partly because I forgot (oops) and partly because I’ve been obsessed about the filming of the new ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 4’ movie that’s taking place in Greenwich. I’ve been travelling up there since Monday to see if Johnny’s arrived yet (excitement!), but no… it was just production setting up bluescreens, castle facades and other piratey stuff. If you’re interested you can check out my blog post complete with pictures.

I heard through Twitter that Johnny’s going to be there today. Whether I’ll go to see him is another thing entirely. For one I’ve got a sore throat which will probably turn into a monster cold! But I suppose that’s what you get for standing around in the cold waiting for a celebrity to turn up! I’d hate to have a job as a London paparazzi. If I do see him, I’m going to *hopefully* have him sign my copy of ‘The Rum Diary’ and ‘Fear and Loathing’ by Hunter S. Thompson. He’s supposed to have the filming rights for it (Hunter gave it to him before he died).  

That aside, I’ve also been busy writing a guest review for The Blue Bookcase – the first one for me, so I’m pretty excited about that! About my 50 Books a Year thing… yeah, I’m on no. 50 at the moment and I’ve got about 3 books on the go. So it’ll be a surprise to see which one gets it!

Enough of the banter, more about the books.

Books Read
1. ‘Lavinia’ by Ursula Le Guin
 
This gets 4/5 stars. Review can be found here!

2. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert 

Although executed in a masterful way, this gets 3/5 stars. Review can be found here.

Currently Reading
1. The Passion of New Eve by Angela Carter

This wasn’t really on my list of reads, but my curiosity got the better of me. And would you believe it, its explosive stuff. It’s a novel of beautiful contradictions which looks like it’ll get the full 5/5 from me. A literary buffs heaven. Who said Women’s fiction was all romance and barbie-doll stuff. Angela Carter will eat you for breakfast! Djuna Barnes, read it and weep!

2. Retromancer by Robert Rankin

…And now for something totally different. Fancy a bit of Monty Python on tap? Then I recommend Rankin. He’s awesome. Can’t believe I haven’t come across him earlier. He totally takes the crap out of big, blockbuster novels. This one is a play on WIlliam Gibson’s famous cyber-thriller ‘Neuromancer’. Another 5/5’er, methinks.

3. The Room by Hubert Selby Jr.

We’ve had comedy and we’ve had uber-feminism. To counterbalance all this we have: the Selby. Which by the way, is beginning to irk me very much. I’m skipping pages. Too, much, graphic, gore. I’m not the squeamish kind, but I kid you not when I say that if I didn’t have a firm grasp on what Selby was actually trying to do as  ‘writer’ in his art, I’d put this book away and never touch it again. This one will be a tough review indeed.

That’s it for now. Happy reading everyone!