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The Bloody Chamber And Other Stories [Paperback]

Angela Carter (Author), Helen Simpson (Introduction)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
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Book Description

Publication Date: 13 July 1995

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.

(19950328)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Vintage Classics; New Ed edition (13 July 1995)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0099588110
  • ISBN-13: 978-0099588115
  • Product Dimensions: 13 x 20 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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› Visit Amazon's Angela Carter Page
Angela Carter
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Product Description

Review

Magnificent set pieces of fastidious sensuality (Ian McEwan )

She can glide from ancient to modern, from darkness to luminosity, from depravity to comedy without any hint of strain and without losing the elusive power of the original tales (The Times )

The Bloody Chamber's interweaving of retold fairy tales demonstrates Angela Carter's narrative gift at its most mocking and seductive (Observer )

Extraordinary and beautiful (Peter Redgrove )

Book Description

Fairy tales retold and interwoven by a master of seductive, luminous storytelling.
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Fairy tales with a modern(and adult) twist 12 Sep 2005
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book is an absolute gem with not a single story feeling out of place or unneccessary. Every story works on its own but the overall collection is fabulous. This is a book for anyone who enjoyed traditional fairy tales as it expands on each of the traditional stories like Bluebeard, Beauty and the Beast and Puss in Boots whilst the adult content ensures that it doesn't feel as if you are re-reading childhood books. This has become one of my favourite books and I would recommend it to anyone whose inner child desires a slightly more intense fairy tale.
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52 of 55 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Sense and Sensuality 31 Jan 2004
By Jonathan James Romley
Format:Paperback
I first came about this collection of stories through the inclusion of two of its works in the Neil Jordan film, the Company of Wolves. From this, I was immediately impressed and intrigued by Carter’s style of writing. In ‘the Company of Wolves’, we saw the ingenious juxtaposition between the varying mythologies of the fairy story, with the natural-sexual awakening of the adolescent. This is the defining factor of these works. Though the stories move from place to place to explore further myths and legends, it is this one consistent thread that anchors the stories together to create a unified work. The writer creates reoccurring motifs of love, lust and sexuality that give the stories a further narrative cohesion, despite being generally fragmented in terms of characters and scope.

The unity of the book, and the sustaining of the literary atmosphere, is also created through the varied textual forms that Carter chooses to chronicle. So, for her examinations here the writer hand-picks legends that have the strongest roots in sensuality... so we have vampirism, werewolves, feral children, and jungle beasts beguiling and defiling a succession of young women in a series of deeply emotional narrative episodes. To go into any great detail about these stories would be a great injustice to readers who are yet to experience Carter’s poetic use of language and deft storytelling capabilities. Needless to say, the stories featured drip with a dense, erotic atmosphere that is occasionally overwhelming... though there is also a strong underlining of horror, tension and mystery; with the reader free to read between the lines and decode the various clues that Carter layers within her work....

The author’s real genius though, is her ability to depict the more mundane aspects of life, and enrich them beyond the realms of everyday literature into a kind of Technicolor majesty through the use of poetic prose, self-referentialism, biblical quotations and more than a hint of metaphorical imagery. She also writes her stories in a beautiful stream of conscious style that is filled with richly constructed details, which brings to life every action in a completely vivid way to further develop the evocative world that is created especially for us. It’s an audacious device, but one that works exceptionally well with this kind of material... so because of this, the continual atmosphere of gothic gloom also helps to lull the reader into an almost hypnotic state in which Carter’s words can re-develop, in order to take on newer, more subjective meanings.

This book takes us on a beautiful, shocking and often frightening journey into realms of innocence and sensuality that few literary works can equate. Carter’s talent as a storyteller and as a poet are greatly under-appreciated by the so-called people in the know (how else can you explain her lack of inclusion in the Big Read’s Top 100?), and, when viewed in the context of this book, becomes something of a sad reminder of what a great talent we’ve lost. Thankfully, this book should succeed in opening your eyes to her genius, since it brilliantly demonstrates her various creative skills mirrored within each of these separate stories. Read more ›

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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars If you step off the path you will be lost forever. 24 Mar 2005
By Percy Toplis
Format:Paperback
Carter's re-writes of traditional European folk/fairy tales bring with them dark aspects of the human psyche that would have existed in the oral tradition but which became sanitised when written down in the 18th / 19th centuries as parables of instruction for children. In this collection Little Red Riding Hood (The Company of Wolves) is not saved by the woodcutter, but instead tames the beast by getting naked and giving vent to her awakening sexuality. Most of the stories in the collection focus on a girl on the cusp of womanhood, who steps off the path and is rewarded with the discovery of a sexuality that is not repressively phallocentric. Strong female protagonists contrast strongly with fairy tale stereotypes. Carter herself said that she was all for putting new wine in old bottles until the pressure of the new wine caused the old bottles to explode. That's about the best definition I can find for this collection of stories. Sexually provocative, gothic and sometimes very funny (Puss in Boots especially), The Bloody Chamber is a must-read book.
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24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully sensuous fairy tales 13 May 2006
By Peacock Wings
Format:Paperback
This book contains a number of re-tellings and re-interpretations of classic fairy-tales. Some - like 'The Bloody Chamber' (Bluebeard) or Puss-in-Boots - are directly linked to one tale, others - like the 'Lady of the House of Love' - are amalgamations of various stories (Sleeping Beauty and the vampire myth) or yet again others ('The Erl-King') seem to have nothing to do with any tale (the story has little to nothing to do with Goethe's poem of the same name).

All of them however are told in a language that shows what you can do with English. The language is sumptuous and sensuous, a feast and delight. Carter is an epicurean with words and feeds them to the reader on a silver plate. She has the knack of finding descriptions that match the mood precisely. A rare artform, now as ever.

The stories themselves are all original and often told with sly humour and innuendo. These are not fairy tales for children, but are adult camera obscuras showing a world fairy tales attempt to paint over, a world of sudden and sharp loss of innocence, a loss inevitable and predictable, but surprising and poignant nevertheless.

A must have [and if you enjoy the book, try the film 'The Company of Wolves' which is based on the story by Carter of the same name].
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Magical 17 Jan 2007
By Mr. M. J. Wright
Format:Paperback
A collection of darkly sensual reinterpretations of familiar fairy tales, many with a twist. The most famous short story in this collection is probably A Company of Wolves, which was adapted from Angela Carter's own radio script and was later made into a cult movie (a movie which incidentally remains on my list of favourites). The themes of sexuality and loss of innocence are explored throughout the collection. The stories are collected together because of their umbrella theme, but were not necessarily written at the same time; this is notable because there are actually two versions of Beauty and the Beast in the book, the first of which ("The Courtship of Mister Lyon") is greatly over-shadowed by the superiority of the other ("The Tiger's Bride").

Overall a rewarding collection of magical tales that invokes all those dark archetypes that dwell in your subconcious to leave you feeling uneasy and yet enchanted.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing
Brilliant book, a new twist to fairy tales, based on their original meaning rather than the story itself, creating gothic tales which are highly enjoyable
Published 1 month ago by chaz2739
3.0 out of 5 stars Pithy sex
The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is a set of short stories that parody folk-tale and legend. Let's not beat about the bush. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Philip Spires
5.0 out of 5 stars Love it
I had already read 'The Bloody Chamber' but not any of the other short stories in the collection, so I was keen to read more. I absolutely adored all of them. Read more
Published 2 months ago by debhep
4.0 out of 5 stars Bought for English A2, Love it!
We all had to buy this for our English Lit A-levels. I did not know anything about Angela Carter at this point (being the brilliant English student I am :P )
I love this book! Read more
Published 2 months ago by Chantelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Top Quality
Needed this book for school so I didn't really want to pay the full price for it unless I had to, as I didn't know whether I'd like the book or not. Read more
Published 3 months ago by mztellitlikeitis
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique stories
This collection of unsurpassed stories are reworkings of classic fairy tales in the inimitable style of Angela Carter - often mimicked, never bettered. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mr. John Harold
5.0 out of 5 stars Great for study
I studied this for my A-Level English Lit exam and it's a fantastic selection of stories, if a little shocking and unusual at times. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Kevin H
4.0 out of 5 stars good
it was a good speedy service. very good twist to fairy tales. It will be a good read to those wondering
Published 3 months ago by rumela
3.0 out of 5 stars Amusing read
I learned about this book during a radio series on the Grimms Fairy Tales and their reinterpretation. I'm familiar with Marina Warner's work but not Angela Carter's. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Tartanreader
1.0 out of 5 stars Awful
Awful, I read it for school and am genuinely scarred. It's a very feminist read if you like that, but you'd have to pay me an awful lot of money to read it for pleasure.
Published 3 months ago by Anon
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