Angela Carter – Page 2 – Interesting Literature

A Summary and Analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘Puss-in-Boots’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Puss-in-Boots’, from her 1979 collection The Bloody Chamber, was the first story Angela Carter wrote which was designed to be ‘out-and-out funny’. The story is narrated by a cat name Figaro, who helps his master to become ‘friendly’ with a young woman his master has fallen in love with, in the hope that the man will fall out of love with her once he’s ‘had’ her.

‘Puss-in-Boots’ is the funniest tale in The Bloody Chamber, not least because it is partly inspired by the commedia dell’arte tradition. But what is commedia dell’arte? To answer this and other questions about Carter’s story, we clearly need to explore it in more detail. Before we come to the analysis, though, let’s recap what happens in the tale.

10 of the Best Angela Carter Stories Everyone Should Read

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

The fiction of the English writer Angela Carter (1940-92) is, first and foremost, the fiction of ideas. She is best-known for her 1979 collection of tales, The Bloody Chamber, which is often described as a series of ‘versions’ or ‘retellings’ of classic children’s fairy tales. But as Carter was quick to point out, she was actually writing new tales which revealed the latent violence – including sexual violence – of those old folk tales.

A Summary and Analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘The Company of Wolves’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Company of Wolves’ is the second of a trio of wolf stories in Angela Carter’s 1979 short-story collection The Bloody Chamber. It is also arguably the most controversial. The story is divided into two sections: a prefatory passage which discusses lycanthropy or werewolves, and the main story which is a version of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale.

‘The Company of Wolves’, like all of Carter’s stories in The Bloody Chamber, is richly layered in symbolism and narrative texture, and so some words of analysis about this provocative piece of storytelling may be useful in illuminating it.

A Summary and Analysis of Angela Carter’s ‘The Snow Child’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘The Snow Child’ is the shortest tale in The Bloody Chamber. Indeed, it is not even two pages long, but in a few hundred words, the British author Angela Carter incorporates a number of elements from different snow-themed fairy tales, but its most important influence was a grisly tale collected by the Brothers Grimm which they chose not to publish.