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Comment
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lou
Unregistered User
(9/21/05 1:15 pm)
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why does Carter use the fairytale form?
although this is linked to an assignment i was posted at high school i felt i wanted to see what opinions, if any, others had... my basic question is does anyone have any ideas as to why Angela Carter originally chose to get into writing fairy tales? its interesting, as of course the morality element of fairy tales allows her to have a direction to her story but by basing it on an original fairy tale and then givving it her own twist she can add her own ideas and retract those she may not aggree with or like. another element of this would be the question of WHY she has bothered to maintain certain aspects of the original story? for example in The Bloody Chamber (originally based on Bluebeard). what does anyone think? i'd be delighted to hear your opinions :D |
aka Greensleeves
Registered User
(9/21/05 5:38 pm)
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Re: why does Carter use the fairytale form?
Well, I'm not sure there's any way, other than asking her directly, to answer the questions you're asking. They speak to a very personal part of the craft--why does any writer choose to write anything, and not something else? Why not science fiction, or westerns? Why not spy novels? Perhaps search for an interview with her, where she may allude to this.
In a broader sense, what are some of the reasons any fairy tale reteller chooses to retain some elements/scenes, and not others? Well, I think it has a lot to do with what the author feels is the essential message, or theme, of the original tale and what the theme is of the story she wants to tell--the elements retained from the classic versions are usually those that best or most strongly support that theme.
Take, for instance, Robin McKinley's ROSE DAUGHTER. She writes in her afterword that it was not until she began gardening that she realized how central to "Beauty and the Beast" the roses were. A goodly portion of her novel therefore focuses on Beauty's efforts to revive the Beast's dying rose garden.
By examining the elements Carter retains, you should be able to discern what she felt was the "essence" of a particular story--in other words, the important parts. ;)
Edited by: aka Greensleeves at: 9/22/05 4:52 pm
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(9/23/05 3:08 pm)
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Angela Carter
Carter, sadly, has moved into that realm in which it is unproductive to ask her anything and to expect an answer, but she wrote lots of non-fiction, including essays about her use of fairy tales.
You might look at the following pieces:
The Sadeian Woman: an Exercise in Cultural History. London: Virago, 1979.
“The Language of Sisterhood.” The State of the Language. Eds. Leonard Michaels and Christopher Ricks. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. 226-234.
Interview. Kerryn Goldsworthy. Meanjin. Autumn 1985 (44): 1, 4-13.
Interview. Anna Katsovos. The Review of Contemporary Fiction. 1994 Fall; 14 (3): 11-17.
“Notes from the Front Line.” 1983. Shaking a Leg: Journalism and Writings. Ed. Jenna Uglow. London: Chatto & Windus, 1997. 36-43.
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Writerpatrick
Registered User
(9/24/05 9:51 am)
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Re: Angela Carter
As a writer I would guess that it could have something to do with her being a non-fiction writer. The fairy-tale form, which comes about partially as a side-effect of translation, is very similar to the form used in non-fiction. The fairy-tale form is also what many novice writers use when first writing fiction, especially if they are use to non-fiction writing.
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(9/24/05 1:40 pm)
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Carter
Perhaps, but Carter was simultaneously a fiction and non-fiction writer from her earliest publications, and she didn't turn to fairy-tale revisions until 1979, about 10 years after she began writing fiction for publication, after several novels and a few collections of short stories. (Although, of course, she'd always been interested in tales.)
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