Angela Carter Books In Order

Publication Order of Bristol Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Chapbooks

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Anthologies

Angela Carter is an English novelist, journalist, short fiction author, and poet who was known for her picaresque, magical realist and feminist works. Her most critically acclaimed and popular work was the novel “The Bloody Chamber.” She was born in 1940 in Eastbourne, but had to move in with her maternal grandmother in Yorkshire as a child. She graduated with a bachelors in English literature before she got a job at the Croydon Advertiser as a journalist just like her father before her. In 1960, she got married to Paul Carter and the couple was together for twelve years. After winning the Somerset Maugham Award in 1969, Carter relocated to Japan and has asserted that this is the time when she would become radicalized and realize what it means to be a woman. She talked about her experiences in the novel “Nothing Sacred” as well as in “Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces,” a collection of short stories. Angela then went on the move again and lives in Europe, the United States, and Asia given that she was fluent in German and French. Most of the 1970s and 1980s were spent as a writer in residence at various universities. She was writer in residence at the University of East Anglia, University of Sheffield, the University of Adelaide, and Brown University.

In addition to being one of the most prolific authors of literary fiction of her time, she was also a columnist for several papers. Some of the papers she wrote for include; the New Statesman, The Guardian and The Independent that were later collected in the “Shaking a Leg” collection. Carter also adapted several of her short fiction for radio and made “Ronald Firbank” and “Richard Dadd” that were highly popular radio dramas. “The Magic Toyshop” and “The Company of Wolves” which are some of her most popular fiction works have been made into movies. Angela Carter was actively involved in the writing and adaptation of both films. She went on to publish her screenplays in “The Curious Room” a collection of her dramatic writing. These included “The Christchurch Murders” an unproduced screenplay, a libretto for an opera for Orlando by Virginia Wolf, several radio scripts among other works. These works in addition to the “Holy Family Album” that was a highly controversial documentary were discussed in “Anagrams of Desire” by Charlotte Croft.

Angela Carter made a name for herself as one of the most stylish original and radical authors of the twentieth century. She was known for her essays, short stories, and novels that delighted readers with their witty and fierce tales. She was strongly influenced by situational cultural activism and surrealism of the sixties and hence wrote about forbidden topics such as cannibalism, pornography, incest, sexual fetish, and rape. Carter would deconstruct the myths that she believed fettered and sustained sexual and social relationships in the west. For the feminist author, female desire was twisted, squeezed, warped and denied while male desire ruled the popular imagination. As such, many of her novels mocked the literary and cultural clichés she believed sustained the imbalance between the sexes. However the author has rejected the tag feminist as she believes that being a woman she will naturally write from the female point of view. Her are novels full of bold inventiveness, rich humor, and intelligence though they are distinctly postmodern in their reexamination of traditional sources and folklore. She did start out writing realist novels with “The Magic Toyshop” which was based on a distinctive form of hallucinatory symbolism. She then tried out some gothic fantasy in “Heroes and Villains” the novel that came out in 1969. She combined satire, fantasy, intellectual speculation and science fiction in “The Infernal Desire Machines” while she went Shakespearean comedy and pantomime with “Wise Children and Night at the Circus.”

Angela Carter’s debut novel “Shadow Dance” is a novel with Dickensian undertones set in gritty neo-gothic settings. At the center of the narrative are Honeybuzzard and Morris his best friend who are co-owners of a junk shop. A young girl named Ghislaine had cast a spell on the two businessmen and their inner circle though the girl is now in dire straits herself. Ghislaine just came back after she was admitted to hospital but the two businessmen still have to deal with the consequences of the curse she had cast. The plot is driven by the triangle between Ghislaine, Morris, and Honey though it is a rather thin one given that the story is primarily a character study of Honey and Morris alongside several minor characters. Morris is a perfect foil to Honey being a sensitive soul as compared to his narcissistic and sadistic friend. While Honey is constantly doing things that repel Morris, they still have an unbreakable bond that transcends such indiscretions. The relationship seems to be very important for Morris and is likely to shape his destiny.

“Several Perceptions” is a novel set in 1960 in a city full of decaying houses and anonymous apartments. The lead is Joseph a psychologically damaged, unwashed and nihilistic man that stumbles through life in what is best deemed a bizarre existence. He lives among an interesting cast of characters that would be comfortable in a Fellini film. He is a twenty-two-year-old man with a nihilistic attitude that has resulted in self-neglect, which has become particularly evident since he broke up with his girlfriend. Other characters include a wealthy aging prostitute who is the mother to the lead character’s best friend, a violin-playing tramp and a Barbadian that got her baby taken away. Everything comes to a head when they hold a new year’s party full of sex and drinking. They are all hoping for a new beginning fueled by the outlandish vision of living on the edge. Carter combines eroticism, filth, and beauty in the most unique way to make for an intriguing story.

Angela Carter’s “Love” is the disturbing and complex story of Annabel and Lee. The two never loved each other but had to get married since Annabel’s parents believed he was a good fit. Annabel is an insane woman and the fact that the two now have to share an apartment with Lee’s demented brother complicates things even further. The story is set in London during the 1960s in a messy, artsy, young, ambisexual and insular milieu. Annabel spends much of her time painting surreal landscapes while Lee just wants to be happy and is always armed with a charming smile. The story seems to be a perpetual disturbing dance between the three characters. There is an undercurrent of love, psychoses, suicide, and pills as none of the characters are in touch with reality. Carter writes something of a fable or fairy tale and it turns out quite fantastically.