New Releases by Angela Carter

Five stories of desire and discovery set in 1970s Japan, from weird fiction''s most influential pioneer - Angela Carter An Englishwoman muses on her affair with a younger Japanese man. A spurned lover seeks intimacy in another chance encounter. A boy stumbles upon a mirror world while walking in the woods. In five mesmerising, fantastical tales of 1970s Japan, Angela Carter explores what it means to arrive in a world different from one’s own, and to transform profoundly – sometimes terrifyingly – in the process. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days

Väter, Bestien, Werwölfe – die Frauen in Märchen haben seit jeher kein einfaches Los. In Angela Carters Kult-Nachdichtungen von etwa Blaubart, Der gestiefelte Kater oder Die Schöne und das Biest wird die traditionelle Rollenverteilung nicht nur umgekehrt, sondern in die Luft gejagt. Hier werden Frauen zu Tigerbräuten und Schöne zu Biestern, Erlkönige mit dem eigenen Haar erwürgt und Werwolfsgroßmütter von ihren Enkelinnen erledigt. Die Antiheldinnen und Heldinnen dieser Märchen sinnen in gleichem Maße auf Rache, wie sie nach Liebe streben. Angela Carter ist die Godmother der feministischen (Horror-)Literatur. Ihre abgründig-erotischen Neuerzählungen von Märchen bestechen auch mehr als fünfzig Jahre nach ihrem Erscheinen mit unvermittelter Wucht.

''Sexuality is power'' - so says the Marquis de Sade, philosopher and pornographer extraordinaire. His virtuous Justine keeps to the rules laid down by men, her reward rape and humiliation; his Juliette, Justine''s triumphantly monstrous antithesis, viciously exploits her sexuality. In a world where all tenderness is false, all beds are minefields. But now Sade has met his match. With invention and genius, Angela Carter takes on these outrageous figments of his extreme imagination, and transforms them into symbols of our time - the Hollywood sex goddesses, mothers and daughters, pornography, even the sacred shrines of sex and marriage lie devastatingly exposed before our eyes. Angela Carter delves into the viscera of our distorted sexuality and reveals a dazzling vision of love which admits neither of conqueror nor of conquered.

Utnämnd av BBC till en av de 100 mest inflytelserika romanerna någonsin. »Den mest oberoende och egensinniga engelska författaren - någonsin.« Salman Rushdie »En excentrisk roman, som utmanar både vad som ryms i en roman och i en människa.« Betyg: 5 av 5 - Jonas Frånander, BTJ Sophie Fevvers besitter en tjuskraft omöjlig att värja sig från. Hon uppvaktas av prinsen av Wales och Toulouse-Lautrec har målat hennes porträtt. Hon är sin tids mest berömda luftakrobat på Kapten Kearneys cirkus och hennes reklamfras lyder »Är hon verklighet eller fantasi?«. Det är frågan alla ställer sig. Hon hävdar att hon är en fågelkvinna - samtidigt som hon fick sin första menstruation växte ett par vingar ut från skulderbladen. Den amerikanska journalisten Jack Walser tror sig ha tidernas scoop, han ska avslöja Sophies verkliga identitet. Han följer med cirkusen på en magisk turné genom 1800-talets London, St. Petersburg och Sibirien - och uppdraget får en särskild intensitet då även Walser förälskat sig i fågelkvinnan. Cirkuskvällar [Nights at the Circus, 1984] belönades med det anrika James Tait Black Memorial Prize när den kom ut. En fullödig roman där Angela Carter med stor lekfullhet använder hela sitt register. I översättning av Olof Hoffsten och med ett nyskrivet förord av Marie Wennersten. ANGELA CARTER [1940-1992] var en brittisk romanförfattare, novellist, poet, dramatiker, essäist och manusförfattare. Hon debuterade 1965 med romanen Shadow Dance. Redan tidigt i författarskapet tilldelades hon prestigefyllda priser som The Somerset Maugham Prize och The John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Carter har rankats av The Times som en av de tio största brittiska efterkrigsförfattarna.

In Brixton, Nora and Dora Chance – twin chorus girls born and bred south of the river – are celebrating their 75th birthday. Over the river in Chelsea, their father and greatest actor of his generation Melchior Hazard turns 100 on the same day. As does his twin brother Peregrine. If, in fact, he''s still alive. And if, in truth, Melchior is their real father after all... Wise Children is adapted for the stage from Angela Carter''s last novel about a theatrical family living in South London. It centres around twin chorus girls, Nora and Dora Chance, whose lives are brimming with mystery, illegitimacy and scandal. Dora narrates the story as her older self, looking back on a tumultuous life, throughout which she and her sister have loved to sing and dance. A big, bawdy tangle of theatrical joy and heartbreak, Wise Children is a celebration of show business, family, forgiveness and hope. Expect show girls and Shakespeare, sex and scandal, music, mischief and mistaken identity – and butterflies by the thousand.

An omnibus of works by the great British writer that showcases her hauntingly erotic fabulism and the subversive richness of her imagination. In The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter''s famous collection of deeply unsettling stories inspired by fairy tales, we see a Beauty who turns into a Beast, Little Red Riding Hood''s grandmother stoned as a werewolf, and Bluebeard as a murderous, porn-addicted businessman. In the surreally delightful novel Wise Children, an elderly woman recounts the colorful life she and her identical twin sister led as vaudeville performers. And the early story collection Fireworks reveals Carter taking her first forays into the fantastical writing that was to become her unforgettable legacy. As critic Laura Miller has argued, "Most contemporary literary fiction with a touch of magic owes something to Angela Carter''s trailblazing." This Everyman''s Library omnibus gathers the best of Angela Carter in one astonishing volume.

Hubo un tiempo no muy lejano en que los cuentos de hadas no estaban destinados a los niños. Los relatos incluidos en este mítico volumen, recogidos por Angela Carter para la editorial Virago, donde durante años han sido uno de sus longsellers, tampoco son para niños. En ellos encontramos sangre, humor, sexo y muerte. No hay princesas ñoñas ni hadas maravillosas, sino jóvenes astutas, ancianas taimadas, chicas malas, hechiceras, parteras vengativas, mozas ladronas, novias rastreras, madres, hijas y hermanas raras. Solo una escritora tan radical como Angela Carter podría haber sido capaz de recopilar esta antología de relatos, todos protagonizados por mujeres, una celebración del universo femenino a través de los tiempos, ilustrado con los grabados originales de la edición inglesa.

Le Docteur Hoffman, un mystérieux savant fou, « attaque » la réalité d'une ville d'Amérique du Sud en y créant des illusions. Étrangement, au milieu du chaos et de la confusion qui règnent, Desiderio est le seul être insensible aux illusions déployées par l’infâme docteur. Non pas qu’il ne les voie pas, mais il y est profondément indifférent, comme en réalité à toutes choses. Tombé amoureux, en rêve, de la fille du docteur Hoffman, ce héros maussade reçoit pour mission de remonter la trace du docteur afin de sauver la ville, et, ce faisant, s’embarque dans un voyage picaresque qui lui fera rencontrer des centaures, des peuplades plus ou moins barbares, avant de devenir membre d’une troupe de carnaval itinérante puis d’intégrer la suite d’un comte lituanien et d’échapper de peu à des cannibales... Qualifié à sa sortie par le New York Times de « plus beau roman surréaliste des trente dernières années », Les Machines à désir infernales du Docteur Hoffman était de l’aveu même d’Angela Carter son roman le plus audacieux sur le plan formel, et reste pour la plupart de ses lecteurs son grand classique méconnu. Jamais, en effet, elle n’avait écrit un texte aussi baroque, aussi picaresque et en même temps aussi proche de la fable métaphysique, même si l'on retrouve dans ce roman inédit en français l’humour, le style inimitable et la charge subversive propre à tous ses autres textes.

‘Carter hoort in het hart van de literatuur.’ Salman Rushdie Na de dood van haar rijke ouders verhuist de vijftienjarige Melanie met haar broertje en zusje naar een onbekende oom in Londen. Hij maakt speelgoed, maar is een despoot. Zijn Ierse vrouw, die al jaren niet spreekt, en haar twee wonderlijke broers zien er verwaarloosd uit. Eens per maand organiseert de oom een toneelstuk in de kelder, met levensgrote en griezelig echte poppen. Melanie moet uiteindelijk meespelen en wel als Leda de zwaan... Dit zwarte sprookje ontpopt zich tot een prachtige, onverwachte liefdesgeschiedenis. Internationale Klassieker Met trots presenteren wij onze eerste Internationale Klassieker. De titels in deze reeks zijn bewezen successen en nog helemaal van nu. Carter schrijft wonderschoon, sprankelend en ritmisch over pittige thema’s met een openhartige seksuele ondertoon en is met recht een klassieker die ertoe doet dus!

a) The Unicorn As with the night-scented stock, the full splendour of the unicorn manifests itself most potently at twilight. Then the horn sprouts, swells, blooms in all its glory. SEE THE HORN (bend the tab, slit in slot marked ''x'') Despite being one of the most influential - and best-loved - of the post-war English writers, Angela Carter remains little-known as a poet. In Unicorn, the critic and historian Rosemary Hill collects together her published verse from 1963-1971, a period in which Carter began to explore the themes that dominated her later work: magic, the reworking of myths and their darker sides, and the overturning of literary and social conventions. With imagery at times startling in its violence and disconcerting in its presentation of sexuality, Unicorn provides compelling insight into the formation of a remarkable imagination. In the essay that accompanies the poems the critic and historian Rosemary Hill considers them in the context of Carter''s other work and as an aspect of the 1960s, the decade which as Carter put it ''wasn''t like they say in the movies''.

For the 75th anniversary of her birth, a Deluxe Edition of the master of the literary supernatural’s most celebrated book—featuring a new introduction by Kelly Link, the author of the national bestseller The Book of Love and the Pulitzer Prize finalist Get in Trouble A Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, with flaps and deckle-edged paper Angela Carter was a storytelling sorceress, the literary godmother of Neil Gaiman, David Mitchell, Audrey Niffenegger, J. K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Is Sophie Fevvers, toast of Europe''s capitals, part swan...or all fake? Courted by the Prince of Wales and painted by Toulouse-Lautrec, she is an aerialiste extraordinaire and star of Colonel Kearney''s circus. She is also part woman, part swan. Jack Walser, an American journalist, is on a quest to discover the truth behind her identity. Dazzled by his love for her, and desperate for the scoop of a lifetime, Walser has no choice but to join the circus on its magical tour through turn-of-the-nineteenth-century London, St Petersburg and Siberia. WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY SARAH WATERS **One of the BBC''s 100 Novels That Shaped Our World** ''A spellbinding achievement'' Literary Review ''Raunchy, raucous...a rich, turn of the 19th century world, which reeks of human and animal variety'' The Times

Graffiti Gerbil felt dreadful. He had eaten too much, and now his poor tummy was swollen and painful. He felt so bad he knew he would have to go into hospital. He was very afraid. Beryl Badger promised to go with him. She knew that the doctors and nurses were kind and friendly, and would do what they could to make him better.

Once upon a time fairy talesweren''t meant just for children, and neither is AngelaCarter''s Book of Fairy Tales. This stunning collectioncontains lyrical tales, bloody tales and hilariouslyfunny and ripely bawdy stories from countries all aroundthe world- from the Arctic to Asia - and no dippyprincesses or soppy fairies. Instead, we have prettymaids and old crones; crafty women and bad girls;enchantresses and midwives; rascal aunts and odd sisters.This fabulous celebration of strong minds, low cunning,black arts and dirty tricks could only have beencollected by the unique and much-missed Angela Carter.Illustrated throughout with original woodcuts.

Durante o início da década de 1990, a escritora inglesa Angela Carter coletou em dois volumes, para a editora Virago, contos de fadas do mundo inteiro, tendo concluído a segunda coletânea pouco antes de morrer. 103 contos de fadas, baseado numa edição póstuma publicada na Inglaterra em 2005, reúne pela primeira vez todas as histórias organizadas por Carter, formando um verdadeiro e extenso painel do folclore mundial e das tradições narrativas dos mais variados povos, do Ártico à Ásia. Mas apesar do nome, há poucas fadas nessas páginas, e o leitor também terá dificuldades em encontrar príncipes encantados e similares. Escritas numa época em que esse tipo de história não era destinado a crianças, as fábulas aqui contidas dão lugar a uma série de tias malévolas, esposas traiçoeiras, irmãs excêntricas e perigosas feiticeiras. Por terem sido registrados em papel pela primeira vez nos últimos duzentos ou trezentos anos, os contos oferecem - correndo por detrás da trama - um retrato do dia-a-dia no mundo pré-industrializado e um pouco das dinâmicas sociais e outros detalhes que com o tempo se perderam. Mais que isso, na tradição das histórias italianas reunidas por Italo Calvino, esses contos de fadas oferecem um registro precioso de algumas matrizes que posteriormente acabaram assimiladas pela literatura ocidental.

"An electrifying intellectual autobiography, with all the narrative expanse, drama, outrage, and high comedy of the author’s fiction. Angela Carter is revealed here, anew, as one of the most important thinkers of twentieth-century world literature—and one of its most pungent voices.”—Rick Moody One of contemporary literature’s most original and affecting fiction writers, Angela Carter also wrote brilliant nonfiction. Shaking a Leg comprises the best of her essays and criticism, much of it collected for the first time. Carter’s acute observations are spiked with her piercing matter-of-factness, her devastating wit, her penchant for mockery, and her passion for the absurd. Whether discussing films or food, feminism or fantasy, science fiction or sex, Carter consistently explores new territories and overturns old ideas. No cultural icon escapes her scrutiny; as in her fiction, Carter offers glorious evidence of the transforming power of the imagination. From delightfully wicked commentaries on Gone with the Wind, a Japanese fertility festival, and fellow writers, including Lawrence, Lovecraft, Borges, and Burroughs, to enchanting personal essays, Carter shares her thoughts and herself with glee. “What a wonderful collection—sharp, funny, too decent for sarcasm but great wit and humanity, an unusual combination. But it makes us miss her, miss laughing with her, that real, intelligent, tough writing woman.”—Grace Paley

From the master of the literary supernatural and author of The Bloody Chamber, a startling tale of the redemptive power of physical and emotional love One night Melanie walks through the garden in her mother''s wedding dress. The next morning her world is shattered. Forced to leave the comfortable home of her childhood, she is sent to London to live with relatives she has never met: Aunt Margaret, beautiful and speechless, and her brothers, Francie, whose graceful music belies his clumsy nature, and the volatile Finn, who kisses Melanie in the ruins of the pleasure gardens. And brooding Uncle Philip loves only the life-sized wooden puppets he creates in his toyshop. This classic gothic novel established Angela Carter as one of our most imaginative writers and augurs the themes of her later creative work.

These two collections of little-known stories from Europe, the Arctic, the USA, Africa, the Middle East and Asia, contain tales of alluring women, ailing warriors, enchantresses and seekers of revenge. The heroines are always centre stage, as large as life, or even larger.

Short stories inspired by America, written during the last ten years, none of which have appeared in book form before.

Gente extraordinaria y variada habita esta coleccion de cuentos. Algunos son gente real: Jeanne Duval, la musa desganada de Baudelaire que nunca pidio que la llamaran la Venus Negra, atrapada en el hastio terminal de la pasion del poeta... Edgar Allan Poe, con cara de actor tragico, que demuestra en todo lo que hace y piensa cuanta razon tienen sus amigos cuando dicen que "El hombre que bebe antes del desayuno no tiene remedio..". Y Lizzie Borden, tendida en cama en una calida noche de verano sonando con un parricidio... Otros personajes son completamente imaginarios, como la prostituta del siglo diecisiete que a pesar de si misma se transforma entre los indios en una buena mujer, o la nina, criada por lobos, indiferente y extrana, que no tolera la compania de los seres humanos. El "prodigioso nino de las sartenes" es un infante cocinero que aprende frances en libros de cocina, y en la obertura y musica incidental para El Sueno de una Noche de Verano examina la ambigua naturaleza del principe que ha provocado tantos problemas entre Oberon y Titania.