more about the war/and the bloody chamber

[x_los]

So you may know I'm quite into Angela Carter. (fyi--"Angela Carter (7 May 1940 – 16 February 1992) was an English novelist and journalist, known for her feminist, magical realism and science fiction works."*)

Her story collection The Bloody Chamber explores/essays/repurposes a series of fairytales in ways that are disturbing and compelling, both originary and seemingly pre-ordained--as if they had always existed somewhere inside the original--shielded, and filling up the hollows, like a Matryoshka doll hiding in her mother.

The other night looking up versions of the Erlking story for the fic I'm writing for NaNo, I ran across the collection in its entirety here. I normally /can't/ love short stories, no matter how much I adore the writer. These, though, feel satisfying and right, perhaps because their origin in fairy and folk tales makes their brevity seem natural and correct.

I haven't reread the book recently to see if I still love it, but while I was taking Latham's seminar on the gothic lit tradition during a winter break a few years ago, this book really struck me, and so you should perhaps take a look.



*wiki

Comments

[black-rider.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that looks very good, I shall have to dig up a copy. Have you read "Till We Have Faces"?

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Nooooo, but it looks awesome!

[sanestlunatic.livejournal.com]

I read "The Tiger's Bride" in my fairy tale class, but the rest of them sound good, too, and I love a good fairy tale retelling. I might have to check it out!

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Well, have a poke at Yon Link and see if others appeal? But yer, I think she's Pretty Nifty.

[blackletter]

*shuffles up shyly*

I've been lurking on best_enemies for a few months now and have *almost* worked up the gumption to cease lurking and participate in the comm properly. I love all your stories (and will try to go back and leave more detailed comments on them as part of my de-lurking process) and I enjoy your comm modding style.

And then I came over here to poke around and saw that you're from CoMo, which is where I am now. So I have to friend you. Hope you don't mind.

Also, you like Angela Carter. :-D

[x-los.livejournal.com]

Omg really, Columbia? How weird! Are you TAing in the MU Classics Department? You might well know friends of mine who are majors therein (I mean how big can the MU Classics department be?). I've heard tell of an 'adorkable centaur-balloon-loving' man.'

Are Classics Conference Exams like the big girl/boy/girlboy Medusa Mythology exam/National Latin Exam?

And please, don't be shy, b_e is hardly the bastion of terrifying pretension that is, well, academics_anon, which I see we're also both in...

Lovely to meet you!

[blackletter]

Are you TAing in the MU Classics Department?

Yup, I sure am! And absolutely love it. *snuggles my department*

You might well know friends of mine who are majors therein (I mean how big can the MU Classics department be?).

It's very likely. I might even have been their teacher at some point. (If you figure out who I am, which is ridiculously easy to do, all things considered, I'd request that you not mention my slashly interests to the classics students. It's not that I'm ashamed of my hobby, but I do try to maintain an (admittedly very small) modicum of professionalism and I fear that it would be difficult for students to take me seriously if they knew that after an afternoon of grading I go home and contemplate the Doctor and the Master in compromising positions. Of course, that's assuming that they take me seriously *now*, which is by no means a forgone conclusion...)

Are Classics Conference Exams like the big girl/boy/girlboy Medusa Mythology exam/National Latin Exam?

Er...maybe? I didn't become interested in classics until I was two years into my undergrad degree so I know very little about HS classics activities. But big tests are big. So, yes.

And please, don't be shy, b_e is hardly the bastion of terrifying pretension that is, well, academics_anon, which I see we're also both in...

Initial lurking is just my way. I usually lurk for a few months being shy and quiet-like and observing the unwritten rules and culture of a comm. And then I finally work up the courage to speak up and before long I can't shut up.

Except at a_a. I don't think I'll *ever* work up the courage to de-lurk there. I think they eat their young.

[x-los.livejournal.com]

I actively writhe when RL friends announce they have been Reading some Very Interesting Things on my fic journal, and am incapable of thus afflicting others. So, Bruce Wayne, your slashy secret is safe. Obligatory Robin Joke goes here.

Speaking of mythology, having poked your eunuchs!tag, your dissertation sounds absolutely awesome. I /love/ good scholarship on sociological constructions of gender/sexuality. ...so speaking of pretension, yeah, a_a would eat their young if a_a's womb weren't too frigid and dead to ever produce life. I mean I love all other academics and have totally made a wise choice in entering this profession. ...