dec 30, 1979 - The Bloody Chamber

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Written by Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber (also referred to as The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories) is a collection of ten short stories published in the United Kingdom in 1979. All of the pieces featured in the collection are based on fairy tales and folklore. For instance, the longest piece in the collection, “The Bloody Chamber,” is based on the tale of Bluebeard, and “The Courtship of Mr Lyon” and “The Tiger’s Bride” are based on the Beauty and the Beast narrative. The Bloody Chamber can be categorized as postmodern because it demonstrates the notion of “recycling” -- a feature of postmodern literature that we discussed in class -- meaning the desire to return to “tradition” by borrowing from older texts, patterns, and tropes, and Carter’s fiction piece therefore demonstrates intertextuality, yet another feature of postmodern literature. Considering the time of its publication, Carter’s work also has larger implications for the Women’s Liberation Movement, Britain’s version of second-wave feminism, which emerged during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Carter’s exploration of sexual power and her presentation of strong female protagonists clearly reflect this social, historical context. This text is still relevant today because it is continually studied in University literature classes, and it has several radio, film, music video, and theatre adaptations.

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