Poems by Angela Carter (about 40 pages) with essays by Rosemary Hill (about 50 pages).
I don't see much in the poems (one, a rewrite of a Dunbar poem, got into London Magazine). Promising women writers of those time struggled with their role. Ann Quin suicided at 37, Frances Chadwicke suicided at 27, and several others, Carter included, divorced early. Here are some of Hill's observations -
- she thrived on the marginal and contrary sides of life (p.48)
- not only has Carter's fame been erratic, her femimism is of a very particular sort (p.48)
- Carter, who was not always the most perceptive critic of her contemporaries (p.82)
- the climate in Carter's novels is mostly wintery (p.96)
- the themes that occupy her: types, archetypes, the mythical blonde and woman as an assemblage of parts (p.100)
