The Bloody Chamber
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The Bloody Chamber is an anthology of short fiction by Angela Carter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1979 and won the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize. All of the stories share a common theme of being closely based upon fairytales or folk tales.
Contents |
[edit] Content
Many of the stories in this book are reprints from other sources, such as magazines, radio and newspapers and other books.
The short stories included within are:
- The Bloody Chamber
- An adaptation of Bluebeard
- The Courtship of Mr Lyon
- An adaptation of Beauty and the Beast
- The Tiger's Bride
- Also based on Beauty and the Beast
- Puss-in-Boots
- Closely based on the classic Puss in Boots
- The Erl-King
- An adaptation of the Erlking in folklore
- The Snow Child
- Loosely based upon the story of Snow White
- The Lady of the House of Love
- Loosely based upon Sleeping Beauty
- The Werewolf
- Loosely based on Little Red Riding Hood
- The Company of Wolves
- A closer adaptation of Little Red Riding Hood
- Wolf-Alice
- Explores the journey towards subjectivity and self-awareness from the perspective of a feral child
[edit] Style
Angela Carter's short stories challenge the way women are represented in fairy tales, yet retain an air of tradition and convention through her voluptuously descriptive prose. For example, in the opening tale "The Bloody Chamber" which is a retelling of Bluebeard, Carter plays with the conventions of canonical fairy tales; instead of the heroine being rescued by the stereotypical male hero, she is rescued by her mother.
The stories are updated to more modern settings. The exact time periods remains vague, but they are clearly anchored rather intentionally. For example, in "The Bloody Chamber" the existence of transatlantic telephone implies a date 1930 or later. On the other hand, the mention of painters such as Gustave Moreau and Odilon Redon, and of fashion designer Paul Poiret (who designs one of the heroine's gowns) all suggest a date before 1945. "The Lady of the House of Love" is clearly set on the eve of the First World War, and the young man's bicycle on which he arrives at the tradition-bound vampire's house is a symbol of the encroaching modernity which fundamentally altered European society after 1914.
[edit] Adaptations
The 1984 film, The Company of Wolves by Neil Jordan was based upon the werewolf stories in this collection, in particular the Little Red Riding Hood analogy The Company of Wolves.
The Company of Wolves is also a popular subject for adaptation by amateur/student theatre groups (e.g. by this Welsh drama college).
