Angela Carter’s work is a collage of discourses and genres tackling such issues as identity construction, marginality, myth as foundation of ideology, fluidity of boundaries. Her playful intertextual allusions to literature, psychology, politics and popular culture are infused with irony and wit, and the challenge of finding a critical framework complex and accurate enough by which to study her work has remained, since no classification seems to do her justice.
My solution in this study is to move away from the urge to approach her works according to literary frames, to a discussion informed by a different metaphor, denoting enigmatic spaces, conterdiscourses, borders of otherness – heterotopia.
My looking-glass examines five novels out of nine, five short stories out of thirty-five, as well as Carter’s two film adaptations. I have condensed her rich patchwork of stories, characters and techniques into a term extricated from its medical and geographical roots, befitting the rich intertextuality of her themes, her interest in boundaries between fact and fiction, margins and centres, or the interplay between sacred and profane. The concept of heterotopia emphasizes the ambiguity, as well as the dialogic interaction of Carter’s often discordant discourses. The spectacular and the pragmatic threads of her texts, framed by extreme seriousness and witty humour, have delighted and offended readers, consequently maintaining Carter’s literary and cinematic montage at the top of the literary canon, as the present study will show.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Converging Echoes
- Introducing Angela Carter
- Defining Heterotopia
- Heterotopian Zones - Inner Depths of Outer Spaces
- Dismantling Catacombs
- The Castle
- The Prison
- The Cave/The Womb
- Mazes of the Outside
- The Forest
- The Desert
- The City
- Heterotopia - Reaching for the Other
- Duplicitous Dolls
- Innocent Predators
- Cannibals
- Desired Others
- Heterotopia - Dynamics of Performance
- Scenes of Dissemblance
- Twists of Passion
- Songs and Dances
- Heterotopia - The Warp and Weft of Storytelling
- The 'Confidence Trick'
- Embroidering Genealogies
- Cinematic Spinners
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This thesis examines the work of Angela Carter through the lens of heterotopia, a concept of space that emphasizes otherness and boundary fluidity. It aims to demonstrate how Carter’s narratives explore themes of identity construction, marginality, and the subversive power of myth. The thesis focuses on the ways Carter utilizes heterotopia to challenge conventional notions of space and place, highlighting the intertextuality, irony, and wit that permeate her work.- Heterotopia as a framework for understanding Carter's work
- The construction of identity and subjectivity in Carter's narratives
- The role of myth and ideology in shaping Carter's fictional worlds
- The exploration of marginality and social exclusion through spatial metaphors
- The intersection of space, performance, and storytelling in Carter's works
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The first chapter introduces Angela Carter's work and its critical reception, establishing the concept of heterotopia as a key framework for analysis. It traces the etymology of the term and explores its theoretical applications within the study. The second chapter examines the public and domestic zones of confinement in Carter’s work, exploring how characters navigate their subjectivity within these spaces. It analyzes the role of spatial construction and strategies of resistance in novels such as *The Passion of New Eve* and *The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman*.Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
This study explores Angela Carter’s work through the lens of heterotopia, emphasizing the concepts of spatial construction, otherness, boundary fluidity, and the subversion of traditional narratives. The thesis examines the interplay of identity construction, marginality, myth, ideology, performance, and storytelling within Carter’s works. Key terms include heterotopia, space, place, identity, marginality, myth, ideology, performance, and storytelling.- Quote paper
- Eliza Claudia Filimon (Author), 2009, Worlds in Collision - Angela Carter's Heterotopia, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/262543
