Angela Carter Quotes

A collection of quotes by Angela Carter.

Angela Carter (1940-1992) was a British writer known for her unique and powerful literary voice. Born in Eastbourne, England, she grew up in a household that nurtured her love for books and storytelling. After studying English literature at the University of Bristol, Carter embarked on a career as a journalist, working for various publications including the Croydon Advertiser and New Society.

Carter's first novel, "Shadow Dance," was published in 1966, followed by a series of unconventional works that defied genre expectations. It was her collection of reimagined fairy tales, "The Bloody Chamber," published in 1979, that solidified her reputation as a leading figure in feminist literature. Her writings explored themes of sexuality, gender, and power, often through a dark and fantastical lens.

Throughout her career, Carter delved into different forms of writing, ranging from novels and short stories to plays and essays. Her works not only challenged societal norms but also experimented with language and narrative structures, pushing the boundaries of literature.

Angela Carter's imaginative and thought-provoking writing earned her critical acclaim and a dedicated following. She received numerous awards during her lifetime, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Somerset Maugham Award. Sadly, Carter's life was cut short by lung cancer at the age of 51, but her literary legacy continues to resonate with readers around the world.

You must realize that I was suffering from love and I knew h

You must realize that I was suffering from love and I knew him as intimately as I knew my own image in a mirror. In other words, I knew him only in relation to myself.

Love

Moonlight, white satin, roses. A bride.

Moonlight, white satin, roses. A bride.

Beauty Bride Majestic

In a secular age, an authentic miracle must purport to be a

In a secular age, an authentic miracle must purport to be a hoax, in order to gain credit in the world.

Age

Nothing is a matter of life and death except life and death.

Nothing is a matter of life and death except life and death.

Death

Aeneas carried his aged father on his back from the ruins of

Aeneas carried his aged father on his back from the ruins of Troy and so do we all, whether we like it or not, perhaps even if we have never known them.

Dad

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.

Comedy is tragedy that happens to other people.

Comedy

Iconic clothing has been secularized. A guardsman in a dress

Iconic clothing has been secularized. A guardsman in a dress uniform is ostensibly an icon of aggression; his coat is red as the blood he hopes to shed. Seen on a coat-hanger, with no man inside it, the uniform loses all its blustering significance and, to the innocent eye seduced by decorative color and tactile braid, it is as abstract in symbolic information as a parasol to an Eskimo. It becomes simply magnificent.

Military

If Miss means respectably unmarried, and Mrs. respectably ma

If Miss means respectably unmarried, and Mrs. respectably married, then Ms. means nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

Women

Midnight, and the clock strikes. It is Christmas Day, the we

Midnight, and the clock strikes. It is Christmas Day, the werewolves birthday, the door of the solstice still wide enough open to let them all slink through.

Holidays

The kind of power mothers have is enormous. Take the skyline

The kind of power mothers have is enormous. Take the skyline of Istanbul -- enormous breasts, pathetic little willies, a final revenge on Islam. I was so scared I had to crouch in the bottom of the boat when I saw it.

Mother

We do not go to bed in single pairs; even if we choose not t

We do not go to bed in single pairs; even if we choose not to refer to them, we still drag there with us the cultural impedimenta of our social class, our parents lives, our bank balances, our sexual and emotional expectations, our whole biographies -- all the bits and pieces of our unique existences.

Sex

There's a theory, one I find persuasive, that the quest for

There's a theory, one I find persuasive, that the quest for knowledge is, at bottom, the search for the answer to the question: Where was I before I was born. In the beginning was what? Perhaps, in the beginning, there was a curious room, a room like this one, crammed with wonders; and now the room and all it contains are forbidden you, although it was made just for you, had been prepared for you since time began, and you will spend all your life trying to remember it.

Knowledge

The whore is despised by the hypocritical world because she

The whore is despised by the hypocritical world because she has made a realistic assessment of her assets and does not have to rely on fraud to make a living. In an area of human relations where fraud is regular practice between the sexes, her honesty is regarded with a mocking wonder.

Prostitution

In the mythic schema of all relations between men and women,

In the mythic schema of all relations between men and women, man proposes, and woman is disposed of.

Relationships

The notion of a universality of human experience is a confid

The notion of a universality of human experience is a confidence trick and the notion of a universality of female experience is a clever confidence trick.

Experience

Pornographers are the enemies of women only because our cont

Pornographers are the enemies of women only because our contemporary ideology of pornography does not encompass the possibility of change, as if we were the slaves of history and not its makers. Pornography is a satire on human pretensions.

Pornography

It is far easier for a woman to lead a blameless life than i

It is far easier for a woman to lead a blameless life than it is for a man; all she has to do is to avoid sexual intercourse like the plague.

Morals

Fine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final st

Fine art, that exists for itself alone, is art in a final state of impotence. If nobody, including the artist, acknowledges art as a means of knowing the world, then art is relegated to a kind of rumpus room of the mind and the irresponsibility of the artist and the irrelevance of art to actual living becomes part and parcel of the practice of art.

Art

Mother goddesses are just as silly a notion as father gods.

Mother goddesses are just as silly a notion as father gods. If a revival of the myths of these cults gives woman emotional satisfaction, it does so at the price of obscuring the real conditions of life. This is why they were invented in the first place.

God

I think the adjective post-modernist really means mannerist.

I think the adjective post-modernist really means mannerist. Books about books is fun but frivolous.

Modern Modernism