The Bloody Chamber and Other Adult Tales

Angela Carter

Angela Carter tells stories. Fairy tales, to be precise, at least in this volume. They're the fairy tales you know well, that you grew up with. Carter just wants you to know that they've grown up with you. The Bloody Chamber and Other Adult Tales visits old standards and, well, not "makes them new again," exactly, but takes a slightly different approach in the telling, making them earthier, exploring explicitly subtexts only hinted at in the tales we know (even if we grew up on the unexpurgated editions). In some ways, Angela Carter's minor masterpiece stands in direct opposition to Wendy Walker's retellings of fairytales, as Walker does the same thing, but by twisting the tales into even more labyrinthine iterations; Carter just wants to hack all the floweriness away and get to the bloody, decaying meat of the matter. Both writers are doing something wonderful. If you've never had the pleasure, pick up The Bloody Chamber and Other Adult Tales and get a glimpse of what Grimm was too scared to spell out.