Myth Reborn: Angela Carter's use of Leda and the Swan in The Magic Toyshop and Nights of the Circus
Advisor Information
Kristen Girten
Location
UNO Criss Library, Room 231
Presentation Type
Oral Presentation
Start Date
2-3-2018 11:30 AM
End Date
2-3-2018 11:45 AM
Abstract
Recent scholarship argues that acclaimed novelist Angela Carter is a difficult brand of feminist because her critique cultural myths about women’s roles often comes too close to sounding like a defense of patriarchy. Her critique is especially difficult to classify at the beginning of her career before the feminist movement began to provide aspiring women writers with women models to follow. By comparing her use of the Leda and the Swan myth in The Magic Toyshop and Nights of the Circus, it is possible to see the evolution of Carter’s critique of patriarchy from fledgling experimentation to full-bodied critique where she recolonizes a myth central to British literary culture as tool to inspire liberation.
Myth Reborn: Angela Carter's use of Leda and the Swan in The Magic Toyshop and Nights of the Circus
UNO Criss Library, Room 231
Recent scholarship argues that acclaimed novelist Angela Carter is a difficult brand of feminist because her critique cultural myths about women’s roles often comes too close to sounding like a defense of patriarchy. Her critique is especially difficult to classify at the beginning of her career before the feminist movement began to provide aspiring women writers with women models to follow. By comparing her use of the Leda and the Swan myth in The Magic Toyshop and Nights of the Circus, it is possible to see the evolution of Carter’s critique of patriarchy from fledgling experimentation to full-bodied critique where she recolonizes a myth central to British literary culture as tool to inspire liberation.