Angela Carter

In 1960, she married Paul Carter. They separated a decade later.

In 1977, she married Mark Pearce and the couple had a son.

She passed away due to lung cancer in London, England.

Angela Carter, born as Angela Olive Stalker, was born in Eastbourne, England. Her father was a journalist and became the main source of inspiration for young Carter to pursue journalism later in her life.

At the break of World War II, she was sent to live with her maternal grandmother in Yorkshire.

Throughout her teenage years, she suffered from extreme eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, for which she was heckled at on many occasions.

She majored in English literature from the University of Bristol. However, during her expeditions and travels, she became fluent in other languages as well such as French and German.

Her first employment was with ‘Croydon Advertiser’, where she was hired as a journalist. The work offered Carter some of her first connections with script at a professional level.

She published her first novel, ‘Shadow Dance’, in 1966 and a year later, she won a prestigious award for her second novel, ‘The Magical Toyshop’, which was adapted for a film later on.

After printing her third and fourth novels, ‘Several Perceptions’ and ‘Heroes and Villains’, she relocated to Japan, where she worked as a journalist for three years.

During her time in Japan, she authored ‘Love’, in 1971 and ‘The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman’, in 1972. Her time in Japan was one that was dotted with self-discovery and her experience of gender relations in Japan forced her to become radicalized.

In 1974, she published a collection of popular short-stories in a publication titled, ‘Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces’. Around this time, she also contributed regularly to ‘New Society’, a political magazine.

In 1978, Angela Carter wrote a controversial essay 'The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography'. In the essay she offered a a generally positive interpretation of the works of the Marquis de Sade. She rgued that the Marquis de Sade was one of the first writers who viewed the function of women as something that transcended the function of producing babies.

In 1979, she penned ‘The Bloody Chamber’, a short-fiction book. It became one of her most significant works, winning the Cheltenham Festival Literary Prize, the same year of its publication. The novel earned heavy acclaim from numerous critics and readers. Some of the stories in the book were later adapted for radio and film such as ‘The Company of Wolves’. ‘The Bloody Chamber’ also became the subject for a popular theatrical adaptation.

‘Nights at the Circus’, published in 1984 was honored with the ‘James Tait Black Memorial Prize’ for the category of fiction. The book is regarded as one of her best-known works because it integrates facets of postfeminism, postmodernism and magical realism. The popularity of the novel spawned a stage adaptation by Tom Morris and Emma Rice, in 2006.