Angela Carter’s Postmodern Feminism and the Gothic Uncanny
Resource
NTU Studies in Language & Literature Number 13, 99-134
Journal
NTU Studies in Language & Literature Number 13
Pages
99-134
Date Issued
2004-06
Date
2004-06
Author(s)
Peng, Pi-tai Emma
DOI
246246/2006121215550464
Abstract
Angela Carter is a most controversial feminist writer in contemporary literary scene
as her writing handles many gender and cultural issues in a unique subversive, even
provocative way. Critics have discussed the political (in)efficacy of her feminist
views and the significance of her revisionary writing strategy, but as to what really
constitutes the unsettling power, the sharp edge of Carter’s writing, besides the
enunciation of different feminist stances, critics have so far offered rather little
in-depth analysis or new angles. With regard to this, the essay seeks to establish a
critical model of reading Carter’s horrific power by bringing in, or rather shedding
light on, a narrative tradition that Carter has employed all along—the Gothic
tradition—to the existing critical perspectives on Carter’s writing, i.e., feminism,
postmodernism, among others. The author argues that there exists an intricate
dialectic between Carter’s feminism, postmodern practice, and her use of the Gothic,
that her Gothic view underlies the horrific power of her speculative writing, and
moreover, her writing exhibits a space which is not just postmodern, full of the joy of
depthless play, but also a fearful space of the Gothic where the play is haunted by its
play.
Subjects
Gothic
postmodernism
feminism
Angela Carter
SDGs
Publisher
臺北市：國立臺灣大學外文學系
Type
journal article