The Major Dissertation Reading List: Angela Carter - The Magic Toyshop

It is an unenviable task.  I have just finished both reading and annotating Angela Carter's The Magic Toyshop; unfortunately, I cannot share its findings, as I will be using them in the dissertation itself (then get done for self-plagiarising).  All I can say is - Wowowowow.  Synopsis is under the cut below.

( The Magic Toyshop Summary (SPOILER) )

I used her version of Bluebeard for my major dissertation last year and had forgotten what a consummate writer Carter is.  Seriously.  Enough to make your hair stand on end and make you wonder if she has taken a walk through your dreams at some point.  So much symbology and plenty of intertextuality - I have had to reread some of Aesop's Fables and the Greek Myths, plus revisit some of the original Perrault/Grimms Fairy Tales.

I am following The Magic Toyshop with the following

• Wise Children


• Nights At The Circus


• The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman


• The Bloody Chamber collection of short stories (but not the story itself as i did that last year)


• Black Venus

Strange Love

( Strange Love )

Driven to Tears

"Just like you swore to me that you'd be true"

For Looloo - bluegerl and Fee j_flattermann