changeling67 | Entries tagged with the bloody chamber

Have been busy, busy, busy - been organising my life around my major dissertation and induction timetable at Plymouth Uni. Booked in my library time (compulsary, so it is logged in the bibliography) for 1pm on the 10th as I have no desire to catch a train near 6am to get there. I have warned fellow new students, who will probably not know about this - quell suprise when I found out about it last year! Plus, I need to locate my student card and renew my railcard, possibly will have to do this before induction week i.e. the calm before the storm.

I have been reading the rest of The Bloody Chamber - best so far is 'The Erl King', a kind of Pan-like creature who beguiles women and turns them into birds. I can see parallels with many other stories and I think I will predominently use it out of all the other stories in TBC. Stories completed 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon', 'The Tigers Bride', 'Puss-In-Boots' and the aforementioned 'The Erl King - my next stories are 'The Snow Child', Lady in the House of Love' (think that one is a female vampire story), 'The Werewolf', 'The Comapny of Wolves' and 'Wolf Alice'.

Seriously, read Angela Carters 'The Erl King' - sends all kinds of shiver down your spine.

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

I reviewed my exceptionally-rough-drafted mini dissertation and we both agreed that it would be far better if I scrapped a lot of the first half and substantially redraft the second half. The background on the folktales can be used, but as I wanted to explore the sex/death themes from a psychoanalytical theory angle (fear of consumation or actually fear being consumed), then I would have to research Brothers Grimm The Robber Bridegroom as a primary text as part one. Part two would be about compare/contrast, with The Bloody Chamber - plus Robert Browning, Charlotte Bronte et al. thrown in for good secondary source measure. In some cases, it will be 'back to the bloody drawingboard' again, but this time I have far more appropriate material to run with.

Tomorrow, I will make the prelimary changes, then shelve it for a while. I have an Anna Barbauld essay to write, plus the Charlotte Perkins Gilman one to do. I am nowhere near plotting the post modern one and I have a lecture to attend on that subject on Thursday. Hubby has his second operation next Wedsnesday, if indeed there is a bed for him - hospitals are on black alert at the moment (chronic bed shortage).

Mentally, I am wide awake though it is a little past midnight - physically I am so tired, I am mute by it.

Shame - such a shame,
Think I've kind of lost myself again...

...fade - made to fade,
Passion's over-rated anyway.

(Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl)

Current Mood: blank
Current Music: Massive Attack - Dissolved Girl

4,930. That is the amount I have written all told. I have made some good observations but I am miles from even submitting it as a rough draft for Monday. I really need to cut swathes into it, as I haven't added sprinkles/observations from the academic essays yet. The absolute maximum is 5,000 + leeway of 10% = 5,500. However, as this is rough, I have at least got something to show her. It is a subject that I should've reserved for final year BA - God knows what that will be. I have no idea as yet as to what i will be majoring in. Hoping to get advice on Monday - I know that my lecturer has emailed the coordinator with our proposals, but yet t be seen as to what they will be. I need a solid answer so I can do some hefty research in the summer.

I have 3 other assignments to do and an IAS portfolia with comments - none of which I could get near, though I have got some time yet before the deadline. Officially, I have 55 days (just under eight weeks) to get this done. I am bricking it.

My car is now officially on its way out. I am throwing good money after bad and it's getting worse. Head gasket is dying, I think and when that happens, its usually 'Game Over' for the car. Thing is, we are strapped for cash, but because of our locality, it is absolutely essential that I get back on the road ASAP. Car sharing and/or public transport is just not an option for me.

Current Music: Classic FM - Various

Words cannot express just how bored I am of this. I have decided not to post any more red pix when I post these entries, plus I am missing out on the spring. Two pluses today - 1) Plymouth Uni have contacted me, asking to switch a subject, so I have gone for war poetry instead (better than Jane Austen - sorry folks). Somewhat relieved as I had second thoughts on the Ecocrit theory crash course. 2) I get my car back today.

Back to Bluebeard. It has to be done. Get on with it and stop complaining.

Above is the castle that Angela Carter based her antagonist's lair - Mont Saint-Michel, in Normandy, France. I have so much to do, but I think my main point for today is - what was Carter trying to say? What were her observations as to how fairy tale charicatures were being projected?

17:16
We have our own partner Mount here in Cornwall - St Michael's Mount, just outside Marazion in Cornwall. It is far smaller in size, but still stunning to look at.

I think I am starting to make some headway. I tend to write the same thing sometimes, like I am two writers trying to compose in unison. Plus I am aware of the presence of my lecturer sitting mentally on my shoulder - which doesn't help. However, it IS her pushing of my boundaries that makes me a better writer.

I say that now, might be feeling different in 6 days time (when I see her next).

23:45
I am not in the best frame of mind right now. I have really struggled to get to grips with this and it is such a HUGE tangled mess. For a start, I feel that I would make better ground if I focused wholly on The Bloody Chamber and made references back to Perrault, Grimm et al. Plus - is it really a good idea to have 2 theories running at once? I could take this theme and have a problem keeping to 10,000 maxi dissertation size (that is for next year at Plymouth Uni), let alone the meagre 5,000 set for the whole piece for the mini diss this year.

I am up early tomorrow as I have an appointment to attend to, so it will be back to the grindstone again. I think if I haven't got the gist of this by the weekend, I will have to gut out the other two essays, so at least I have something to show the other lecturer. Damn it, I wanted to be further than I am.

I have got to the stage where the essay is a huge mess, tangled with quotes and sporadic, poorly-spelt observations. Hubby and Prodigal 2 have been out visiting friends, whilst I have major writer's block at my desk. Also - sometime between now and the thirteenth, I want to plan out two other essays, write a story for the portfolio and maybe understand Post Modernism a bit more too. A tall order - AND I want my bloody car back. It has been off road for nearly four weeks and at the garage awaiting repair for another two weeks.

1,561 - and I haven't even expanded my observations coherently, nor have I added any academic essay quotes/book theories. Easter hasn't helped much either.

Current Music: Classic FM - Various

Original Artist - B-trndl at Deviant Art

I chose Bluebeard as I was interested as to the monster archetypes in fairy tales. Most of them seemed to be lumbering, or plain ugly - but Bluebeard seemed to be generally frightening. I have 2,500 words to find between now and next Monday re the first half of the diss. It will be comprised of Perrault/Brothers Grimm (albeit briefly)/Le Fanu and Charlotte Bronte. This could be a HUGE project, but I have to pare it down to the bare minimum. It will have Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber in it at some point too.

Yesterday and today, I have spent making notes on the Perrault/Le Fanu one and tomorrow, I will have to start writing. In between, I will be doing the IAS PP too.

( The Bloody Chamber - Warning NSFW )

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Page Summary

Angela Carter - The Erl King
The Major Dissertation Reading List: Angela Carter - The Magic Toyshop
Back to the Drawing Board
Bored of Bluebeard
Bluebeard - More of the Same :-/
Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part Two - Day Five
Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part Two - Day Four
Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part One - The Prologue

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Sub Rosa

"All this talk of blood and slaying has put me off my tea"

Entries tagged with the bloody chamber

Angela Carter - The Erl King

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

Back to the Drawing Board

Bored of Bluebeard

Bluebeard - More of the Same :-/

Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part Two - Day Five

Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part Two - Day Four

Bluebeard Mini Dissertation Part One - The Prologue