Mixing of the gothic and the female - dark, twisted, intense, sad fairytales
Magical realism - feminist themes (independent minded)
bought up by her grandmother, battled anorexia as a child, studied English lit in Bristol
divorced husband and moved to Tokyo - discovered what it is to be a woman/ became radicalised
traveled a lot and was residence in lots of unis around England and US
wrote fiction essays - about desire, sacrifice of women, female enslavement
All writing has this strong underlying political context
dark twisted tales - central character almost always a woman - men doing most of the dark twisted things - incest, crime, sexual abuse, murder, pornography, rape
in later life her work focuses less explicitly on these themes and more magical realism comes into it - particularly in her novels (earlier short stories focus on these taboo themes)
Writing very descriptive !! - dark twisted - surreal creatures, gothic things - interesting to draw?
- ‘Fireworks’ - an interesting collection of short stories (all very twisted) - also ‘the bloodied chamber’ - famous short story
- ‘The magical Toyshop’ sounds like an interesting read although very dark and twisted - girl growing up and turning into a woman - discovering her own sexuality - under rule of twisted ankle puts on sark puppet shows - has been compared to a series of unfortunate events (more adult) not a happy tale
- ‘Nights at the circus’ seems less twisted and more magical realism - still feminist themes - sexuality etc. Central character Lizzie - ‘cockney virgin’ (not) who grows wings - sort of protector of Woman’s rights in her beliefs about marriage etc. — Womans Suffrage/ Other strange circus acts rep. a turn of the century - new ideals (struggle to find themselves) - still incest, cannibalism etc.
- ’Wise Children’ (set of twins - life/ death) also famous - gothic magical realism sounds less descriptive/ surreal?
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