Reading Journal

CONTEXT

Feminism 1^st Wave:

19^th century to early 20^th century. First sparked in the UK and the US due to inequalities and officially mandated inequalities. Considered Feminists of this time include Mary Wollstonecraft along with Lucy Stone and Olympia Brown. The first wave initially thought to have passed after the success of the nineteenth amendment within congress granting women the right to vote. This also created an influx of reforms in the workplace, healthcare, professions and education. Feminists of the first wave worked against unmarried woman remaining property of their fathers and for married women, becoming property of their husbands. An educated woman at the time was dangerous, and Anne Askew was burnt to death for withholding such knowledge as she said to have challenged ‘implicitly or explicitly the patriarchal order’.

‘First wave feminists spent hundreds of years in activism, writing, protesting and working for the betterment and equality of their sex and gender. First wave feminists worked not only for suffrage, or the right to vote, but also for the right to an education, the right to work, the right to work safely, the right to the money they earned when they worked, the right to a divorce, the right to their children and the right to themselves and their own bodies.’ – being feminist blog.

Summary: voting rights, property rights, birth control (that existed at the time - condoms or sponges and, just as important, education about sexuality and how to prevent conception.) Achieved.

Feminism 2^nd Wave:

1960’s to 1980’s. Followed from the first wave, after there was a sense of ‘unfinished business’. Addressed the issues of unofficial inequalities. Encouraged women to understand the personal issues within their lives, as well as questioning the sexist’s structure of power. Several key movements and events during this period, impacting on the influence of women, their power, and feminism including, Equal Pay act 1963, the Civil Rights Act 1964 in the US, formation of the National Organisation for Women, the rise of radical feminism, Educational Amendments in 1972. Key figures included Angela Davis and Jo Freeman.

Summary: sexual freedom, legislative work to change sexist law, integration into the workplace, equal funding, integration into the political arena

Feminism 3^rd Wave:

1990’s to present. Informed by post-modern and post-colonial thinking. Readdresses derogatory terms such as ‘slut’ and ‘bitch’ in order to subvert a sexist culture.

Summary: sexual freedom, inclusion of gendered females, diversity, inclusion of women of colour and women from other cultures - plus the issues surrounding both 1st and 2nd wave feminism.

Marxism and its role in the 20^th Century:

Marx’s theory of history is contradicted by the fact that industrialised countries have not moved closer to revolution. The recent revolutions have been in peasant societies, such as China. Capitalist societies seem to have become more secure from threat of revolution throughout the 20th century. 20th Century America after the working class proved by events that they had no interest in serving as cannon fodder for the Marxist revolutionary forces; the revolutionary forces shifted the focus of their efforts to radicalizing women and minorities, blacks, Hispanics and Third World Immigrants, with the intent that these groups become Karl Marx's new proletarians.

Carter’s previous work and publications:

Shadow Dance, The Magic Toyshop, Several Perceptions, Heroes and Villains, Love, The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, The Passion of New Eve, Nights at the Circus, Wise Children. (All classed as novels)

The Bloody Chamber, The Bridegroom, Black Venus, American Ghosts and Old World Wonders, Burning Your Boats, Fireworks: Nina Profane Pieces. (Short fiction)

Five Quiet Shouter, Unicorn. (Poetry collections)

Come Unto These Yellow Sands: Four Radio Plays, The Curious Room: Plays, Film Scripts and an Opera, The Holy Family Album. (Dramatic works)

The Donkey Prince, Miss Z, the Dark Young Lady, Comic and Curious Cats, Moonshadow, Sea-Cat and Dragon King. (Children’s books)

The Sadeian Woman and the Ideology of Pornography, Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings, Expletives Deleted: Selected Writings, Shaking a Leg: Collected Journalism and Writing. (Non-Fiction works)

Extract from Nights at the Circus:

Nights at the Circus by Angela Carter focus’ on the whirlwind relationship between reporter Jack Walser and trapeze artist Sophia Fevvers. The two meet when Jack comes to interview Sophia. She fascinates him because of her unusual anatomical difference. Sophia claims that she was hatched from an egg rather than delivered from a woman. She also states that she had two lumps, one on each shoulder, until she reached puberty. At that point, the two lumps began growing until they were full-size wings. These wings are one of the big attractions for Jack. They are also what make Sophia such a wonder at the trapeze.

Major Film/News Stories 3 Years before and after:

Film

1976- Rocky, The Omen, King Kong

1977- Star Wars, Saturday Night Fever, A Bridge Too Far

1978- Grease, Superman, Jaws 2

1980- The Shining, Star Wars Episode V, The Elephant Man

1981- Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman II, Chariots of Fire

1982- ET, Rocky II, Annie

News

1976- Korean cars imported, NEC in BHam opened by Queen, Wilson resigns, opening of Rutland Water

1977- The Clash release first album, prostitute Patricia Atkinson murdered in Bradford as a result of the Yorkshire Ripper, prostitute Jean Jordan dead after another Yorkshire Ripper attack, Marilyn Moore attacked by supposed Yorkshire Ripper

1978- Body of 21 year-old prostitute found Yorkshire Ripper thought to be responsible.

1980- First UK Indie Chart published in Record Week, Thatcher announces state benefit to strikers will be halved, poll by Evening Standard suggest 6/10 Britons unhappy with Thatcher’s Conservative government, Zimbabwe independent from the UK, inflation rises to 21.8%, unemployment reaches post war high of 1,600,000 followed by high of 1,900,000, John Lennon shot in NY.

1981- Thatcher announces it will sell half of its shares in British Aerospace, Homebase opens in Croydon, unemployment stands at 2,400,000 or 10% of workforce, MP’s challenging leadership of Thatcher, UK census conducted, 80 arrests during clashes between White Power Skinheads and black people in Coventry, First case of AIDS in the UK, inflation falls to 11.9%

1982- unemployment 3 million, Queen celebrates pearl jubilee, Falklands war begins, Haçienda opens in Manc, The Smiths formed.

Polemical

Negative Reviews:

Positive Reviews:

Problems with Feminism/Marxism

Feminism:

-Unfair view on feminism, mostly middle/upper class females

-Men specifically may find it difficult to relate to, as they are not females themselves

-Feminist theories do not allow for the natural tendencies of men. They do to men exactly what they claim was wrongly done to women for centuries

Marxism:

-Outdated in terms of social, economic and political theories

-Some of Marx’s theories are inconsistent, specifically the ‘value theory’

-Engenders the belief that the end justifies the means

-Freud saw "sexual energy" to be the motivating factor behind human endeavour and Nabokov seemed to feel artistic impulse was the real factor, Marx thought that "historical materialism" was the ultimate driving force, a notion involving the distribution of resources, gain and production

Viewpoint

Marxism: The report goes on to suggest the damp in social housing is a direct result of increasing poverty and ever increasing energy bills.  Therefore, because they are poor, remain in unsatisfactory living conditions, due to the fact that it is unaffordable to address the issue in most cases.

Feminism: In an article by The Guardian, a review of the year in sexist remarks is complied including inappropriately made sexist remarks by a variety of different people both in and out of the public eye in what can be described as an attempt to draw awareness to ‘everyday sexism’.

Topical???...
http://www.thefader.com/2013/10/14/miley-cyrus-sinead-o-connor-female-se/

Lady of the House of Love - Critical Extract F

[Carter believed that] the Gothic should be placed and was beginning to be placed, she concluded, in relation to reals in literature ad the visual arts and at the sae time associated with fantasy and the fantastic with the realms of imagination ad desire: novels needn't deal with domestic everyday life experience after all' their truth could lie elsewhere. The genre may have started life with Horace Walpole and neo-medivalism - a haunted castled, giant pieces of armour, an avenging ghost, a disputed inheritance - but the Gothic had since turned into something more pervasive: an aesthetic. This aesthetic had strong links with the realist-sentimental novels of Abbe Prevost, Samuel Richardson and Jean-Jacques Rousseau which preceded it […] but it was beginning to be seen as standing in stark opposition to 'safe' literary realism. Angela Carter was delighted to see, as she put it, that 'fin in this particular siecle was beginning rather earlier than usual. For, as she added, 'we live in gothic times…'

Christopher Frayling, 'Introduction', in The Gothic Reader - A Critical Anthology. (Tate, 2006).

Carter's 'Lady of The House of Love' derives from classic fairy tales Jack and the Beanstalk and also Sleeping Beauty to portray how enlightenment and death are two inseparables for the 'unhealthy beauty' of the Countess. This is evident as one kiss was sufficient to awaken Sleeping Beauty, and we are reminded that the Countess, like the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk, is the natural antagonist of mankind. Ultimately, these elements of 'fantasy and the fantastic' with 'realms of imagination' contribute to the gothic convention of 'blurring of reality' as it is difficult to decipher, as the reader, the metaphysical state of the Countess. 

Frayling describes how people may dismiss the gothic as it is not representative of the life in which we live - 'novels needn't deal with the domestic life and everyday experience' as the as the fact that the gothic doesn't need to be realistic to communicate a message, which in this story can be said to be true. This is because whilst the story is set in a conventional gothic castle, the story is revenant to todays society, as Carter wished ('we live in Gothic times'), by the incorporation of 'the soldier'. 

Nevertheless, the fact that Carter has described 'we live in Gothic times' is evident throughout the collection of stories in 'The Bloody Chamber' as disparity between men and women. 'The Lady of the House of Love' is a prime example of this disparity. The gothic 'entrapment' of the vampire is caused by the Countess' 'unhealthy beauty' and eventually leads to her eternal sadness. Moreover, her eternal sadness is consequential of her 'unhealthy beauty' and the fact that men only objectify her - not fall in love with her. 

Fairy Tales and The Existential Predicament

Bettelheim argues that fairy tales ass new dimensions to a child's imagination, which are unreachable through their own ability, as well as the fact that they provide a structure upon which a child can base their daydreams to 'provide better direction to their life'. He also argues that some parents believe that their children should only be presented with the 'sunny side in life', and to disregard 'nameless anxieties and violent fantisies' as subconsciously, fairytales also offer an element of darkness. In the text, it is suggested that when children are not always good, they prefer not to be, which makes them believe they are a 'monster', meaning that whilst these repressed unconscious thoughts remain unspoken, they are not typically 'bad thoughts' but can be seen as natural. 

Bettelheim believes that fairy tales present to a child that life offers 'unavoidable' difficulties and it is part of human exisistence and overcoming these 'hardships' well created a well-rounded character. It is argued that whilst many modern forms of fictional child literature avoids 'death' and 'eternal life', fairy tales confront these issues with the basic 'human predicaments'. Fairy tales offer evil as an omnipresent force, as good and dil are represented by a body in a figure by their actions. This offers the duality life battle of what you should do or what you want to do. The fairy tale characters are not 'ambivalent' being good or bad at the same time as in real life neither are we. Bettelheim argues that whilst polarisation is active inn the child's mind, enabling the child to see the direct opposites between two characters enables the child to distinguish the difference between the two characteristics. A conclusion can be drawn that therefore, the child has to be able to relate to the good character portrayed in a fairy tale. 

1. How might Bettelheim's ideas help us to understand the purpose of fairy tales? 
The argument provided by Bettelheim enables the adult mind to understand how a child interprets a fairy tale. The purpose of fairy tales, to Bettelheim, is to present the child with the complexities of life so their subconscious is exposed to both the good and the bad, through the polarisation of two specific character and therefore the child is able to draw its own conclusions between the differences of the 'good' character and the 'bad character', as it is more likely to be able to relate to the 'good' character. 

2.How do Bettelheim's ideas help us to understand the purposes of the gothic?
Bettelheim's ideas can be transferred to the gothic through the fact that the gothic further exposes the polarisation between the typical female as a demure, 'damsel in distress' and a strong byronic, perhaps in some ways evil dominant male character. Also as an adult reading the gothic genre, a character like Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights is an archetypal 'bad' character yet,  we are drawn to him as character through his immediate dark appearance and our ability to like him is questioned. Therefore, in fairy tales it can be said that the bad character is there to be disliked, yet in the the gothic, the bad character can be arguably 'liked' as we are able to decipher what makes them bad in comparison to an essentially 'good character'. 

3. Why do you think Carter mixes the fairy tale and gothic genres in 'The Bloody Chamber'?
This may be because it challenges the 'safe' fairytales we know as a child and exposes the subliminal messages involved through the gothic. As well as this, the mix of gothic and fairy tales means that the more 'subliminal' messages involved with the fairy tale as expose much more explicitly in the the dramatic genre of the gothic, and therefore as an adult make it more interesting to read. Furthermore, the  mix of gothic and fairy tale means Carter is able to challenge the perception created in fairy tales through the gothic, and significantly, the portrayal of women. 

'Wolf-Alice' Questions

1. Make a note of two/three of the most striking pieces of description.
    - 'she cannot speak'
    - 'her panting tongue hangs out; her red lips are thick and fresh'
    - 'she always runs on all fours'
    - 'in the mirror, she saw how this white dress made her shine'

2. From the description, what sort of a character does Carter create? Does the girl seem realistic to you, or not? 
From the selected quotations above, it can be described that the character creates is indefinitely both wolf and human. Throughout Carter's stories the main 'heroines' transform to embrace their bestial/lustful natures such as in 'The Tigers Bride' were she is recast as a beast. However, Wolf Alice sees the opposite of this take place. Initially Wolf Alice is described with animalistic features such as 'her panting tongue' and 'she always runs on all fours' suggesting she is intact a wolf, although this can be doubted since she is also described with human features 'red lips'. However, ultimately Carter portrays through her other stories in 'The Bloody Chamber' that there are several identifiable signs that distinguishes humans from animals which see a knowledge of morality, shame or a desire to wear clothing and a belief that we are more significant than our surrounding; all of which can be described as latent in Wolf Alice. Although, these 'identifiable characteristics' become more evident in Wolf Alice as she encounters human belongings such as the mirror and the wedding dress - 'in the mirror, she saw how this white dress made her shine', reminding the reader that we are mere beasts without a culture. From this, an inconclusive judgment can be made that Wolf Alice is neither realistic or unrealistic as whilst she posses human traits such as menstruation and a 'desire to be clothed', she also fundamentally has an animalistic, feral nature. This is because by the end of the tale, she is still recognised by her name Wolf Alice, whereas in Carter's other tale's a transformation into the realism is signified by a name change, for example, Mr Lyons.

3. Look at the name given to the character. What are the two elements with which it is made up? 
The name Wolf Alice holds connotations of both human and beast. Wolf Alice together sees the character portrayed as a wolf with human qualities, due to the personification of the wolf by the human name Alice which, as reader can make the character seem unrelatable as they are simply, not human. However, it may also be argued that the name Wolf Alice creates a connection with the reader as they are drawn to the fact that the name suggests both human and beast. In addition to this, if the name was simply to be Alice or Wolf, it would alter the story completely as it would not connect with Wolf Alice's human/beast and animalistic/feral nature.

4. Which other stories in this collection may be linked to this one because of the mixture of human and animal?
Perhaps, most significantly, 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' can be said to be compared to this tale. The heroine in the tale of Mr Lyon transforms the half-beast by her kindness, whilst Wolf Alice pities the Duke as she sees him as imperfect, like she was as the wolves pitied her for being a human and a 'flawed-wolf'. Although, comparably, the beast in 'The Courtship of Mr Lyon' is transferred to a human which is also represented by his changed name to Mr Lyon, whereas in the tale of Wolf Alice, whilst she takes pity on the Duke, ambiguously the story is left with the mirror reflecting 'the face of the Duke' leaving the reader unsure as to whether he has changed to a human, half beast or remains the same. 

5. How do you feel towards Wolf Alice? Do you empathise with her at all? Do you like her or not? 
For a time, Wolf-Alice thinks she is another creature, whose presence is reassuring to her. She gradually becomes more restrained and therefore more human because menstruating causes her to experience both the human qualities of time and shame. Wolf-Alice's encounter with the mirror can be seen as a turning point for the character as it enables her to experience her human powers. Once she sees that her reflection is her 'shadow', she understands that she  controls it. Her perspective shifts from animal objectivity to human subjectivity. Once she is human on the inside, she is inspired to look human on the outside by the wedding dress 'tucked behind the mirror'. This allows empathy for Wolf Alice as the reader can feel an almost bildungsroman form as the character of Wolf Alice learns of herself at the same time that the reader does.

6. What is the function of the Duke? What does he contribute to the plot, and what would be missing if his character was not in the story?
Both Wolf Alice and the Duke can be seen as liminal characters which the mirror brings to fruition. The Duke can be seen as half being in two ways; firstly that he is half beast half wolf and secondly that he is  trapped between the physical and metaphysical worlds. This is most apparent as he can be seen as 'real' enough to eat and kill people, but 'not real enough' to cast a reflection in the mirror, making him appear as if dead. As the mirror witnesses Wolf Alice transform from beast into human, we also see the Duke transforming after he is shot, and is barely able to remain in the metaphysical world. 

Erl-King notes 26th/Sept

The Erl-King

-an adaptation of the European tap
-a character depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature who hunts forests and carries off travellers to their deaths
-the character is most famous as the antagonist in Goethe's poem -Der Erl Konig
-Christian Rossetti's - Goblin Mathet, a tale of Laura and Lizzie, and the dangers of goblins and the power of sisterly love
-Emily Dickinson - 'light is sufficient into itself' ?
-little red riding hood
-the greenman/nature motif
-Shakespeare's Othello - green eyed monster

-opening is magical, overtly verbose

1-how is the Erl-King presented?
'the Erl-King will do you grievous harm' the first mention of him is dangerous, yet she still decided to see him, she is conscious of her actions.
'his eyes are quite green' - reference to the green man
'white pointed teeth' - animalistic, reference to little red riding hood
2-how is the narrator presented?
the woman is the narrator, although the narrative perspective keeps changing, which can be linked to the gothic blurring of boundaries. This also creates the impression of confusion and loss within the forest. Due to the changing perspectives of the narrative, can the narrator be viewed as trapped within the forest of free? This can be linked to the gothic theme of entrapment
3-references to other stories:
-red riding hood 'what big teeth you have
-robin hood/scarlett letter
-green man
-erl-king (urkling - imp in pagan stories)
-dracula - biting on the neck - scandinavia
-werewolf

Why do you think Carter chose the title for this tale? The Erl-King

The Erl-King

Why do you think Carter chose this title for this tale? How appropriate do you think it is and why?

Definition: The Erlking (German: Erlkönig, "Alder King") is depicted in a number of German poems and ballads as a malevolent creature that haunts forests and carries off travelers to their deaths.

The title ‘The Erl-King’ was used in a European folklore persona, as the ‘erlking’. An ‘erlking’ can typically be described in this form as a mischievous sprite or an elf that lures young people with the intent of killing them. Immediately from the beginning of the story we are made aware that the narrator is conscious of the fact that the Erl King offers danger to herself – ‘The Erl-King will do you grievous harm.’ Linkin goes as far as to describe the narrator as ‘a highly sophisticated consciousness.’ It is clear from this quote that the narrator is aware of her subjugation to the ‘green man’ as she responds actively to the birdcall from the Erl King informing the reader that she is aware of the consequences of her actions.  Throughout the other Bloody Chamber tales, specifically the Bloody Chamber, the female narrator can be described as naïve and immature. However, this is not the case of the woman, as she allows him to call her a ‘skinned rabbit’ as he bites her neck.

The narrator of the story becomes aware that the birds entrapped by the Erl King and unable to sing as they ‘cannot find their way out of the woods’. He entraps the women who wonder the forest at their own free will to become suppressed by his status of being a man, and therefore dominant, as they submissively (and perhaps unwittingly) become his servant. This conversely, does not apply to the narrator. The initial description of the woods foreshadows her later entrapment by the Erl King –‘these vertical bars of a brass-coloured distillation of light coming down from sulphur-yellow interstices in a sky hunkered with grey clouds…’ The ‘vertical bars’ can be linked to the gothic theme of entrapment, as the narrator becomes what can typically be described as passive, demure woman trapped and suppressed by the male’s dominant nature.

The adjective ‘sulphur’ is used to describe the colour of the bars envisaged by the narrator. In Blake’s The French Revolution, ‘sulphur’ holds connections with death, which can be identifiable in Carter’s Erl King as it is reflected in the foreshadowing of death of the Erl King as the tale concludes. The Erl King’s role as the dominant character in the tale is reversed in the conclusion of the story as the narrator decides her own fate as the dominant character when the death of the Erl King and the fiddle which is made of the Erl King’s hair calls her ‘mother’ is demonstrative of her as a woman with which the power newly resides.

Conclusively, the title can be called appropriate to the tale as the narrator describes the Erl King as a ‘tender-butcher’. It is the irony within this statement that allows the Erl King to fit with the description of someone who ‘lures young people with the intent of killing them’. Whilst the narrator allows the Erl King to dominate her arouses her, he is also corrupting her status as a free-willed female. Despite the Erl King being her lover, he is also a destroyer of the narrator at the same time. The entrapment that the Erl King offers in the cages he has trapped birds also fits with the description that he ‘lures young people with the intent of killing’ providing an additional reason that the Erl King is a suitable title.