Angela Olive Carter, Wise Children

Susanne Gruß (Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg)

Ed. by Sarah Gamble, Swansea University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1991

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Magical realist
Metafiction
Novel

Resources

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With her last novel,

Wise Children

(1991), Angela Carter revisits many of the topics that defined her career: the text is wittily metafictional, pondering questions such as the unreliability of both memory and narration; it continues Carter’s project of deconstructing the (Western) literary canon; it questions the roles assigned to both women and men in a heteronormative society; and, finally, it includes elements reminiscent of magic realism. “Welcome to the wrong side of the tracks” (Carter 1), Carter’s narrator greets her readers:

Wise Children

is told from the narrative perspective of Dora Chance, who – in an often achronological and at times almost associative manner – is assembling the memoir of her own and her identical twin sister Nora’s lives. At the same time, she…

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2577 words

Citation: Gruß, Susanne. "Wise Children". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 April 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8825, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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