She Travelled the Seven Seas

[commonpeople1]

Angela Carter, Burning Your Boats: The Collected Short Stories, 1995
Reading a short story by Angela Carter is the equivalent of visiting a friend who has travelled the world and now lives by herself in an apartment filled with cats, trinkets and incense. Some days, as you sit in this friend's living room, waiting for her to brew some exotic tea, the scent of burning incense lulls you into a reverie, the way in which the sunlight hits the smoke gives her living room a mysterious feel. At other times, your friend makes the mistake of lighting too many incense sticks, keeping the windows closed, the curtains shut; the items hanging on her wall suddenly look dull, the clothes hanging off her body tawdry, the bright red lipstick on her face wrong for the occasion.

When Carter is good, her stories transcend their fairy tale roots like dreams with hidden meanings. When Carter is bad, your mind drifts away from every sentence and all you can think of is skipping to the next tale.

Comments

[loraine.livejournal.com]

That has inpired me to try her book.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Oh! I have this t shirt!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Many of the stories are gorgeous and make the book well worth it. Other stories though...

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Sounds like my kind of book! You've given me permission to skip the ones I decide I don't want to read!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

You didn't need my permission! :-)

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

Oh, come now, everyone needs someone's permission somewhere!

[live-life-like.livejournal.com]

faz quase um mês que estou tentando começar a ler Night at the Circus....mas tenho lido tanta coisa ao mesmo tempo que nao dou conta!!!!!

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Precisa ler pra escola, ou queria ler simplesmente por vontade propria?

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

que significa vontade?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

Desire?

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

But not like "desejo". More like a non-sexual, non-hungry desire... hmmm, I can't explain it!

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

hmmm, pensaba que es como querer.

[commonpeople.livejournal.com]

yes... I think so! Synonimous to that I think.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

pero dijiste "queria" mas temperano en el repuesto.

[desayuno-ingles.livejournal.com]

no, no, mas como ... hmmm...no. no tengo nada, pero entiendote.

[live-life-like.livejournal.com]

por vontade mesmo.....geralmente o que tenho que ler pra escola eh beeeeem chato!