by Various (Author), Angela Carter (Editor)
In Elizabeth Jolley's "The Last Crop," a seemingly guileless woman cons a man out of his land. In Leonora Carrinton's "The Debutante," a young girl sends a hyena to her coming-out ball, with disastrous results. The title character in Frances Towers's "Violet" uses her talent for witchcraft with wicked intention. Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" faces a litany of her mother's strictures and admonishments, and Suniti Namjoshi's bittersweet fables suggest that nothing a woman does will ever be really right. But whether these women are bad or good, evil or benign, guilty or innocent, calculating or naive, they are not victims. None of them suffers passively at the hands of men. Each manages to confront her circumstances and sometimes, though not always, triumph over them.
Author Biography
Angela Carter (1940 -1992) wrote nine novels and numerous short stories, as well as nonfiction, radio plays, and the screenplay for Neil Jordan's 1984 movie The Company of Wolves, based on her story. She won numerous literary awards, traveled and taught widely in the United States, and lived in London.