Fireworks: Angela Carter's Incendiary Imagination

What is it about?

Angela Carter’s dazzling artistry can be seen to resemble a fireworks display, a myriad of radiant hues, bursting in different directions. We have set out to reflect her incendiary imagination in this explosive array of new scholarship on Carter’s work, the title of which takes its point of inspiration from the etymology of the word ‘pyrotechnics’, which derives from the Greek nouns pyr (‘fire’) and techne (‘art’) . The term draws on the multi-valanced meanings and associations of the word ‘pyrotechnics’, which Angela Carter explores in her 1969 journal, written while she was living in Japan. She glosses the etymology of the word ‘fireworks’, translating it into different languages, including French: ‘Feu d’artifice, artificial fire’ and Japanese: ‘hana bi, flower fire; Flowering fire’. This also informs the title and themes of Fireworks (1974) , her collection of short stories, written in Japan.

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Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

Photo by Alex Jones on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Representing a shift in Carter studies for the 21st century, this book critically explores her legacy and showcases the current state of Angela Carter scholarship. It gives new insights into Carter’s pyrotechnic creativity and pays tribute to her incendiary imagination in a reappraisal of Angela Carter’s work, her influences and influence. Drawing attention to the highly constructed artifice of Angela Carter’s work, it brings to the fore her lesser-known collection of short stories, Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces to reposition her as more than just the author of The Bloody Chamber. On the way, it also explores the impact of her experiences living in Japan, in the light of Edmund Gordon’s 2016 biography and Natsumi Ikoma’s translation of Sozo Araki’s Japanese memoirs of Carter.

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