About book American Ghosts & Old World Wonders (1994)
American Ghosts and Old World Wonders was published after Angela Carter’s death from lung cancer in 1992 according to directions that she left. The book is a collection of nine stories, four set in the new world of America and five in the old world of Europe. Part one contains ‘Lizzie’s Tiger’, ‘John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’, ‘Gun for the Devil’ and ‘The Merchant of Shadows’ and part two comprises ‘The Ghost Ships’, ‘In Pantoland’, ‘Ashputtle, or The Mother’s Ghost’, ‘Alice in Prague, or The Curious Room’ and ‘Impressions: The Wrightsman Magdalene’. The new world stories have a more defined story to them, while the old world stories are more abstract and bizarre, although nowhere near as odd as I found Fireworks when I read it last year. The balance between the two halves of the book and the two different styles works well and it forms a good, coherent collection (unsurprising given how specifically Carter planned the contents of the book).Two stories stick out in my mind from this short story collection and they are, interestingly, the first two in the book. ‘Lizzie’s Tiger’ is about a young Lizzie Borden, who became famous for allegedly killing her father and stepmother, escaping for one evening from her poverty-stricken home to go to visit a nearby fairground. Lizzie is depicted as a serious little girl and Carter uses a wonderful phrase to describe her, saying that she has ‘a whim of iron’. It’s just perfect because it encapsulates the arbitrary nature and forcefulness of childhood desires, and I’m sure anyone who has ever met a child will be able to picture exactly what Carter means. It is impossible to read the story without it being shadowed by the knowledge that this isn’t an ordinary little girl but one who later possibly commits a double murder with a hatchet, and Carter plays on that to change a story of a girl visiting a fairground and seeing a caged tiger into something altogether more sinister and unsettling. Although the story follows Lizzie she never speaks, but only observes in a way that becomes increasingly eerie as the tale progresses, so by the time she encounters the tiger there are obvious parallels between the two of them: both caged, whether literally or figuratively, both potentially lethal and both biding their time for now. I think Carter has written at least one other story about Lizzie Borden, so I’ll definitely be investigating that to see what she does with the interesting character that she has created.My other favourite was the story which caused me to buy the collection in the first place: ‘John Ford’s Tis Pity She’s a Whore’. In this contribution, which is part story, part playscript, Carter plays on the fact that John Ford is the name of both a Jacobean dramatist and a maker of 20th century western films, combining the two forms to relocate Jacobean Ford’s Italian play ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ to the prairies of North America, using setting and characters more at home in one of 20th century Ford’s westerns. It’s such a simple idea but so clever and effective and I loved it just as much this time as I did when I first read it sat in a lecture hall. If you read anything by Angela Carter, read this story.
American Ghosts & Old World Wonders was published after Carter’s death. It contains nine stories, not the seven I originally thought including Lizzie’s Tiger, John Ford’s ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, In Pantoland and Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost.The collection is split into two parts.Part One could be subtitled American Ghosts and contains four stories set firmly in America. The stories deal with childhood trips to a sinister circus, incest, jealousy in the form of black magic and Hollywood ghosts.Part Two could be subtitled Old World Wonders and contains five stories set in different parts of Europe. The stories deal with Christmas hauntings, haunted theatres, the ghosts of murder victims and haunting desire.The strongest stories in the collection are Lizzie’s Tiger, John Ford’s ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore, In Pantoland and Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost.Lizzie’s Tiger features a young Lizzie Borden who sneaks away from her home one night to visit a circus and gets to come face to face with her heart’s desire – a tiger.John Ford’s ‘Tis a Pity She’s a Whore deals with the controversial subject of incest. A brother and sister who live on a farm make love on stormy night and she subsequently becomes pregnant. She chooses to marry a man she doesn’t love to hide her dirty secret and tragedy ensues.In Pantoland is a weird story but in a wonderful way. The story is set in a formerly grand but now haunted theatre where the ghosts of well-known Panto characters (i.e. the dame) come to life and re-enact their glory days. Carter pays around with gender and sexuality and it’s all a bit beautiful if a little off-kilter.Ashputtle or The Mother’s Ghost is Carter’s take on ‘Cinderella’ with the ghost of Cinder’s (Ashputtle in Carter’s story) murdered mother seeking revenge. The story is told from the viewpoint of three different characters including the young Ashputtle and you don’t know what one’s the truth.The other stories are all excellent especially Gun for the Devil where a jilted lover sells his soul in exchange for black magic and vengeance.American Ghosts & Old World Wonders is a very strong collection of short stories that contains Carter’s trade-mark weirdness, wonder and beauty.
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