The tale of Bluebeard’s Wife-the story of a young woman who discovers that her mysterious blue-bearded husband has murdered his former spouses-no longer squares with what most parents consider good bedtime reading for their children. Within a spirited exposé of marriage as sadistic ritual, she shapes a bright parable of maternal love. The title story of The Bloody Chamber, first published in 1979, was directly inspired by Charles Perrault’s fairy tales of 1697: his “Barbebleue” (Bluebeard) shapes Angela Carter’s retelling, as she lingers voluptuously on its sexual inferences, and springs a happy surprise in a masterly comic twist on the traditional happy ending. “The Bloody Chamber” is a feminist-leftie re-visioning of Bluebeard, written in the gothic tradition, set in a French castle with clear-cut goodies and baddies.
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