Carter, Angela (1940-1992), was a British novelist and short-story writer. Her fiction has been classed as magic realism—that is, it combines a realistic narrative with fantastic elements, such as fairy tales, myths, legends, science fiction, and the supernatural.
Carter’s early novels The Magic Toyshop (1967), Heroes and Villains (1969), and The Infernal Desire of Dr. Hoffman (1972) are a blend of grotesque comedy and horror. In The Passion of New Eve (1977), a man changes into a woman, and Nights at the Circus (1984) interweaves the real with the surreal in the tale of a winged trapeze artist who claims she can fly. Carter’s last novel, Wise Children (1991), follows the story of a family of actors. Carter’s short stories were collected in Bloody Chamber (1979). Her nonfiction appears in The Sadeian Woman (1979), Nothing Sacred (1982), and Expletives Deleted (1992). She also wrote children’s books and radio plays.
Angela Olive Carter was born on May 7, 1940, in Eastbourne, Sussex, England. She studied English at Bristol University. She died on Feb. 16, 1992.
