Demythologising the Demythologiser: Re-Visiting Angela Carter

The controversially erotic content and theoretical engagements of Angela Carter's popular texts have been - and continue to be - a minefield for feminist hermeneutics, especially with regards to female sexuality. Even today, the question of ‘moral pornography' presented in The Sadeian Woman provokes heated debate in relation to contemporary feminist politics. This year in particular has witnessed a dramatic increase in both academic and popular interest in Carter, demonstrated by the success of the Angela Carter Tribute at the South Bank Centre (11th June 2006) and the reissue of several of her works, with new introductions, by Vintage.

The Angela Carter Symposium aims to create a new research platform for presenting the latest directions and explorations in Carter scholarship. While Charlotte Crofts (‘Anagrams of Desire': Angela Carter's Writing for Radio, Film and Television), Sarah Gamble (Writing from the Front Line, Angela Carter: A Literary Life, Fiction of Angela Carter) and Becky Munford (Re-visiting Angela Carter: Texts, Contexts, Intertexts) will offer keynote talks, the afternoon sessions will provide a forum for postgraduate students to discuss their new work on Carter. This symposium hopes to initiate a framework for sustaining the importance of this renewed interest in Carter for future years, and by corollary to improve the academic recognition of women's writing in general in the aftermath of a decline in women's studies courses.