![]() ![]() ![]() For the sheer pleasure of its prose alone this book is hard to beat.Īngela Carter is its presiding fairy godmother. Just like the tale-tellers she celebrates in this mammoth study, From the Beast to the Blonde, she's a weaver of enchantments, each sentence a silken knot charming you further into her web of meanings which she ravels and unravels with dizzying speed and skill. She writes so beautifully that I am sure even her VAT returns are a joy to behold. Her arguments are never cold and dry, but persuasive, cajoling, even seductive. She bestows these gifts of understanding and insight with tremendous enthusiasm. She brings the fruits of scholarly labours, her own and others', to a wide modern audience. She steps from scholarship to popular culture and back again. As much as she deconstructs the myths of Western culture (the Virgin Mary, Joan of Arc, the female warrior, the ambiguities of allegory and virtue posed as female) she reassembles them so that we can not only see how they're made but enjoy their lasting power and knowledge. MARINA WARNER is one of the great synthesizers and bridge-builders. ![]()
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