SOURCE: Benson, Stephen. “Angela Carter and the Literary Märchen: A Review Essay.” Marvels and Tales: Journal of Fairy Tale Studies 12, no. 1 (1998): 23-51.

In the following essay, Benson explores the perception in literary criticism of Carter's use of fairy tales.

Angela Carter and the Literary Märchen: a Review Essay

It is perhaps fitting, given Angela Carter's interest in all aspects of folklore, that her work has itself become the subject of a modern legend, albeit one whose truth is very much ascertainable. This is the legend of the “Carter effect,” identified by The British Academy Humanities Research Board, which distributes postgraduate studentships. Lorna Sage states the facts, as reported by the President of the Academy: in the year 1992-93, “there were more than forty applicants wanting to do doctorates on Carter, making her by far the most fashionable twentieth-century topic” (Flesh and the Mirror 3). Paul Barker, editor...