Wise Children
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| Wise Children | |
| Author | Angela Carter |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Parra |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Magical realism |
| Publisher | Vintage |
| Publication date | 1991 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 232 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0099981106 |
Wise Children (1991) was the last novel written by Angela Carter.[1] The novel follows the fortunes of two twin chorus girls, Dora and Nora Chance,[2] and their bizarre theatrical family. It explores the subversive nature of fatherhood, the denying of which leads Nora and Dora to frivolous "illegitimate" lechery. The novel plays on Carter's admiration of Shakespeare and her love of fairy tales and the surreal, incorporating a large amount of magical realism and elements of the carnivalesque that probes and twists our expectations of reality and society.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
The story begins on the 75th birthday of twin sisters, Dora and Nora Chance. By what Dora, who is also the narrator of the story, describes as a bizarre coincidence, it is also the 100th birthday of their natural father, Melchior Hazard, and his twin brother, Peregrine Hazard, who is believed to be dead. The date is similarly Shakespeare's birthday - April 23rd.[3]
Dora and Nora's birthday gets off to a dramatic start when their half-brother, Tristram Hazard, who believes himself to be the nephew of their twins, arrives on their doorstep. He announces that Tiffany - his partner, and the goddaughter of the twins, is missing. Dora and Nora soon discover that Tiffany is pregnant with Tristram's baby, but he is unwilling to take on the responsibility. Once this bombshell has been dropped, it soon emerges that a body has been found, and it is believed to be Tiffany's. This happens just before Dora's famous quote "Jessica is the best".
Most of the novel is taken up by the memories of Dora Chance. As well as providing the backstory of her natural father, Melchior Hazard, legal father, Peregrine Hazard, and guardian, Grandma Chance, Dora describes the key events of her life. These include her early theatre performances, how she and her sister deal with being rejected by their father, as well as the time that she spent in Hollywood, producing a film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It also makes the reader wonder about a sexual and incestuous relationship between Peregrine and Dora as, on the brighton trip, clues are given to some sort of sexual activity taking place I.E her stocking half done, and Carter leaves this assumption a mystery to us all.
At the end of the novel, Dora and Nora attend Melchior's 100th birthday party, where he officially recognises them for the first time. The twins learn that both Peregrine and Tiffany are alive, and the true nature of their long-time enemies, Saskia and Imogen, is revealed for all to see.
The novel ends with Dora and Nora being presented with twin babies to look after - a gift from Peregrine. They realise that they "can't afford" to die for another twenty years, as they want to see the children grow up. The final line of the story is a message constantly conveyed by Carter throughout the novel: "What a joy it is to dance and sing!"
[edit] Main characters
- Dora Chance - 75 years of age, minor theatre and film star, illegitimate daughter of Melchior Hazard and "Pretty Kitty", who dies in childbirth. Believed by outsiders to be the daughter of Peregrine Hazard.
- Nora Chance - Twin sister and best friend of Dora.
- Melchior Hazard - High-profile theatre and film star, known for putting career before his family. He openly denies being the father of Nora and Dora. Appears in a West End production called What You Will which is an alternative title for Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.
- Peregrine Hazard - Twin brother of Melchior, feels sense of duty towards Dora and Nora, officially recognising them as his own. Adventurer, explorer, actor. Embodies magic realism and the carnivalesque.
- Lady Atalanta Hazard - First wife of Melchior Hazard, mother of Saskia and Imogen. Becomes known as "Wheelchair" in her later life, when she is cared for by Nora and Dora after her daughters push her down a staircase and take all her money, leaving her unable to walk and without a family or home to call her own.
- Delia Delaney (Daisy Duck) - Actress, second wife of Melchior Hazard, and former lover of Peregrine Hazard. Later marries Puck from the production of 'Midsummer Night's Dream.'
- My Lady Margarine - Third wife of Melchior Hazard. Mother to Gareth and Tristram. Known as "Lady Margarine" because she stars in a margarine advert on TV.
- Grandma Chance - Guardian of Dora and Nora Chance. Peregrine suggests that Grandma Chance may have been Dora and Nora's mother, but Dora considers this unlikely. Nudist and vegetarian. She is even against picking flowers, believing it to be cruel.
- Saskia Hazard - Legal daughter of Melchior Hazard. TV chef. Cunning and ambitious. Has an ongoing relationship with Tristram, her half brother. Nemesis of Dora Chance. Assumed by Nora and Dora to be the biological daughter of Peregrine Hazard.
- Imogen Hazard - Legal daughter of Melchior Hazard, twin sister of Saskia Hazard. Plays a fish on a children's television programme.
- Tristram Hazard - Son of Melchior Hazard's third marriage. Presenter of "Lashings of Lolly." Twin brother of Gareth.
- Tiffany - Goddaughter of Dora and Nora Chance. Girlfriend of Tristram Hazard, with whom she hosts "Lashings of Lolly", a TV gameshow. Also pregnant with Tristram's baby.
[edit] Other characters
- Gareth Hazard – Son of Melchior Hazard’s third marriage. Twin brother of Tristram Hazard. He became a missionary in his teens and was later based in South America. His children are presented to Dora and Nora at the end of the novel.
- Estella 'A Star Danced' Hazard – Mother of Melchior and Peregrine. A Shakespearian actress. Her nickname is a reference to a line in William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing said by Beatrice: "Then there was a star danced and under that was I born."
- Ranulph Hazard - Husband of Estella Hazard. Ranulph kills Estella, Cassius Booth and himself.
- Cassius Booth – Boyfriend of Estella Hazard. Possibly the father of Melchior and Peregrine.
- Pretty Kitty – Mother of Dora and Nora Chance, she dies giving birth to the girls.
- ‘Our Cyn’ – Mother of Mavis, grandmother of Brenda and great grandmother of Tiffany. Showed up at Grandma Chance's door as a peasant.
- Miss Worthington – Dora and Nora’s dance teacher.
- Mrs. Worthington – Miss Worthington’s mother.
- Gorgeous George – Comedian who appears as Bottom in a film version of A Midsummer Night's Dream. A Patriot who displays a map of the British Empire on his body. He is later on reduced to begging at the end of the novel.
- ‘Pantomime Goose’ – Nora Chance’s first boyfriend.
- Principal boy – The wife of the Pantomime Goose.
- ‘Blond tenor with unmemorable name’ – Nora Chance’s boyfriend, to whom Dora loses her virginity on her seventeenth birthday.
- Genghis Khan - A film producer. He produces a film version of ‘The Dream’ later described as a “masterpiece of kitsch”. Takes his name from the ruthless Mongol warlord Genghis Khan because he behaves in manner that is perceived as similar. At one point is engaged to Dora Chance, but the marriage does not occur.
- Genghis Khan’s first wife – A jealous woman who still loves her ex-husband after his marriage to Daisy Duck.
- Mascara - Dance teacher during the filming of The Dream.
- ‘Radical German exile’ – boyfriend of Dora Chance.
- Puck – Third husband of Delia Delaney.
- Irish O'Flaherty – A bookish American writer and a boyfriend of Dora Chance. He taught Dora how to read and write.
- Tony - Nora's boyfriend and fiance on the set of The Dream.
- Brenda – The granddaughter of ‘Our Cyn’ and the mother of Tiffany.
- Leroy Jenkins – The husband of Brenda.
- Miss. Euphemia Hazard - Melchior and Peregine's Presbyterian aunt. They stay with her after the deaths of Ranulph and
Estella.
[edit] Dramatis personae
Wise Children is notable for the number of identical and fraternal twins in its cast of characters. The complicated relationships between the characters, including some incestuous relationships, adds to the sense of incredulity which Angela Carter's use of magical realism has also created. She is pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable and possible so that a reader must suspend their disbelief to follow the novel.
[edit] Family tree
[edit] Major symbols
There are many symbols used in the book which illustrate the themes. Carter frequently uses objects and places which take on meanings beyond the literal and begin to develop ideas about society, for example:
The grandfather clock: represents their absent father, as it was given to them by their great Aunt (Ranulphs Sister) and was sent to their house by accident as it was the last known address of Melchior. It is also a phallic symbol. It is flawed, as it doesn’t always strike the right time: "it gives out the time in a falsetto ping, and always the wrong time". This links to their father, as he is also flawed, because there are many aspects of his personality which are less than admirable, such as his vanity and not recognising his daughters for many years.
Song and dance: represents their career. Like them it is light-hearted and full of energy. It is also a cliché – making a song and dance – making a fuss.
London: their own city – it is their birthplace. There is also a carniavalesque element to London – it is a city that is constantly changing: “can’t get a cup of tea”. The most important moment of carnivalesque in the novel is the party which ends in the fire, as it has a manic recklessness to it, which parallels the pre-renaissance carnivals; it also corresponds to the description of carnivalesque by Bakhtin.
The pairing of opposites: Shown most simply in the number of sets of twins, and also in the family names- "Chance" and "Hazard", two words with the same meaning, perhaps emphasising the superficial nature of the differences between them.
[edit] Themes
Illegitimacy vs legitimacy: Nora and Dora are from “the wrong side of the tracks” and were “born out of wedlock”, their father is “a pillar of the legit theatre” and throughout the book the twins are constantly trying to become legit and be accepted. However, Carter questions the concept of legitimacy, and whether it is just a perception rather than reality: even the characters that are seen to be from the legitimate side do not always act in a respectable way, for example Saskia has an affair with Tristram, her half-brother.
Carnivalesque-: Carter uses the carnivalesque to illustrate some of her points about social boundaries, such as illegitimacy and highbrow/lowbrow. Important instances include the scene at the burning mansion in Chapter 2, where she describes the "orgiastic" element to the scene, using images of the "flickering flames" to emphasise this: the highbrow party and mansion is reduced to a ruined, passionate near-orgy by the fire and the breaking of social boundaries. This is similar to the final chapter when Dora and Perry have sex, as Nora says she wishes Dora would "fuck the house down": as well as physically damaging the Hazard residence, Dora and Perry having sex almost brings down the divide between the highbrow and lowbrow sides of the family. Some of the imagery used in this scene echoes the imagery of the Chapter 2 scene, for example "cover them all... with plaster dust and come and fire".
Incest: for example Saskia and Tristram are half brother and sister (although may be cousins), Nora looses her virginity to a pantomime goose when playing a goosling, Perry sleeps with Dora. Melchior and Peregrine also share partners e.g. Daisy Duck, Lady A; Nora and Dora both sleep with the Blond Tenor. This could be seen as carnivalesque, as it inverts social hierarchies and boundaries. There is also the recurring idea of the actress playing Cordelia falling for the actor playing Lear in Shakespeare's "King Lear" on stage.
Culture and class: the high culture of the theatre in the legitimate side of the family as opposed to the dance halls in which Nora and Dora perform.
Shakespeare: Shakespeare is used continually, the ideas of his plays are incorporates, comparisons made continually between characters of the book and of the play and the book itself is written in 5 chapters just as a Shakespearian play often had five acts. Melchior idolises his father, and also Shakespeare, worshipping earth that from ground Shakespeare once performed on more than his own daughters. The inclusion of Shakespeare references in Dora's narrative highlights the idea of culture and class and of Shakespeare now being considered "high art".
[edit] Allusions/references to other works
The term "wise children" occurs in two other novels by Angela Carter: The Bloody Chamber and Nights at the Circus.
Throughout the novel, there are numerous references to the works and impact of William Shakespeare.[4] At the beginning of the novel there are three quotations, two of which allude to Shakespeare: "Brush Up on Your Shakespeare", a song title from the musical Kiss Me, Kate based on Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, and the quote "How many times Shakespeare draws fathers and daughters, never mothers and daughters" by Ellen Terry, an English stage actress. In an interview on the subject of Wise Children, Angela Carter stated "[I wanted] to have a transparent prose that just ran, I wanted it to be very funny, and at the same time I wanted the complex ideas about paternity and the idea of Shakespeare as a cultural ideology." [5]
There are also various other theatrical quotations, for example there is a "paper moon" motif, symbolising the spot-light, and indicating a sense of illusion. Also present are instances of magic realism, which is when a scene is exaggerated to an extent when the reader cannot possibly believe it, but does because of the realism of the rest of the novel. This is known as the willing suspension of disbelief.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Angela Carter, 1940-92: A Very Good Wizard, a Very Dear Friend by Salman Rushdie
- ^ 'Comedy Is Tragedy That Happens to Other People'
- ^ Book choice: Wise Children - Telegraph
- ^ More on the Shakespeare elements of the Novel
- ^ Lorna Sage's interview with Angela Carter in New Writing (eds., Malcolm Bradbury and Judith Cooke, 1992:188)
[edit] Further reading
- "York Notes on "Wise Children" (York Notes Advanced) (Paperback) • ISBN-10: 140583563X ISBN-13: 978-1405835633
[edit] External links
- Essay - emphasis on magical realism
- PDF Essay on Wise Children
- Random House's reading guide for Carter's Wise Children
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