Intertextual Relations: James Joyce and William Shakespeare in Angela Carter's Wise Children

Davison, Sarah

Abstract

© 2015 The Author. Angela Carter's feminist appropriation of William Shakespeare's plots in Wise Children (1991) is well recognized. This article proposes that the novel also makes sustained references to the life and work of James Joyce and thereby provides a crucial but overlooked counterpoint to Carter's use of Shakespeare. It sets her simultaneous play with these two literary forefathers in the light of her thoughts on intertextuality, Bardolatry, and biological and cultural legitimacy, as well as her observations in "Envoi: Bloomsday." Thus, it argues that Carter both invokes Joyce's liberating example as an adaptive writer in the burlesque tradition to support her own feminist critique of patrilineal models of artistic inheritance and literary transmission, and rejects the institutionalization of Shakespeare's plays as high art rather than popular entertainment.

Citation

Davison, S. (2016). Intertextual Relations: James Joyce and William Shakespeare in Angela Carter's Wise Children. Contemporary Women's Writing, 10(2), 197-215. https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpv020

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 9, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Nov 18, 2015
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Mar 24, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 24, 2016
• Journal: Contemporary Women's Writing
• Print ISSN: 1754-1476
• Electronic ISSN: 1754-1484
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 197-215
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/cww/vpv020
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/766715
• Publisher URL: http://cww.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/18/cww.vpv020.full.pdf+html?sid=3c266115-f751-446e-add3-ff60432cf4
• Additional Information: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Contemporary Women's Writing following peer review. The version of record Davison, Sarah (2015) Intertextual relations: James Joyce and William Shakespeare in Angela Carter’s Wise Children. Contemporary Women's Writing . ISSN 1754-1484 is available online at: http://cww.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/11/18/cww.vpv020.full.pdf+html?sid=3c266115-f751-446e-add3-ff60432cf4