Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

Episode 4

Angela Carter sent Susannah Clapp a series of postcards that reflected her life and times. Now her friend brings these cards to life to form a memorable portrait of the author.

"These cards make a paper-trail, a zig-zag path through the eighties, when I knew Angela. They are casually dispatched - some messages are barley more than a signature - but often the more pungent for that. They catch Angela on the wing, shooting off her mouth."

Angela Carter was the author of such tour de force novels as 'Wise Children' and 'Nights at The Circus'. Since her death twenty years ago, nothing that amounts to a biography has been written about her. Susannah Clapp, her great friend and literary executor, has not written a biography but has brought these postcards to life - Living Doll, Flickerings, Twin Peaks, Chilli - to paint a vivid picture of the novelist at work and at home in London, and also on her earlier travels in America and Japan.

Susannah Clapp reads from her account of Angela Carter,
the dazzling novelist who died twenty years ago. Carter's postcard
entries are read by Claire Skinner and the series abridger is Katrin
Williams.

Producer Duncan Minshull.

15 minutes

Last on

Fri 10 Feb 2012 00:30

Broadcasts

  • Thu 9 Feb 2012 09:45
  • Fri 10 Feb 2012 00:30

Listen to more Audio Books

Listen to more Audio Books

Including My Sister The Serial Killer, Queenie, The Flatshare and more.

Opening Lines

Opening Lines

John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Sample our books and authors Clip Collection

Interviews, previews and reviews

Subscribe to the Short stories podcast

Featuring the best stories from the UK's finest writers

How many of these 100 Novels have you read?

How many of these 100 Novels have you read?

After a passionate debate, our panel has come up with this surprising literary selection.

Finding Your Story

Finding Your Story

Ten remarkable novels about identity: Which one will help you discover yourself?

Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Arts: Books

Celebrating reading and the 100 novels that have shaped our world.