   wise children (1991) was the last novel written by angela carter.angela carter, 1940â92: a very good wizard, a very dear friend by salman rushdie the novel follows the fortunes of twin chorus girls, dora and nora chance,'comedy is tragedy that happens to other people' 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. ==background== angela carter wrote this novel after she knew she had been diagnosed with cancer.margin: exploring modern magical realism/hazarding chance: reading angela carter's "wise children" â introduction by s.l. deefholts she had a small son and a husband whom she would be leaving behind and in this context, deefholts notes, "the echoing refrain of the text â "what a joy it is to dance and sing!"âseems particularly potent." camilla was introduced by carter as a daughter in the novel initially, but the character was removed from the final edition, for fear that people would not pay enough attention to the major symbol of the grandfather clock with the distraction of an additional character. ==plot summary== the story begins on the 75th birthday of identical 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 fraternal twin brother, peregrine hazard, who is believed to be dead. the date is similarly shakespeare's supposed birthday â 23 april.book choice: wise children â telegraph 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 the twins, arrives on their doorstep. he announces that tiffany â his p
1991_novels British_magic_realism_novels Chatto_&_Windus_books Novels_by_Angela_Carter