The Passion of New Eve (Virago Modern Classics) [Paperback]

Angela Carter (Author)

Book Description

Series: Virago Modern Classics | Publication Date: August 1, 1992

This story follows Evelyn, a young Englishman, along a journey through mythology and sexuality. It is a story of how he learns to be a woman, first in the brutal hands of Zero, the ragtime Nietzsche, then through the ancient Tristessa, the beautiful ghost of Hollywood past.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'If you can imagine Baudelaire, Blake and Kafka getting together to describe America, you are well on the way to Carter's visionary and lurid world' THE TIMES 'Her writing is pyrotechnic' OBSERVER

About the Author

One of Britain's most original writers, Angela Carter was highly lauded for her novels, short stories, and journalism. She died in February 1992.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group (August 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0860683419
• ISBN-13: 978-0860683414
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #104,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Angela Carter (1940-1992) was the author of many novels, collections of short stories, plays, and books for children.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Witty, Subversive Study of Gender..., January 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Passion of New Eve (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

In this, one of Carter's boldest and most subversive novels, the protagonist undergoes an excrutiating exercise in de-masculinization. As a female, he realizes that women truly are "made" into nurturers, into mothers, into objects of sexual desire. Carter's prose is richly--chillingly--beautiful, as she describes one man's confusing transformation from being the "hunter" into the "hunted." Quite possibly Angela Carter's finest work--as well as one of the most provocative studies of gender construction in the Western world.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre But Brilliant!, July 27, 2001

By 

Lauryn Angel-cann (Frisco, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Passion of New Eve (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

This is the most outrageous Angela Carter novel I've read. Just when you begin to settle into one bizarre plot, Carter turns everything upside down and takes the story down a completely different avenue. She still manages, however, to bring all of her seemingly disparate plot elements together at the novel's satisfying close.

Evelyn's transformation from loathesome creep into a protagonist the reader actually cares about is a riotous roller-coaster ride, punctuated by Carter's beautiful prose and embellished by her perverse sense of humor. As always with Angela Carter, a satisfying, thought-provoking read!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An odd read at best., May 28, 2006

By 

Kai "The cheeky librarian." (Philadelphia, PA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Passion of New Eve (Virago Modern Classics) (Paperback)

My only previous exposure to Carter's work has been through her short-story collection, "The Bloody Chamber". I'd highly recommend that over this; while TBC included some stories that were hard to grasp, it also contained many witty, dark, brilliant stories that blew the classic versions out of the water.

"The Passion of New Eve" is interesting, but all I could conclude at the end was that Carter was trying very hard not to get pigeonholed into any category of writing. You can't call it a feminist piece, nor can you call it satire. Evelyn, a man who gets surgically transformed into Eve (and if transition was as easy as the sci-fi operation makes it, there would be many elated trans persons in the world) isn't a pleasant protagonist; he's at first arrogant and self-serving, then whiny, then self-serving yet again. Tristessa, his love interest, is a more fascinating character, but plays a relatively minor part. There's also plenty of rape and, for lack of more eloquent terms, nastiness that goes on before the end; I wouldn't call this light reading by any stretch of the imagination.

The writing itself is stunning, though; Carter's use of imagery and verbal texture is fantastic, and her way with detail (choosing where to include it and where to omit it, in particular) is superb.