الفهرس 
Violating Literary Canon: A Theory of Literary RevisionismOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
Abstract
There are many different forms of literature, some more well-loved than others, but ever present none the less. The fairy tale is one of the best-loved forms of literature, having withstood the test of time for centuries and still popular to this day. As with many forms of literature, there are certain stereotypes present within the genre; however, in today’s day and age, there are certain authors who have taken the literary cannon and are twisting it, breaking free of the mold, allowing for the creation of fairy tales in which not all women are princesses, serving maids, or homemakers and not all men are heroic. These authors use fairy tales as a means of challenging traditional gender stereotypes while using psychological and feminist principles of creating a different variation on the fairytale; among those different authors, one stands out above others, Angela Carter.
This style of writing, the retelling of an original work with a host of changes to the original text to allow the author’s agenda to shine through is referred to as revisionism. In literary revisionism, the tale takes on a far different tone and context than the original work and is often done as a means of modernizing a story for the purposes of aligning it with ideologies that are more modern. The Theory of Revisionism was put forth by Harold Bloom and was based on the ideas surrounding the formation of cannon in regard to the work of romantic poets. Taking this contextual basis as the foundation for his theory, Bloom created several sub-theories under the umbrella of his basic Theory of Revisionism, including the theory he referred to as the Anxiety of Influence. The fairy tale was first used as an entertainment method for adults, serving as the medium through which the adult persona was able to display his or her deepest desires and darkest fears in a socially acceptable manner. As time went on, however, nannies and other caregivers worked to tame the stories in their retelling, allowing the fairy tale to be born anew as a tool used for the teaching and entertainment of children. These fairy tales now served as cautionary tales, allowing the teller of the tale to effectively teach life lessons to children under the guise of entertainment.
In Angela Carter’s revisionism of classic fairy tales, she attempts to take the fairy tale back to its original roots, manifesting desire throughout the tales and allowing individuals to see once more that it is acceptable to have such desires, and that fears, when present, are not always irrational. In this, Carter’s presentation of the fairy tale is both factual and fiction; it serves as a manifestation of the truth while at the same time being used to depict thoughts, actions, and events that have never occurred.
Chapter one of this dissertation delves deeply into the theories of revisionism, looking at the different aspects of each theory as defined by literary critic Harold Bloom and serving to provide examples of each of the different styles of revisionism, citing Mark Twain’s A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and the works of Angela Carter as examples.
Chapter two of this dissertation, delves into the history of the representation of the female in literature and in society leading to the belief in witchcraft and the subsequent need for its eradication. The chapter then addresses the concept of Lacanian Theory, wherein the individual is divided between the self and the other, looking at what one is or should be and the real self.
Chapter three focuses on an exploration of three of Carter’s short story collections The Magic Toyshop, The Bloody Chamber, and The Passion of New Eve. In the exploration of each of these three short story collections, the emphasis is on the violence of gendering present in each of the texts. A common theme present in each of these three short story collections is the idea that gender roles are not universally defined, but are instead specific to the culture in which they exist. This theme is further stressed as a result of the fact that, while British, Carter’s focus on gender roles in each of the collections does not stem from traditional British roles of male and female sexuality, but instead picks up the discussion and exploration of sexuality from an Americanized perspective starting from the 1970s and working through present day conceptualizations thereof.
Chapter four heavily stresses the explanation of the theory of feminist intertextuality and its relation to revisionism, specifically that of the reworking of the Bluebeard fairy tale. Prior to the investigation of the theory of feminist intertextuality, the chapter looks at how reconstructed fairy tales use perception, acting either as a means of escaping from reality or as an embedded narrative, and that the perspective in which the text is written serves as a means of determining the manner in which the story may be interpreted within the context of the theory itself. To this end, not only does this chapter place express emphasis on the exploration of the theory of intertextuality, but serves to apply the theory of revisionism more specifically to the Bluebeard variations present in Carter’s The Magic Toyshop. This in depth exploration of the theory of revisionism as applied to one specific collection of Carter’s works serves as a means of revisiting previously presented information on the revisionist concept while allowing the reader to review the application thereof within the context of a specific total body of literature with particular emphasis on one tale and the variations between that tale and the version of Bluebeard as told by the Brothers Grimm and that of Perrault.
The conclusion serves to effectively conclude the subject matter, offering up key insights gleaned throughout the course of the research in response to each of the different research questions identified for resolution in the Chapters of the dissertation.