Kimberly J. Lau is professor of literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is the author of New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden and Body Language: Sisters in Shape, Black Women’s Fitness, and Feminist Identity Politics.
Dr. Lau's beautifully written book revisits one of the most
beloved, perplexing fairy-tale texts of the twentieth century,
Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber, and dwells in its most
unfamiliar and challenging moments in order to illuminate its
unique, destabilizing enchantments. Working at the intersection of
fairy tale, folklore, feminist, and literary studies, Lau explores
the ways in which desire and infidelity can disrupt patriarchal
norms and constructs.--The 2015 Elli K�ng�s-Maranda Prize Committee
"American Folklore Society (AFS)"
Kimberly Lau's book-length study of Angela Carter's The Bloody
Chamber seeks to explore not only the individual stories of
Carter's famous collection, but also the poetics of the volume as
an aesthetic whole. This is one of the most innovative aspects of
the book, as this dimension of Carter's work has often been
neglected.--Michelle Ryan-Sautour "Gramarye"
Lau's Erotic Infidelities provides a new generation of readers with
the tools to unpack Carter's exploration of sexual subjectivities
and the instabilities inherent in negotiating desire and the
opportunity to (re)discover for themselves this wondrously complex
circle of short stories and the excitements of its
metanarratives.--Merja Makinen "Tulsa Studies in Women's
Literature"
Lau's scholarship is engaging, and her writing is technical without
being abtruse. Erotic Infidelities is accessible to newcomers and
explores the possibilities for alternative erotics and
transgressive enchantments created by The Bloody Chamber as a
whole, while offering interesting insights to those more familiar
with the subject matter.--Victoria L. M. Harkavy "Journal of
American Folklore"
This book offers intelligent insights to the reader of Carter's
work. Because Lau's discussion makes consistent, sophisticated use
of theory, academic readers are the ideal audience. Lau's
familiarity with Carter's thinking, the array of Carter critics she
deploys, and the variety of texts she handles in her arguments
reflect an extremely well-researched book. All scholars interested
in Carter's The Bloody Chamber would benefit from reading Lau's
book. Her reading of the tales as part of a larger arc that moves
from familiar to unfamiliar, from civilization and culture to
nature and from tradition to exploration of difference convincingly
realigns our view of Carter's work. Readers will enjoy Lau's
combination of close reading, juxtaposition of texts, and energetic
prose.--Susan M. Bernardo "Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts"
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