"I've got my teeth in you"
CARTER, Angela. Unicorn. Leeds: Thaloc. 1966.
Thin pale green card covers wire-stiched with staples and with title to front wrapper in black; lettering on rectos alone, pp. [7]; some spotting to front cover and minimally throughout; minor indent to front cover; otherwise very good.
A Thaloc print-out, first edition, sole printing and one of 150 copies.
I have sharp teeth inside my mouth,
Inside my dark red lips,
And lacquer slickly hides the claws
In my red fingertips"
- c) Lights, action
Although appreciated as one of the most imaginative post-war writers, Angela Carter is unfortunately little recognised for her at once astounding, and yet unsettling, poetic contribution.
Unicorn was originally published in Bristol's Vision magazine and transforms the famous, ancient myth of the lady and the Unicorn. The poem illuminates the genesis of the transgressive themes that would later feature throughout her illustirous career; those that would take centre stage in her later novels, such as the reworking of myth and the subversion of societal convention and expectations of gender in The Bloody Chamber.
As the first page asserts, "Q. What have unicorns and virigns got in common?/ A. They are fabulous beasts"- a) The Unicorn
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