Books / Clifton
Exploring counterculture in 1960s Clifton through the eyes of Angela Carter
Angela Carter’s Provincial Bohemia by librarian and scholar Stephen E Hunt is a look at the author’s time in Bristol.
Hunt’s latest book investigates Angela Carter’s life and work during her time in Clifton and Bath.
It looks at alternative society in Bristol and Bath during the 1960s and 1970s, and how it influenced the writer’s later work.
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Angela Carter, who studied English Literature at the University of Bristol and lived in Clifton from 1961 to 1969, was an English novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist, most known for works such as The Bloody Chamber and Nights at the Circus.
Stephen E Hunt, author of the book. Photo: Tonya Van Gieson
Carter’s life in the two cities is a starting point for a wider exploration of counterculture in Bristol and Bath during the 1960s and 1970s, with the book exploring artistic, radical and experimental communities of the time – much of which emerged from the dilapidated, low-rent houses of Clifton.
“I love Angela Carter’s work and always thought that we in the west country were missing a trick in not making more of her connection with the area,” says Hunt.
The idea for the book began in Oxford in 2017, with a chance encounter with a friend of Angela and her husband Paul. This was the same year that the RWA hosted the exhibition Strange Worlds: The Vision of Angela Carter.
RWA hosted an exhibition focused on Angela Carter in 2017. Photo: Alice Hendy/RWA
Hunt, inspired by the meeting and exhibition, began researching and interviewing in 2018, with the book then released in April 2020.
The Easton author takes readers on a journey through everything from the Vietnam war to the 1968 student occupations, the women’s liberation movement to community technology.
“I have already received several fascinating communications since the book’s publication,” Hunt adds. “These include correspondents who have kindly shared a letter by Angela Carter, an unpublished photograph and more anecdotes.”
Angela Carter’s Provincial Bohemia can be bought from the Bristol Radical History Group at www.brh.org.uk/site/pamphleteer/angela-carters-provincial-bohemia. It will be available in shops, archives and museums post-lockdown.
If anyone was a part of the 1960s and 1970s counterculture in the South West and would like to share more memories or observations, please get in touch with Bristol Radical History Group at www.brh.org.uk/site/contact-us
Main photo: Angela Carter
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