Dis-oriented desires and Angela Carter’s intersectionality: nationalism, masochism, and the search for “the other’s otherness”

This article examines Carter’s portrayal of the intersections of race, gender, and nationalism through imagery drawn from the nationalist tales Momotaro [Peach Boy] and “the lion and the unicorn” in her writing during and after staying in Japan. Analysing Miss Z and Fireworks, we argue that Carter’s depictions of fantastical creatures reveal a protointersectional awareness of complex power interconnections between race and gender, specifically in relation to ideas of whiteness and masochism. Like her contemporary Taeko Kono, Carter critiques men’s masochism and theorizes a type of feminine masochism. Carter grows in awareness of both racial politics (whiteness) and masochism in Japanese culture and attempts to grasp the “essence of the other’s otherness” therein. In doing so, she conceptualizes intersectional power relations of gender and race.