Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces
First edition | |
| Author | Angela Carter |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Quartet Books |
Publication date | 1974 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| ISBN | 1-84408-367-5 |
| OCLC | 68772482 |
Fireworks: Nine Profane Pieces (aka Fireworks: Nine Stories in Various Disguises or Fireworks) is an anthology of short fiction by Angela Carter. It was first published in the United Kingdom in 1974 by Quartet Books Ltd. and contains a collection stories, several of which are based on Carter's own experiences of living in Japan from 1969 to 1971. This period of her life can be counted as a turning point in terms of her writing as it marks the point at which feminism began to become a more central theme; as she notes herself in Nothing Sacred: Selected Writings, "In Japan I learnt what it is to be a woman and became radicalised". In 1988 it was also published in Canada under the name "Artificial Fire" which featured both Fireworks and the 1971 novel Love.
Stories included are "A Souvenir of Japan", "The Executioner's Beautiful Daughter", "The Loves of Lady Purple", "The Smile of Winter", "Penetrating to the Heart of the Forest", "Flesh and the Mirror", "Master", "Reflections" and "Elegy for a Freelance".
The anthology's contents are also reprinted in the volume Burning Your Boats, which features all of Carter's short fiction.