The Passion of New Eve
A dystopian satire of gender and power.
Angela Carter’s novel *The Passion of New Eve* was published in 1977. It takes place in a dystopian United States fractured by civil war among groups divided by politics, race, and gender. The book is a dark satire that mocks simplistic ideas about gender, sexual difference, and identity, viewed through a post-feminist lens. It also explores sadomasochism and the dynamics of power. Carter herself called the work a feminist black comedy.
Carter started writing the novel in January 1972, drawing partly on the Greek myth of Tiresias, who was transformed into a woman as punishment from the goddess Hera. The original title was *The Great Hermaphrodite*, and the story was initially set in ancient Rome; Carter later relocated it to a post-apocalyptic United States.
The plot follows Evelyn, a male English professor who moves to New York for a new university job. On his last night in England, he takes a girl to see a film starring Tristessa de St Ange, a fictional silent movie star, and the girl performs fellatio on him as a tribute. He arrives in a decaying, rat-infested New York, where human emotions have been stripped to their rawest. His job falls through when the university is taken over by a militant black rebel group, leaving him destitute. He befriends a Czech alchemist neighbor, Baroslav, who is soon killed by a gang. Evelyn then meets Leilah, an African-American nightclub dancer, and becomes obsessed with her. He follows her home, moves in, and has a brief, abusive sexual relationship, seeing her only as a sexual object. After impregnating Leilah, he abandons her to a voodoo abortionist; the procedure goes wrong, and Leilah ends up in the hospital. Evelyn plans to pay only part of her bill, but Leilah covers the rest by selling her fur coats. After withdrawing the money, Evelyn is mugged but escapes with the cash still taped under his genitals. He sends Leilah red roses, then rents a bulletproof car and drives into the desert.
In the desert, Evelyn is captured by a woman from the subterranean female city of Beulah and brought before Mother, a mother goddess who has surgically altered her own body. Mother operates on Evelyn, removing his genitals and implanting a vagina, ovaries, and breast implants, planning to impregnate him with a new Messiah using his own sperm. The transformation is complete, and from then on the character is referred to as Eve. Eve
- author
- Angela Carter
- published
- 1977
- genre
- Novel
- setting
- Dystopian United States
- themes
- Gender, sexual difference, identity, sadomasochism, power
- perspective
- Post-feminist, feminist black comedy
Lore & Background
Carter began work on The Passion of New Eve in January 1972, inspired in part by the Greek myth of Tiresias, who was turned into a woman as a punishment from the goddess Hera. Originally, the book had the title The Great Hermaphrodite and was set in ancient Rome; she later moved the setting to a post-apocalyptic United States. The plot follows Evelyn, a male English professor who arrives in a dystopian New York, becomes destitute, and has a destructive relationship with Leilah, an African-American night club dancer. After impregnating and abandoning her, he is captured by a female cult and surgically transformed into a woman named Eve by a mother goddess figure. Eve then endures rape and enslavement by a cruel cult leader named Zero, who obsessively hunts the silent film star Tristessa. The discovery that Tristessa is male leads to a forced marriage and rape, after which Eve and Tristessa escape, fall in love, and Tristessa is killed by soldiers. Eve later encounters Leilah as the rebel leader Lilith, undergoes a symbolic rebirth, and sails away, pregnant.
Reader's Guide
The Passion of New Eve is significant as a dark satire that parodies primitive notions of gender, sexual difference, and identity from a post-feminist perspective. Angela Carter described the book as feminist black comedy, and it explores themes of sadomasochism and the politics of power. The novel's transformation of its male protagonist into a woman, inspired by the myth of Tiresias, challenges essentialist views of gender and sexuality. Its dystopian setting, marked by civil war and societal collapse, serves as a backdrop for examining the construction of identity and the violence inherent in patriarchal structures. The book's legacy lies in its radical, often unsettling, interrogation of gender roles and its influence on feminist and postmodern literature. Critics and scholars have analyzed its use of myth, its critique of Hollywood and cinematic ideals of femininity, and its complex portrayal of power dynamics.
Did You Know?
- The novel was originally titled The Great Hermaphrodite and set in ancient Rome before being moved to a post-apocalyptic United States.
- The book was inspired by the Greek myth of Tiresias, who was turned into a woman as a punishment from the goddess Hera.
- The protagonist Evelyn is surgically transformed into a woman by a mother goddess figure named Mother.
- The character Tristessa, a silent film star, is discovered to be male during the story.
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