Tales of Bluebeard and His Wives from Late Antiquity to Postmodern Times

Shuli Barzilai is Professor of English at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

• List of Figures Acknowledgments 1. The Snake-Charmer’s Wife in Genesis Rabbah, or Bluebeard Begins 2. Charles Dickens and Captain Murderer 3. Mr. Thackeray’s Closet 4. Miss Thackeray’s Uses of Enchantment 5. The Infernal Desire Machines in Anne Thackeray Ritchie’s Bluebeard’s Keys and Angela Carter’s "The Bloody Chamber" 6. The Bluebeard Syndrome in Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle: Fear and Femininity7. The Party Consciousness: When Texts Get Together in Margaret Atwood’s "Bluebeard’s Egg" NotesBibliography Index

"This is a subtle and multi-threaded book that will prove interesting to a wide variety of readers…Barzilai’s sophisticated approach combines intertextual readings with an extratextual viewpoint that explores the interplay between stories using the Bluebeard theme and the story author’s lives." --Francisco Vas da Silva, Marvels & Tales