‘Wise Children’ is a comedy. How does Carter avoid tragedy?

Question

Anyone have any ideas? the novel Wise Children by Angela Carter.

Answer 1

Hey Vera,

Check this out, Eve Tushnet has an idea why, and it sound like a good one.

And Carter realized this, too. " Wise Children "'s title is taken from the wry adage, "It's a wise child that knows his own father"--paternal parentage is often clouded in a way that maternity is not. " Wise Children " is in large part a novel about "illegitimacy," about how children respond to the knowledge that their father did not care to make a family with their mother (and with them). Carter plays this scenario as a comedy, and the novel is sweet and fun as far as it goes; but its vivacious swing seems out of place in a world where the lack of fathers and father roles usually brings tragedy.