Black Venus by Angela Carter

First published: 1980

Type of plot: Fantasy

Time of work: The mid-nineteenth century

Locale: Paris

Principal Characters:

  • Daddy (Charles Baudelaire), a French poet
  • Jeanne Duval, his black mistress

The Story

On an autumn afternoon, a tall, young black woman named Jeanne entertains her lover, Daddy. They are in a Parisian apartment furnished with Persian carpets and rare books. She is sad. Daddy tries to cheer her up with his fantasy about life on the tropical island where he will take her one day; however, she does not want to think about the West Indies and the old slave trade. She lights a small cigar with a discarded page of Daddy's writing and drinks rum. When he asks her to dance a slow dance that he has created for her, she strikes poses calculated to show her otherness. After they make love, they go out into the city, transformed.