In the novel Wise Children, written by Angela Carter, there are several interesting literary devices and postmodern

characteristics that are worth mentioning. One of the most common features of postmodern literature is the active role of the reader. Intertextuality taken to extremes as well as the blurring of boundaries between fact and fiction contribute to this fact. When there are blurred borders, the reader usually gets puzzled and has to think deeply to establish associations between ideas. For example on page 157 and 158 fact and fiction seem to mingle when Dora talks about one of the actors in the play, she refers to him as Puck (his role in the play).That is to say that she is using a fictional name to refer to a real person in the fiction of the novel. Another example is on page 158 when Dora says: There I was, one of the crowd, among the fairies, goblins, spirits ... In this case, there is also a mixture of real life and the stage. As regards intertextuality, there are many instances of this literary feature, which is also very common in postmodern works. On page 157 there is a case of intertextuality because right in the middle of the narration there is a verse of the song Its only a paper moon by Ella Fitzgerald:
The swing band was pizzicatoing away and Puck was vocalizing with them, in that high soprano that made you think you'd died and gone to heaven: lt's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn't be make-believe, if you'd believe in me.... A brisk wind made the stiff twigs rattle yet I doubt that wind I...

Another characteristic of postmodern literature is the presence of an unreliable narrator. An example of this is when Dora, who is narrating, says: There I go again! Can't keep a story going in a straight h can I? Drunk in charge of a narrative (Page 158). And when she adds: It was a strange night,
that night and stranger still because I ill ways misremember. It never seems the same, twice, each time that I remember it. I distort. Remember, though I was (Page 157). In this last example, the literary device

the author uses is the repetition of the word remember accompanied by the word misremember which helps to highlight the fact that the narrator may not be remembering well. Another instance of repetition is when the word wood is repeated several times. The author is also playing with words because she uses the word Hollywood and compares it to the wood in the stage of the play:
And I no longer remember that set as a set but as a real wood ( ... ) but looking as if it were unreal *fl| painted, and the bewildering moonlight spilled like milk in il*l wood, as if Hollywood were the name of the enchanted foi where you lose yourself and find yourself, again; the wood tit changes you; the wood where you go mad; the wood wher shadows live longer than you do. (Page 158)

In the same passage, there is also a simile that is used to create an image for the reader:
the bewildering moonlight spilled like milk Another literary device used in the novel is that the

narrator addresses the reader in order to create an intimate atmosphere with the reader and to engage the audience in the narration: Where was I? (Page 158). Angela Carters use of Magic Realism creates a sense of incredulity in the reader. For instance on page 157 it says: the tin roof ...seemed to have cracked open and disappeared, somehow,... With this unbelievable exaggeration, the author is pushing the boundaries of what is
possible so that a reader has to suspend his disbelief to follow the novel.

It was a strange night, that night, and stranger still because I always misremember. It never seems the same, twice, each time that I remember it. I distort. Remember, though I was on my feet and compos mentis, I was still half tight, if not more so; everything seemed disembodied, distant, peculiar. The tin roof over 1 mi heads seemed to have cracked open and disappeared, somehow, because there was real, black sky above us, although the J Crescent moon was made of painted plywood and swung backwards and forwards with Puck perched on it, looking perky. The [ iwing band was pizzicatoing away and Puck was vocalising with I hem, in that high soprano that made you think you'd died and \ Knnc to heaven:

lt's only a paper moon, sailing over a cardboard sea. But it wouldn't be make-believe, if you'd believe in me .. .' A brisk wind made the stiff twigs rattle yet I doubt that wind I Ciime from a machine because it blew all the sweet wet dewiness I i)i the California night through the set. And I no longer remember that set as a set but as a real wood, iltingerous, uncomfortable, with real, steel spines on the conkers and thorns on the bushes, but looking as if it were unreal *fl| painted, and the bewildering moonlight spilled like milk in il*l wood, as if Hollywood were the name of the enchanted foi where you lose yourself and find yourself, again; the wood tit changes you; the wood where you go mad; the wood wher shadows live longer than you do. These days, half a century and more later, I might think I ill not live but dreamed that night, if it wasn't for the photos, s< This one of Bottom, being hugged by There I go again! Can't keep a story going in a straight h can I? Drunk in charge of a narrative. Where was I?