An Analysis Of A.S. Byatt's Narrative Techniques In Possession And The Virgin In The Garden From The Perspective Of French Postmodern Feminism

A. S. Byatt, one of the prominent contemporary English women writers, pays great attention to women's issues and cares about women's destiny. After a thorough and minute research of Byatt's narrative strategies, this paper is concentrating on her narrative techniques of the two novels, Possession:A Romance and The Virgin in the Garden, under the guidance of French postmodern feminist literary theory.This paper consists of six chapters as a whole. Chapter I is a brief introduction of Byatt, the two titular novels, three narrative techniques, and the background information of the researches in abroad and in China. In Chapter II, the French postmodern feminism would be amply introduced. Some of the theories are in line with Byatt's three narrative skills in these two novels, correspondingly, the retracement of traditional female images, the parody of the old myth and fairy tales, multiple narrative perspectives and nonlinear narration. By employing the theories of French postmodern feminists, the three narrative techniques are going to be discussed in detail in Chapter III, Chapter IV, and Chapter V respectively. In Chapter III, the traditional female images would be introduced. Byatt frequently and recurrently retraces some traditional female images, chiefly the color images and the enclosure images, in order to unfold the marginalization of female's existence. In Chapter IV, the feminist connotation of Byatt's parody of old myths and fairy tales is presented. Byatt parodies the old materials, which are always narrated in male's perspective, into new stories from female's angle, which would reconstruct feminine narration. In Chapter V, Byatt employs multiple female narrative perspectives in Possession, and nonlinear feminine narration in both of the two novels instead of the unitary and linear traditional male narration. This female narration endows women with the rights of feminine discourse to accomplish women's literary creation.Finally, the paper naturally reaches the conclusion. Through the analysis of three narrative techniques in Byatt's two novels, the paper intends to demonstrate her feminist tendency, disclose her challenge to and subversion of the traditional male narration, and express her·longing for "feminine writing"...