A Feminist Reading Of A.S.Byatt's Possession

A. S. Byatt (1936—) is one of the most famous and intellectual contemporary British women novelists. Her novel Possession, published in 1990, aroused quite a stir in English world and won the highest prize of British literature—Booker Prize. In this novel, Byatt figures many literary and academic female characters of Victorian Age and modern society as well as some goddess and fairies in the tales under the name of Victorian poetess LaMotte, an imaginary character in Possession. This thesis, in light of feminist critical theory,is to analyze the existential state of women characters in different historical periods and the feminist connotation in the tales in Possession, and thus has a better understanding of A. S. Byatt's writing purpose and her unique and insightful thinking about female, love and marriage.The thesis consists of five parts. The introduction presents a literature review on Possession as well as the related literary theory. Of the criticism, few people are concerned with a thorough and detailed analysis of the novel from the feminist perspective, because critics mainly pay their attention to its archetypes and narrative strategies which are obvious to us. This part also makes clear the writing purpose and perspective of the thesis.Chapter one offers a presentation of A.S.Byatt's life and literary experiences and a brief survey of Possession. She was a teacher of London College in 1960s and resigned from the college to whole-hearted literary creation in 1983. Because of her familiarity with the literary and academic circle she lives in, many of her novels are concerned with literary and academic activities and the characters are usually intellectuals. Byatt pays much attention to women's life as a female writer. She shows brilliant feminist consciousness in her creation and figures a series of women with unique characters. Possession is her most famous and representative work that centers on the literary and academic female characters. So, a feminist reading of Byatt's Possession is of great importance. Chapter Two, a mainstay of this thesis, exposes the existential state of Victorian and modern female characters in Possession and then reveals Byatt's unique feminist views. The existential state of these women characters is analyzed from four aspects: their once lost voice, their frozen living environment, their relationship with men and their relationship with other women. Victorian women characters were marginalized in patriarchal society and had no verbal power. But a hundred years later, female voice is ventilated and listened by the pubic. The contemporary female scholars also get their verbal power in their research of Victorian predecessors. All female characters in the novel live in a harsh environment. But the frozen living state is women's self-defence strategy to maintain their lives. Just as Byatt says that preserving solitude and distance, staying cold and frozen, may, for women as well as artists, be a way of preserving life. Through the relationship between Ash and LaMotte, the relationship between Ash and Ellen and the relationship between Roland and Maud, we can obtain some of Byatt's views on love and marriage. In Byatt's opinion, independence and autonomy is the basis for women to go on with their career. Byatt believes that sexuality and possessive love are obstacles to women's success in career. The experimental life of LaMotte and Blanche reflects that it is a good way for women to keep their autonomy and independence. The"friendship"between modern scholars Maud and Leonora indicates that the emotional trust and admiration can bring women consolation in male-centered society and it also demonstrates Byatt's disapproval of sexual relationship among women.Chapter Three is concerned with the feminist connotation in the tales in Possession. Byatt presents a vivid and lifelike picture of the primitive period and constructs a fantastic and mysterious world of fairy tales. These mythic stories and fairy tales are retold from the perspective of women and totally change the long-existing male-centered narration. Through the image of fairy Melusina, Byatt expresses her view on female. She glorifies female figures and stresses on female power. Besides, she makes her female community the leading figures of the story and academic research, which is just like the female alliance"comes to the surface"(Possession, 148) in the Dahud mythology. It indicates that Byatt's ideal society is a place where women and men can coexist, but women play the leading role in her ideal society.Conclusion part restates the feminist connotation of the novel. The thesis explores the female characters'marginal position in patriarchal society, their existential state and their struggle for autonomy and independence. Through analyzing these female characters, we can obtain some of Byatt's feminist views, which is helpful for readers to understand Possession better and attaches some importance for Byatt's other works research and Byatt's feminist views research.