A.S. Byatt's Critical Ideas And Her Novel Possession

A.S. Byatt (1936 - ) is not only a renowned English writer best known for her novels and short stories but also well acclaimed for her work on literary criticism. Commonly acknowledged is her importance as one of the most outstanding postmodernism authors. Her masterpiece is the novel Possession (1990) - a phenomenal commercial success which won the Booker Prize in the same year. As a result, Possession became the object of many studies. However, one perspective was seriously neglected in these volumes: the relationship between Byatt's critical ideas and her famous novel and how these ideas are reflected in her writing. This thesis, therefore, intends to embark upon the exploration of this relationship and offers a fresh analysis of the book from the author's own view to literature.The emphasis in this analysis is on three subjects which Byatt very often approached in her works but never as poignant than in Possession: feminism, the nature of fiction and the overrating of literary theories. It is their manifestation in Possession which the thesis attempts to identify and examine and by doing this to open up a new dimension in the discussion of Possession.This thesis is composed of four chapters. The first chapter serves as an introduction, which includes the life and work of A.S. Byatt. It also looks into critical responses to Possession abroad and in China and into the theoretical approach and organization of this thesis. The second chapter draws a brief sketch on Byatt's critical ideas on feminism– definition and development of feminism and her ambivalent response to it. Besides that, her main thematic matters such as the overrating of literary theories and the nature of fiction is also described. The analytical part of this thesis can be found in Chapter Three. This chapter presents the framework of romance in Possession and has a close look at the characters who reflect Byatt's critical ideas. This thesis closes with the last chapter"Conclusion", summarizing and reviewing the major points discussed in this thesis.The significance of Byatt's work lies in the fact that it is an appeal to literary scholars to be aware of the overrating of literary theories which Byatt stand up against. This thesis attempts to make this appeal better known to literary scholars in China.