A Postmodern Feminist Interpretation Of A.S.Byatt's Quartet

This thesis focuses on A.S.Byatt's female bilungsroman quartet which consists of The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman. It makes use of postmodern feminism to research on how intellectual women establish female identity and female image in the men-dominated society. The quartet revolves around the protagonist Frederica, chronicling her maiden life, Cambridge study, marriage life, being single mother and a successful career woman. Other major female characters are also portrayed to present the living condition of intellectual women in the 1950s and 1960s of Britain. Women are often the writing target in Byatt's works, so in this thesis postmodern feminism is selected as the guidance to describe how women take advantage of their brain to turn over the traditional oppression from their fathers, husbands and even sons until they successfully establish a newly-built female image that can both be seen and heard. At the same time, Byatt's female consciousness is illustrated as well, such as her doubt about marriage and sisterhood, revelation of significance of knowledge to women's life and the symbolic meanings of open ending to women's fates. Moreover, the thesis demonstrates Byatt's reflection on how to coordinate the contradiction between women's imaginary world in their mind and the reality. It also illustrates Byatt's concern about how women can achieve their strong desire of obtaining happy marriage, successful career and satisfactory family at the same time.