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  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Possessed by desire: A.S. Byatt's Possession and its location in postmodernism

Arthur, Susan Margaret 09 March 2009 (has links)
ABSTRACT This research report explores A. S Byatt’s ambivalent relationship to postmodernism through a critical engagement with two of her recent novels, Possession and The Biographer’s Tale. Both use the techniques, while simultaneously constituting a critique, of postmodernism. The novels challenge postmodernism, indicating Byatt’s misgivings about the continuing suitability of this mode of literary representation. Possession is examined in detail, while The Biographer’s Tale is used to provide a backdrop to the discussion of Byatt’s viewpoints. Possession is a pastiche of styles, incorporating some of Byatt’s favourite literary forms. Postmodernism allows this experimentation but disregards qualities the author values highly, such as a celebration of traditional literature and the emotional affectiveness of history. Possession considers the positive and negative aspects of the literary movement. This thesis examines Byatt’s negotiation with postmodernism and the contribution of her critical attitude towards the success of Possession.
2

"The Sibyl was safe in her jar, no one could touch her, she wanted to die" : Possessing Culture and Passion in A.S. Byatt's Possession

Jackson, Maria January 2017 (has links)
The purpose of the essay is to discuss the power narration has over our gender roles. John Fiske and Pierre Bourdieu´s theoretical texts have been used to discuss the connection between power and culture in A.S. Byatt’s novel Possession: A Romance. Possession demonstrates how male academics take part in shaping knowledge about the past and the present from their perspective. Byatt uses allusions to myth and folktales to emphasise both the romance theme of the novel and how the past has formed us and continues to affect us in our relationships and social roles. The novel reveals how women are trapped by cultural myths about women’s roles in society. The female characters’ fates demonstrate the complexity of heterosexual relationships for independent women in a society where women are supposed to be taken care of by men. The roles imposed on women in romance stories in particular can be seen as a reductionist patriarchal view of women. Byatt emphasizes how women who at varying levels do not collaborate with men are punished for their chosen lifestyles and how some, like homosexual women, have been removed or have chosen to remove themselves from society in different ways. Byatt attempts to demythologize social myths concerning women and men by rewriting traditional myths and fairy tales. Still, Possession does not ultimately challenge the importance of the heterosexual relationship or the male and female characters’ gender roles.
3

Palimpsestic writing and crossing textual boundaries in selected novels by A.S. Byatt / Therina van der Westhuizen

Van der Westhuizen, Therina January 2014 (has links)
This dissertation examines three novels by the author and critic A.S. Byatt, namely Possession (1990), Babel Tower (1996) and The Biographer’s Tale (2000), using a hermeneutic method of analysis. The investigation pays specific attention to the structure of the novels and how this compares to the structure of the ancient palimpsest. Theoretical information on the palimpsest as model is based on relevant writings by Thomas Carlyle (1830, 1833), Thomas De Quincey (1845) through to Josephine McDonagh (1987), Gérard Genette (1997) and Sarah Dillon (2007). The ensuing argument is that Byatt’s use of postmodernist pseudo-intertextuality and intertextuality cause her novels to have a palimpsestic structure of various layers, with the effect that textual boundaries are transgressed. Ultimately Byatt’s writing strategies result in ontological uncertainty for the reader. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014.
4

Palimpsestic writing and crossing textual boundaries in selected novels by A.S. Byatt / Therina van der Westhuizen

Van der Westhuizen, Therina January 2014 (has links)
This dissertation examines three novels by the author and critic A.S. Byatt, namely Possession (1990), Babel Tower (1996) and The Biographer’s Tale (2000), using a hermeneutic method of analysis. The investigation pays specific attention to the structure of the novels and how this compares to the structure of the ancient palimpsest. Theoretical information on the palimpsest as model is based on relevant writings by Thomas Carlyle (1830, 1833), Thomas De Quincey (1845) through to Josephine McDonagh (1987), Gérard Genette (1997) and Sarah Dillon (2007). The ensuing argument is that Byatt’s use of postmodernist pseudo-intertextuality and intertextuality cause her novels to have a palimpsestic structure of various layers, with the effect that textual boundaries are transgressed. Ultimately Byatt’s writing strategies result in ontological uncertainty for the reader. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014.

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