Revisiting History & Questioning Reality

A.S.Byatt, as one of the prominent English women writers, has received thunderous applauses for her masterpiece Possession, which won the Booker prize in 1990, and other series of novels in the global literary arena. In this thesis, a research has been conducted on A.S.Byatt's Possession and The Virgin in the Garden based on the theory of the historiographic metafiction by use of parody (one of the typical postmodern techniques) and juxtaposition of different historical contexts so as to disclose A.S.Byatt's experimental writing technique and profound concern for feminine history and women's conflicts in the struggling of love and marriage,faith and reality. From this perspective this thesis will elaborate on the following parts to illustrate this viewpoint:Firstly, the thesis will bring in a brief introduction to the historiographic metafiction, its application in Possession and The Virgin in the Garden, and its theoretical meaning and research value. Secondly, the parody technique, by use of images of Glass Coffin, Melusina, and the Garden in Possession and The Virgin in the Garden, will be laid special stress as the typical postmodern technique employed in historiographic metafiction. Through the continuous change of meanings in archetypes and the cultural implications of these images, A.S.Byatt's exploration of woman's tragic fate and query of the dominant narrative voice will get fully demonstrated. Thirdly, the unique employment of the numerous insertion of historiographic personages and juxtaposition of different historical contexts(Elizabeth I→Queen Victoria→ElizabethⅡ) confers Byatt the opportunity to shape sharp contrast with heroines' past and present social status and ideology so as to manifest the gradual but constant awaking of women's consciousness in the pursuit of individual independency.In conclusion, while reiterating the creative experimental writing techniques Byatt employs in Possession and The Virgin in the Garden, this thesis speaks high of A.S.Byatt's strong support of woman's independency in the man-dominated society and the awakening of individuality in transition of historical context so as to disclose her unique reflection on the future of women, which the significance of the thesis lies in.