Possession by A.S Byatt

The year 1990 saw the publication of A.S Byatt’s Possession-A Romance. Composed during a time where the dominant discourse in literature, academia, architecture and ideology was consumed by postmodernism. Byatt conscious of the movement has effectively created a text that incorporates post-modern elements, through the use of bricolage, pastiche and a strong sense of self-reflexivity in a fragmented plot with a hybrid of genres. As well as reflecting postmodernism, Byatt challenges the movement through constructing a 19th Century Victorian love story with a conclusive ending and linear storyline.

Postmodernism was a movement, perhaps reaching its pinnacle during the 1980’s and 90’s by challenging ‘traditionalist’ conventions in religion, art, music and most notably literature. All were disregarded or challenged by a ‘new’ dominant way of thinking and interpreting. Byatt has successfully been able to incorporate postmodern ideals through a text that is highly self-reflective in its narrative.

The self-reflexivity used by Byatt is prominent throughout most of the novel,

where the responder is forced to focus on his/her role within the text rather than a preconceived idea formulated by Byatt. Where parts of the text are ‘missing’ or open to interpretation, as a result of textual fragmentation, Byatt consciously and subtly self-reflects to portray her thoughts, through the characters of Maud and Roland.

Parody is another way Byatt challenges the dominant way of thinking. According to post modernism parody has become extinct and has been replaced by ‘Black Parody’.

Some topics in this essay:
Maud Roland, Moulin Rouge, Century Victorian, Ash LaMotte, Romance Composed, Overall Possession, Seven Gables, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Gale Weathers, Sidney Prescott, maud roland, dominant thinking, moulin rouge, challenges postmodernism, byatt challenges, absolute truths, highly self-reflective, ash lamotte, relationship ash lamotte, postmodernism byatt, clean empty, highly self-reflective narrative, challenges dominant thinking,