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UBC Theses and Dissertations
Reading Widdershins: a study of romance and A.S. Byatt’s Possession: a romance Kirkness, Catherine Jane
Abstract
In this study I consider A. S. Byatt’s Possession: a Romance as both an example of and a commentary on its genre. In the first chapter, I explore some reviews of Byatt’s romance, with an emphasis on critical approaches to the book’s genre, and introduce the critical material, including studies of fairy tales, which informs my discussion of romance. In Chapter 2, I analyse the assertion that “Romance is a proper form for women” (Possession 404) and suggest that the form of romance may promote new kinds of social organization by liberating the imagination of writers and readers alike. I build on the theme of romance as a subversive genre in Chapter 3 with a discussion of animal transformation and a comparison of Byatt’ s version of “The Glass Coffm” with Grimm’s more traditional version of the same tale. Chapter 4 includes a discussion of different styles of reading; I concentrate on the relationship between curiosity and faith in Possession in order to suggest some of the implications of this relationship for readers and critics of romance.
Item Metadata
| Title |
Reading Widdershins: a study of romance and A.S. Byatt’s Possession: a romance
|
| Creator | |
| Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
| Date Issued |
1994
|
| Description |
In this study I consider A. S. Byatt’s Possession: a Romance as both an example of
and a commentary on its genre. In the first chapter, I explore some reviews of Byatt’s
romance, with an emphasis on critical approaches to the book’s genre, and introduce the critical
material, including studies of fairy tales, which informs my discussion of romance. In Chapter
2, I analyse the assertion that “Romance is a proper form for women” (Possession 404) and
suggest that the form of romance may promote new kinds of social organization by liberating
the imagination of writers and readers alike. I build on the theme of romance as a subversive
genre in Chapter 3 with a discussion of animal transformation and a comparison of Byatt’ s
version of “The Glass Coffm” with Grimm’s more traditional version of the same tale. Chapter
4 includes a discussion of different styles of reading; I concentrate on the relationship between
curiosity and faith in Possession in order to suggest some of the implications of this
relationship for readers and critics of romance.
|
| Extent |
1582753 bytes
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| Genre | |
| Type | |
| File Format |
application/pdf
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| Language |
eng
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| Date Available |
2009-02-24
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| Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
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| Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
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| DOI |
10.14288/1.0087433
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| URI | |
| Degree | |
| Program | |
| Affiliation | |
| Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
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| Graduation Date |
1994-05
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| Campus | |
| Scholarly Level |
Graduate
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| Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.