Lecture 11 A. S. Byatt

nullLecture FifteenLecture FifteenA. S. Byatt （1936－）nullContentsContentsLifeWorks1.Possession 2.Rose-Coloured TeacupsnullLife & Careernull Dame Antonia Susan Duffy, DBE, known as A. S. Byatt. was born on August 24, 1936 in Sheffield, England to John Frederick Drabble, a judge, and Kathleen Marie (Bloor) Drabble,a scholar of Browning.Life and Careernullan English novelist, poet and Booker Prize winner Sister to novelist Margaret Drabble and art historian Helen Langdon She describes herself as "a naturally pessimistic animal": "I don't believe that human beings are basically good, so I think all utopian movements are doomed to fail, but I am interested in them."nullMargaret Drabble（1939-） （玛格丽特· 德拉布尔） A. S. Byatt（1936-） （A. S. 拜厄特） nullByatt has been engaged in a feud with her novelist sister Margaret Drabble, since learning that Drabble wrote about their family's tea set, a tea set which Byatt had intended to write about herself. The two sisters have also disagreed about the appropriate portrayal of their mother. The pair seldom see each other and don't read each other's books.Feud with sister EducationEducationMiddle school: Sheffield High School and the Quaker Mount School “I am not a Quaker, of course, because I'm anti-Christian and the Quakers are a form of Christianity but their religion is wonderful – you simply sat in silence and listened to the nature of things.”——“Writing in terms of pleasure” Interview by Sam Leith , The Guardian, 25 April 2009nullUniversity: Newnham College, Cambridge; 1957 Bachelor's Degree Bryn Mawr in the United States; (1957-58) Somerville College, Oxford.(1958-59)null←Newnham College, Cambridge Sheffield High School, South Yorkshire →nullUniversity College Londonnull Marriage: ＊In 1959 first marriage to Ian Byatt (later Sir Ian Byatt) had a daughter, as well as a son who was killed in a car accident at the age of 11. The marriage was dissolved in 1969. She has two daughters with her second husband Peter John Duffy.null＊ From 1972 - 1983 lectured in the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and at University College London ＊From 1964 - present created famous novels and won important prizes null＊ Byatt has been influenced by Henry James and George Eliot as well as Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, and Robert Browning, in merging realism and naturalism with fantasy.Works （Novels）Works （Novels）1. The Shadow of the Sun (1964)《太阳的影子》 2. The Game (1967)《游戏》 3. The Virgin in the Garden 1978 4. Still Life (1985)《寂寞的生活》 5. Possession：A Romance (1990)《占有》/《隐之》It won the Man Booker Prize in 1990 and was made into a film in 2002. 6. Angels & Insects (1992)《天使与昆虫》 7. Bable Tower (1996) 《通天塔》null8. The Biographer's Tale （2000） 9. Portraits in Fiction （2001） 10. The Bird Hand Book（2001） 11. A Whistling Woman (2002) 《吹笛女人》 12. Little Black Book of Stories （2003） 13. The Children's Book （2009）《儿童书》 was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize，and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize 14. Ragnarok: The End of the Gods （2011）nullShort Stories: The Matisse Stories, 1993《马蒂斯的故事》 The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, 1994 《巨灵-夜莺的眼睛》 Sugar and Other Stories, 1987《糖与其他故事》 Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice, 1998《元素之：火与冰的故事》 Little Black Book of Stories, 2003 《黑色小书故事》 Rose-coloured Teacupsnull The Virgin in the Garden, 1978 Still Life: A Novel, 1985 Bable Tower, 1996 The Whistling Woman, 2002Female Quartet 女性成长小说四部曲.Her quartet of novels is inspired by D. H. Lawrence, particularly The Rainbow and Women in Love.nullCriticism： Degrees of Freedom: the Novels of Iris Murdoch, 1965 · Unruly Times: Wordsworth and Coleridge · Imagining Characters: Conversations about women writers : Jane Austen, Charlotte Bront, George Eliot, Willa Cather, Iris Murdoch, and Toni Morrison(with Ignês Sodré), 1997 · On Histories and Stories: Selected Essays, 2000 · Portraits in FictionWorksnull Literary Achievements 1986, PEN/Macmillan Silver Pen Award, Still Life国际笔会/麦克米兰银笔奖， 1990, Booker prize (In 2008, The Times newspaper named her on their list of The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.) 1999, Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) 2002, Shakespeare Prize (Germany)莎士比亚奖（德国) 2008,The Times newspaper named her on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. 2009, Booker Prize for Fiction, The Children's Book, shortlist小说，儿童图书，入围布克奖 2010, James Tait Black Memorial Prize, The Children's Book詹姆斯Tait黑纪念奖，儿童图书 null大英帝国最优秀勋章（Most Excellent Order of the British Empire/Order of the British Empire）是英国授勋及嘉奖中的一种骑士勋章，由英王乔治五世于1917年6月4日所创立。勋章分民事和军事两类，共设5种级别，分别为 爵级大十字勋章 （Knight/Dame Grand Cross，男女皆简称“GBE”） 爵级司令勋章 （Knight/Dame Commander，男性简称“KBE”，女性简称“DBE”） 司令勋章 （Commander，简称“CBE”） 官佐勋章 （Officer，简称“OBE”） 员佐勋章 （Member，简称“MBE”） nullWritten in 1990Won the Booker Prize in 1990Regarded as one of the 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005 by TimenullRandolph Henry AshChristabel LaMotteRoland Michell Maud Bailey parallels the emerging relationship of two contemporary academics with the past of two (fictional) Victorian poets into whom they are researching.Victorian PoetsModern Scholarsnull Ash LaMotte Roland MaudnullRoland Mitchell is a scholar specialized in studying the life and works of the Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash. Dr. Maud Bailey, a modern LaMotte scholar and distant relative of LaMotte's family, who is drawn into helping Roland with unfolding mystery. Randolph Henry Ash is the eminent Victorian poet . Christabel LaMotte is a minor poetess and a contemporary of Ash .Main Charactersnull Roland Mitchell opens a book that had belonged to Ash and, to his surprise, he finds some discarded rough drafts of a letter Ash had tried to write to an unknown lady. The barely restrained passion in the words makes Roland really curious about whatever had happened next. Was the letter ever completed and sent? Who was the mysterious lady? All the unanswered questions make Roland turn into a sort of detective, trying to trace a story that happened more than 100 years ago. Plotnull His deductions lead him to the letter’s intended recipient, a minor poet of the day called Christabel LaMotte, and through her to Maud Bailey, also a scholar, specialized in Christabel’s life and works. As time passes both Roland and Maud develop a minor obsession for knowing the outcome, the ending of the story — but they also develop a love story of their own.Plotnull Ash's marriage was barren and unconsummated, although he loved and remained devoted to his wife. He and LaMotte had a short, passionate affair resulting in the suicide of LaMotte's companion (and possibly lover) and the secret birth of an illegitimate child, whose existence LaMotte sought to conceal from Ash, but whom he did once meet, unknown to her. As the Great Storm of 1987 strikes England, all the interesting parties come together in a dramatic scene at Ash's grave, where documents buried with Ash by his wife are believed to hold the final key to the mystery. nullReading them, Maud learns that rather than being related to LaMotte's sister, as she has always believed, she is in fact directly descended from LaMotte and Ash's illegitimate daughter, who was raised by LaMotte's sister and passed off as her own child. Maud, who has spent her adult life confused and emotionally untouchable, finds her human side and sees possible future happiness with Roland. And the sad story of Ash and LaMotte, separated by the mores of the day and condemned to secrecy and separation, is resolved at last through Roland and Maud.nullI shall never forget our shining progress, Towards one another. Never have I felt such a concentration of my entire being. 我无法忘怀 我们走向彼此的那一刻 此生从未感觉如此专注I cannot let you burn me up, Nor can I resist you. No mere human can stand in a fire And not be withered. 　　 我不能让你将我烧尽 但我也无法抗拒你 没有任何人 能立于火中而不消亡nullAnd I took your hand Mine rested in yours With trust and belief 我执起你的手， 我的手在你的手中， 有着相信和信赖。null These things are there. The garden and the tree The serpent at its root, the fruit of gold The woman in the shadow of the boughs The running water and the grassy space. They are and were there. At the old world's rim, In the Hesperidean grove, the fruit Glowed golden on eternal boughs, and there The dragon Ladon crisped his jewelled crest Scraped a gold claw and sharped a silver tooth And dozed and waited through eternity Until the tricksy hero, Herakles, Came to his dispossession and the theft. --RANDOLPH HENRY ASH from The Garden of Proserpina, 1861 nullConclusion All people in the novel want to be possessor, but actually, there is no absolute possessor in the world, when you are possessing others, meanwhile, you are possessed by others. Writing technique---EpigraphWriting technique---Epigraph An epigraph is a phrase, quotation, or poem that is set at the beginning of a document or component. The epigraph may serve as a preface, as a summary, as a counter- example, or to link the work to a wider literary canon, either to invite comparison or to enlist a conventional context.Awards and nominationsAwards and nominations1990 Booker Prize. The Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe 1990 Irish Times-Aerlingus International Fiction Prize.Watershed of Byatt's writing career Theme Theme Individual identity Feminism Sexuality null An identity etched out only with enormous effort and determination is a major theme of this novel. The title itself brings out the first questions of identity-Possession. Who possesses whom? Does he possess her, or does she possess him? Are they owning and possessing their literary history, or does it possess them?Individual identity null In the book，individual identity is ambiguous . Many times, the reader cannot tell one couple from the other-who is reading Ash's poetry, kissing, running away on a honeymoon of sorts, and making love? Is it Roland and Maud, or is she suddenly writing about Christabel and Ash again? Throughout the book, Byatt often makes these switches in characters between scenes without telling the reader. The effect is that the narrative is essentially no different for each couple living in different time periods. Individual identity null The same love story that defines Christabel and Ash in the 1860's also describes Roland and Maud in the 1980's. In Victorian tradition, it was the man who owned the woman, his wife. Yet in this modern Victorian work, that becomes twisted. When Ash attempts to claim Christabel by holding her and making love with her, the act of possession is switched around. He is trying figuratively to grasp her, and she was liquid moving through his grasping fingers, as though she was waves of the sea rising all round him.Individual identity null He tries to take her all in, to know her, but her womanhood eludes him, as personality always will. Byatt's message seems to be that a personality cannot be taken or possessed by someone else, that individuality always remains, even in Victorian situations of female oppression and domination by males. Individual identity nullFeminism Feminism is an important aspect in each time period of the novel, especially for female writers. In the novel, Maud is a modern feminist, attempting to balance her identity as a woman with her identity as an academic scholar, and Christabel Lamotte, a Victorian poet, was trying to overcome her femininity by living as a recluse with another woman before she met R. H. Ash. Similarly, Maud is a withdrawn person, wary of men, and distrustful. nullLaMotte lived with her friend Blanche and experienced on a kind of ideal life. She strived against the patriarchal society to realize female independence. She was determined to dedicate all her life to poetry. But she fell in love with Ash and they went to Yorkshire to have their honeymoon. LaMotte obliged herself to cut off from Ash after the trip to Yorkshire to carry on her feminism.nullFeminism Christabel Lamotte is doing what many women of her time were doing, that is, struggling for masculine freedom in that era that was very limited for a woman. Maud is doing what many women today are attempting to do, that is, trying to reconcile and accept her femininity in an academic, typically male environment.nullA. S. Byatt maintains that the children are the obstacle in the process of women’s development, especially when the children are young, because they could destroy women’s ambition emotionally.nullIn this novel, Lamotte sent her daughter to her sister to raise as soon as the girl was born. Everyday she had to bare the misery of her daughter’s calling her “aunt” until death.In the end, Maud said, “Love is terrible, it is a wrecker—” which is also a reflection of A. S. Byatt’s feminism.nullAlthough the water is constrained, conducted and pushed, it still runs through the possible crevices(裂缝) of the rocks to pursue further freedom.This is the best portrait of females both in Victorian period and Modern time in Byatt’s writing.nullThe author speaks highly of women’ s strength and regards it vigorous and powerful, which is reflected in Lamotte’s poem Melusina《梅卢西娜》 in this novel. The waterfall “Thompson Foss” in the poem symbolized the men’s constraint on women rights. Here water is the imprisoned vitality of women, while rocks are symbol of male energy.nullSexualityIt also represents sexuality that looks like can be conquered and possessed, like gold or grain. The suppression of sexuality in the Victorian era is a theme throughout the book and in both time periods. Two couples are eager for the sexual freedom and both eventually reach. The traces of sexuality in Victorian society have to be searched for and uncovered in Possession. nullSexualityThere are hints of lesbianism, expressed by LaMotte's retreat from society and setting up house with another woman. Ash and LaMotte's love affair is hidden, in their own day. To the modern scholars, Maud's hair is symbolic, and ties her to Victorian society. She wears it covered with a scarf, symbolic of repressed Victorian sexuality. Rose-colored TeacupsRose-colored Teacups Rose-colored Teacups comes from Antonia Susan Byatt's The Sugar and Other Stories. It tells us a story about generation gaps between mother and daughter with the writing technique of symbolism and metaphor.nullAnalysis: At the beginning, the author puts three women from different times in one scene. They are all young, full of energy, but they have different hair styles, belonged to different times. In fact, they are Veronica, Veronica’s mother and Veronica’s daughter Jane. But they can live peacefully, even though the times is different, that is to say, the women’s living circumstances is unchanged.null Like many novelists, the author makes use of a room to symbolize a prison. Women live there without freedom forever, the room blocks the development of females. So the room also has metaphorical meaning.nullRoom (life space) The sewing-machine (ways of labour) Rose-colored teacups (life style)null There are two things which we could not ignore, which reflect the generation gaps between mother and daughter. The rose-colored teacups are given by Veronica’s old college friends, when she breaks the teacups into piece, her mother feels angry, it’s a generation gap.null The sewing-machine is a wedding present of Veronica’s mother. When Jane, Veronica’s daughter, makes the sewing-machine bad incautiously. Veronica feels angry, it’s another generation gap.null Suddenly,Veronica realizes that she does not escape from the tradition, and the rose-colored teacups and the sewing-machine symbolizes the tradition, herself and Jane stands for a new generation. But the times is different. Even though the situation looks like the same, it can not be the same completely. In reality, the feminine living is changing quietly. null At the end of the story, Veronica sees her daughter’s face with pure pleasure, pure hope and almost content. It points out that the author has hope and confidence to the future. The out-dated tradition will be disappeared with the out-dated thing, the new life style will appear with the new mind. ThemesThemes It reflects deeply on women’s living condition and historical fate. B. It displays women’s strong determination to break the restrictions of traditional lift and to pursue a new life value. Introduction to Angels & Insects Introduction to Angels & Insects William Adamson , a poor naturalist, returns home to Victorian England after having spent years along the Amazon River  studying all kinds of animals.. Nevertheless he manages to befriend Sir Harald Alabaster, an amateur insect collector and botanist. He becomes enamored of Sir Harald's daughter, Eugenia , who is still mourning the suicide of her fiance. William and Eugenia quickly fall in love and lust and decide to marry. nullAfter the marriage, Eugenia produces five children in quick succession. William never warms to the children, instead spending his time studying a colony of red ants with Matty . He writes a book about their observations, which is quickly accepted by a publisher. One day, during a hunting excursion, William is summoned back to the house by a servant boy who claims that Eugenia wishes to speak to him. He walks into the bedroom, surprising Eugenia and Edgar while they are engaging in incestuous sex. Eugenia then confesses that she and Edgar had been having sex with each other for years and that her fiance committed suicide after discovering this. Eugenia also tells William that even though she knew it was wrong to have sex with her brother, it did not quench her desire to do it. nullWilliam, after being provoked by Matty, opens up to her as he has become quite close to her during the years. Although she denies having sent the servant after William, she does admit that she knew of the incestuous relationship that Eugenia had with Edgar and that the other servants knew as well. William then tells Matty of his desire to go back to the Amazon and not return. Matty reveals that she has booked two tickets on a boat departing shortly to the Amazon. The movie ends with William and Matty departing in a coach looking out the window into the empirical world. nullThank you！