| Synopsis: |
A.S. Byatts novel Possession: A Romance attracted international acclaim in 1990, winning both the Booker Prize and the Irish Times/Aer Lingus International Fiction Prize. In her long and eminent career, Byatt has steadily published both fiction and non-fiction, the latest of which has not, until now, been given full critical consideration. Enter Jane Campbells new book, A.S. Byatt and the Heliotropic Imagination , a comprehensive critical reading of Byatts fiction from The Shadow of the Sun and The Game , published in the 1960s, to A Whistling Woman (2002). The book begins with an overview of Byatts writing and, drawing on her interviews and essays, sets forth the critical principles that inform the novelists work. Following this introduction, a chronologically structured account of the novels and short stories traces Byatts literary development. As well as exploring the ways in which Byatt has successfully negotiated a path between twentieth-century realism and postmodern experiment, Campbell employs a critical perspective appropriate to the authors individualistic feminist stance, stressing the breadth of Byatts intellectual concerns and her insistence on placing her female characters in a living, changing context of ideas and experience, especially in their search for creative voice. |