Identity and Cultural Memory in the Fiction of A. S. Byatt

This book provides innovative readings of the key texts of A. S. Byatt's oeuvre by analysing the negotiations of individual identity, cultural memory, and literature which inform Byatt's novels. Steveker explores the concepts of identity constructed in the novels, showing them to be deeply rooted in British literary history and cultural memory.

Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I: IDENTITY Concepts of Identity in Possession and The Biographer's Tale Self and Other in Possession and The Biographer's Tale Concepts of Identity in A. S. Byatt's Tetralogy The Gendered Self 60 Female Autonomy 75 Reconciling Body and Mind: the 'Thinking Woman' PART II: IDENTITY CULTURAL MEMORY LITERATURE Identity and Memory Figures of Memory: Elizabeth I and Shakespeare Cultural Texts: Identity and Literature Imaginary Museums: Intertextuality and Cultural Memory Memorial Novels: the English Renaissance and the Victorian Age Mnemonic Spaces: Identity and Genre Conclusion Notes and References Bibliography Index