A.S. Byatt's Art of Memory

This study offers a comprehensive reading of Byatt's major novels. It highlights her textual strategies in interrelating her memories of the past with the history of ideas. Connections between narrative, cognitive science, and visual and literary culture display the full range of contextual references woven into her work.

This book provides a comprehensive reading of some of A.S. Byatt's major novels. Focusing on memory, Renaissance forms of theatrical reinvention in post-war culture, ekphrasis, visuality, the cognitive processes of the mind, gender and science, the book retraces a network of theoretical questions illuminating the author's fictional world from within. This study devotes special attention to the craft with which Byatt translates complex issues into imaginative fiction, engaging with Byatt's texts. It presents a lucid and coherent account of a wide range of arguments underpinning the work of one of the most prolific and acclaimed contemporary writers.

Autorentext

Mara Cambiaghi holds degrees in English and German literature from the University of London, Milan and Freiburg. She taught and pursued postgraduate studies in English and comparative literature at the University of Konstanz and completed her PhD at the University of Freiburg.

Klappentext

This book provides a comprehensive reading of some of A.S. Byatt s major novels. Focusing on memory, Renaissance forms of theatrical reinvention in post-war culture, ekphrasis, visuality, the cognitive processes of the mind, gender and science, the book retraces a network of theoretical questions illuminating the author s fictional world from within. This study devotes special attention to the craft with which Byatt translates complex issues into imaginative fiction, engaging with Byatt s texts. It presents a lucid and coherent account of a wide range of arguments underpinning the work of one of the most prolific and acclaimed contemporary writers.

Inhalt

Cultural memory, Renaissance memory systems, Visual culture, Ekphrasis, Cognitive science, Media and TV, Gender, Post-war English culture, The sixties, 1968, Myth and fairy tales, Fiction and critical discourse, Intertextuality, Blending theory, Victorian and postmodern culture.