POSSESSION: A ROMANCE AS AN EXAMPLE OF HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION

Yıl 2018, Cilt: 7 Sayı: 2, 96 - 103, 30.12.2018

Sevcan Işık

Öz

This paper aims to analyze Antonia Susan Byatt’s novel
Possession: A Romance as an example of a postmodernist historical novel or of a
historiographic metafiction. Historiographic metafiction attempts
to concantrate on historical personages and past events which are not mentioned
in history for political or moral reasons. Thus, the omitted events in history
are brought to the forefront and plural histories are produced as alternatives
to the mentioned history with the retelling of the stories of the past in
historiographic metafictions, which is resulted in creating a multiplicity of
histories. Possession: A Romance can
be studied as a good example of historiographic metafiction as it has different
voices and, thus, plural histories through questioning the line between fiction
and history. It also defies the monology and problematizes the objectivity of
historical representations of two Victorian poets whose histories are silenced
as they are found to be incompatible with the official history for moral
reasons. Therefore, in contrast to the monology, the novel creates
multivocality allowing different voices to be heard through subverting the
historical documents and events it refers to. Thus, historiographic metafiction
becomes a liberating force as it allows other histories to be told. Lastly, the
novel employs other metafictional elements such as making use of non-linear
narrative and emphasizing self-reflexivity through creating an untraditional
third person omniscient narrator with a parodic intention.

Keywords:
Antonia Susan
Byatt, Possession: A Romance, historiographic metafiction, multivocality,
history and fiction.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Antonia Susan Byatt, Possession: A Romance, historiographic metafiction, multivocality

POSSESSION: A ROMANCE AS AN EXAMPLE OF HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION

Öz

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to analyze Antonia Susan Byatt’s novel
Possession: A Romance as an example of a postmodernist historical novel or of a
historiographic metafiction. Historiographic metafiction attempts
to concantrate on historical personages and past events which are not mentioned
in history for political or moral reasons. Thus, the omitted events in history
are brought to the forefront and plural histories are produced as alternatives
to the mentioned history with the retelling of the stories of the past in
historiographic metafictions, which is resulted in creating a multiplicity of
histories. Possession: A Romance can
be studied as a good example of historiographic metafiction as it has different
voices and, thus, plural histories through questioning the line between fiction
and history. It also defies the monology and problematizes the objectivity of
historical representations of two Victorian poets whose histories are silenced
as they are found to be incompatible with the official history for moral
reasons. Therefore, in contrast to the monology, the novel creates
multivocality allowing different voices to be heard through subverting the
historical documents and events it refers to. Thus, historiographic metafiction
becomes a liberating force as it allows other histories to be told. Lastly, the
novel employs other metafictional elements such as making use of non-linear
narrative and emphasizing self-reflexivity through creating an untraditional
third person omniscient narrator with a parodic intention.

Keywords:
Antonia Susan
Byatt, Possession: A Romance, historiographic metafiction, multivocality,
history and fiction.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Antonia Susan Byatt, Possession: A Romance, historiographic metafiction, multivocality, history

Kaynakça

• Cox, Jeffrey N. and Larry J. Reynolds (eds.). 1993. New Historical Literary Study. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton U P. Print.
• Himmelfarb, Gertrude. “Postmodernist History” in Fox-Genovese, Elizabeth and Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn. 1999. 71-93. Print.
• Hutcheon, Linda. A Poetics of Postmodernism. London: Routledge, 1988. Print.
• ---. Historiographic Metafiction, Parody and the Intertextuality of History. http://ieas.unideb.hu/admin/file_3553.pdf.
• Domínguez, Pilar Cuder. “Romance Forms in A. S. Byatt's Possession”, Revista Alicantina de Estudios Ingleses 8 (1995): 79-89. JSTOR. Web. 13 July 2018.
• Lies Wesseling, ‘Postmodernism and History’, Writing History as a Prophet. http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/wess012post01_01/wess012post01_01_0001.php
• Byatt, A. S. Possesion: A Romance. London: Vintage, 1990. Print.
• Waugh, Patricia. Metafiction. London: Routledge, 1984. Print.