“Sensory aspects in A.S. Byatt’s neo-Victorian fiction”
Résumé
A.S. Byatt’s fiction may be perceived as intellectual, wordy and complex because of its engagement with ideas. When it represents the Victorian period, the latter is indeed diverse, rich and again, intellectual. Yet, Byatt’s style can be described as sensual, in its strong reliance on the five senses in descriptions of characters and places. The aim of this paper is to examine the relevance of these sensory aspects to convey a sense of the past in Byatt’s neo-Victorian fiction. Texts under study include “Precipice-Encurled”, Possession and Angels and Insects.
This paper discusses how the successful understanding of the past is made out to be a sensory experience through a comparison of the biographer in “Precipice-Encurled” and the scholars in Possession. It also analyses how the description of the neo-Victorian characters’ sensory perceptions and of landscapes or settings mobilise the reader’s sensory response.