Re-Writing the Victorian Past in A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance

One of the most important features of neo-Victorianism is the appropriation of Victorian life and literary traditions. In neo-Victorian novels, the traditions of the genre of the novel are appropriated. As historiographic metafictions, neo-Victorian novels, through fictionalizing characters and incidents of the Victorian era, simultaneously rewrite the Victorian past and question the possibility of such invocation of the past. In this way, they assert their awareness of the shortcomings of historical writing. Refuting metanarratives, the Neo-Victorian novel favors plurality and fragmentation. Furthermore, this type of novel shows its preoccupation with the present situation and the way the present narrative retells the past. The Victorian way of life is viewed from a contemporary perspective. In spite of the fact that it is set in the Victorian period, the neo-Victorian novel is preoccupied with an exposition of the problems of the present time. The researcher of the present article has probed to understand the way A. S. Byatt’s Possession: A Romance treats the notion of historical understanding with regard to the theories of Heilmann and Llewellyn. Ann Heilmann and Mark Llewellyn contest the confinement of neo-Victorian novel to the historical novels that are set in the Victorian age. Instead, in their view, a neo-Victorian novel has to reflect the preoccupation of the present time with the Victorian past.