A. S. 바이어트의 『포제션』: 역사 다시쓰기를 통한 개인의 정체성 형성

This paper is to read A. S. Byatt`s Possession as a historiographic metafiction by examining the Victorian poets, Randolph Ash and Christabel LaMotte. Through reading the diaries and poems of the Victorians, the modern scholars, Roland Mitchell and Maud Baily, come to realize the romantic differences due to different social systems. At the same time, the scholars, as a postmodern self, find out that the past truth they search might not be the same as it was. In the second part, the conflicts of collecting heritage which is caused by a secret letter Ash wrote to an anonymous woman is considered as a problematic factor, because the collectors from England and America reveal their greed when they try to possess the letter. Nonetheless, in the process of seeking to unveil the secret relationship of Ash and LaMotte, Rolland and Maud learn to have a more integrated self by possessing and being possessed by each other. This leads Rolland and Maud to have a broad viewpoint about their future by recognizing personal autonomy. In this way, Byatt suggests a new man-woman relationship based on not an aggressive feminism but a reciprocal altruism.