In Her Own Words: The Image of Ice, Snow and Glass in A. S. Byatt's Possession

Abstract

This essay calls for a new way of reading novels: readers should try their best to empty out themselves while reading to be a proper learner of the artist’s mind. And the essential aesthetic value that an artistic work has, is by being impressive rather than expressive. This essay focuses on A. S. Byatt’s own explanation of choices of images to better reflect upon images within her novel, Possession: A Romance. While the methodology, “in her own words”, brings us closer to the intellectual thoughts of the author, discerning images of ice, snow, and glass in her novel could unfold a sensuous landscape before us, and we can therefore delightfully see how words and images mingle with each other, and how intellectual thoughts and senses are unified into one impression as the magic of art.