MARTINA VIKTORIA HERMANN ‘As if by Magic’ (Kate Atkinson) Postmodernist Aspects in Kate Atkinson’s Fiction Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des Magistergrades der Philosophie aus der Studienrichtung Anglistik und Amerikanistik eingereicht an der Geistes – und Kulturwissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Universität Wien Wien, 2004 1 Oh! Let us never, never doubt What nobody is sure about! Hilaire Belloc, ‘The Microbe’ (1897) I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Rudolf Weiss for accepting this theme, for expert guidance and for his help regarding smaller and greater difficulties. I am indebted to David Matthews and Doris Hohenbichler for encouragement, support, valuable criticism and infinite patience. A special ‘thank you’ to my brother Andreas for technical support and creativity concerning all computer – related problems. I want to devote this thesis to my mum, for all her strength. Martina Hermann, June 2004 2 List of Abbreviations AW Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland BS Behind the Scenes at the Museum EW Emotionally Weird HC Human Croquet LC Lady Chatterley’s Lover KHM Kinder – und Hausmärchen TL Through the Looking – Glass, And What Alice Found There TS The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................6 1.1 KATE ATKINSON ................................................................................................7 2. POSTMODERNISM.............................................................................................9 2.1 POSTMODERNIST FICTION .................................................................................13 3. CONTESTING METANARRATIVES.............................................................19 3.1 RETELLING FANTASY .......................................................................................20 3.2 A NOTE ON FAIRY TALES.................................................................................21 4. FAIRY TALES IN ATKINSON’S FICTION...................................................25 4.1 THE LOST CHILDREN........................................................................................26 4.1.1 Esme/ Violet Angela/ Eliza ......................................................................27 4.1.2 An Anonymous Baby ...............................................................................28 4.1.3 Ruby .........................................................................................................29 4.2 EVIL STEPMOTHERS AND ABSENT MOTHERS....................................................32 4.2.1. Alice and Rachel .....................................................................................33 4.2.2 Eliza and Debbie ......................................................................................34 4.2.3 A Wicked Witch.......................................................................................35 4.3 DOMESTICITY ...................................................................................................38 4.3.1 A Martyred Housewife.............................................................................38 4.3.2 Rachel and Alice ......................................................................................41 4.3.3 Debbie and Mrs Baxter.............................................................................42 4.3.4 The Dark Side of Domesticity..................................................................44 4.4 THE LANGUAGE OF HAIR..................................................................................45 4.5 DECONSTRUCTING ROMANCE...........................................................................47 4.5.1 Alice .........................................................................................................47 4.5.2 Bunty ........................................................................................................48 4.5.3 Ruby .........................................................................................................49 4.5.4 Isobel ........................................................................................................50 4.5.5 On Shoes and Suitors ...............................................................................52 4.6 HAPPILY EVER AFTER? .....................................................................................57 4.6.1 Bunty and George.....................................................................................57 4.6.2 Nell and Frank ..........................................................................................59 4.6.3 Eliza and Gordon......................................................................................60 5. THE WILDERNESS OF STREETS .................................................................63 5.1 LADY MARY FAIRFAX......................................................................................65 5.2 ELIZA ...............................................................................................................68 6. HISTORY AS FICTION – FICTION AS HISTORY?....................................72 6.1 FACT OR FICTION?............................................................................................76 6.1.1 Meeting the Bard ......................................................................................79 4 6.2 CONTESTING THE DOMINANT ...........................................................................81 6.3 TRACES OF THE PAST........................................................................................84 6.3.1 Deceptive Photographs.............................................................................85 6.4 REWRITING THE PAST.......................................................................................87 6.5 SIMULATING HISTORY?....................................................................................88 7. POSTMODERNIST STORYTELLING...........................................................90 7.1 METAFICTION...................................................................................................90 7.2 NARRATING THE SELF ......................................................................................94 8. ENTERING LAYERS OF ONTOLOGICAL INSECURITY ........................99 8.1 SPACES OF PARADOX........................................................................................99 8.1.1 Alice .......................................................................................................100 8.1.2 Ruby .......................................................................................................101 8.1.3 Isobel ......................................................................................................102 8.2 DISTURBING TIME ..........................................................................................107 8.3 IDENTITIES IN FLUX ........................................................................................109 8.3.1 My Double – My Self?...........................................................................110 8.3.1.1 Twins ...................................................................................................112 8.3.2 Unstable Bodies......................................................................................115 8.3.2.1 The Pains of Growing..........................................................................115 8.3.2.2 Metamorphosis ....................................................................................116 8.4 IN LABYRINTHS OF WORDS ............................................................................120 9. CONCLUSION..................................................................................................124 10. INDEX ..............................................................................................................125 11. BIBLIOGRAPHY ...........................................................................................128 5 1. INTRODUCTION This paper is a study of the postmodernist aspects in the fiction of the contemporary British writer Kate Atkinson. Her first two novels, Behind the Scenes at the Museum and Human Croquet alternately present the lives of the two narrators and protagonists, Ruby Lennox and Isobel Fairfax, as well as large parts of their family histories. Atkinson maps out the fluctuating fortunes of several generations and portrays an intricate web of tangled stories and episodes. As a result, the past permeates the present through a cyclical temporality and the emergence of trans – generational family symbols. That past and present interpenetrate each other with fluid ease leads to Atkinson’s characteristically postmodernist concern with the concept of history. Moreover, fantasy and reality are merged in Atkinson’s fiction. Through her employment of fantastical themes and motifs, the author undermines and subverts the ideologies inherent in many fairy tale retellings. Apart from displaying characteristics of postmodernist storytelling, Atkinson’s novels are also defined by the postmodernist scepticism towards entities such as reality, truth, stability, body, self, identity and language. As with most new movements in cultural history, postmodernist art has not always met with the undivided approval of the public, as, for instance, Michael Craig – Martin’s ‘An Oak Tree’ has demonstrated in the Tate Modern.1 Although Craig – Martin’s sculpture exemplified postmodernist concerns in the form of challenging the institution of the gallery and parodying