Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. The theory and practice of selfconscious fiction a bit of a bible on metafiction. Jean rhyss reputation was made upon the publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of fictions most mysterious characters. See a complete list of the characters in wide sargasso sea and indepth analyses of antoinette, christophine, and mr. Rhyss revision of brontes novel aims at giving a voice to the silenced other, to a jarring. Antoinettes story begins when she is a young girl in early nineteenth century jamaica. Victorian notions of hysteria and female sexuality in this novel, reappropriating them for her own. Heres where youll find analysis about the book as a. Space and sexuality in the postvictorian fiction of sarah. Evaluation of intertextuality and irony in jean rhyss wide sargasso.
This prequel to charlotte brontes jane eyre reinvents the story. Historiographic metafiction chapter 17 the cambridge history of. The number of rewritings prompted by charlotte brontes novel made it ideal for the experiment3. And fingersmith recalls rhyss the wide sargasso sea by once. Pdf the historiographic metafictional and postmodernist matrix of. She writes wide sargasso sea as a prequel to charlotte brontes nineteenth century famous novel jane eyre, which tells a backstory of a character from jane eyre. Wide sargasso sea is not just a great novel, it is many brilliant books in one.
It anticipates jean rhyss influential wide sargasso sea published in 1966. Jean rhys wide sargasso sea 1966, john fowles the french. Books such as jean rhyss the wide sargasso sea 1966, fowless the french lieutenants woman 1969, ishmael reeds mumbo jumbo 1972 and flight. Cosway, reportedly drunk himself to death, his finances in ruins after the passage of the emancipation act of 1833. This is categorically a postmodern art form that relies heavily on textual play, parody and historical reconceptualisation. Wide sargasso sea is a powerful, dramatic, and demanding book which offers great rewards to the careful reader and this penguin student edition is a valuable help to those exploring the strange world created by rhyswhether or not they are making a detailed study of the text for course work.
It is worth noting, though, that rushdies novel never claims to be anything more. Wide sargasso sea is a 1966 novel by dominicaborn british author jean rhys. Jean rhyss wide sargasso sea takes a stab at what that story might have been. She has also written good morning, midnight 1939 and sleep it off lady 1976 and the internationally acclaimed wide sargasso sea 1960.
Multilayered and complex, jean rhyss prelude to jane eyre vividly illustrates how accounts and understanding. Rochester antoinette cosway aka madwoman in the attic. Bidisha describes how jean rhyss novel portrays the racial and sexual exploitation at the heart of western civilisation and literature. As a work of postmodernist and historiographic metafiction, it violates established. Set in postemancipation jamaica, the novel traces the life of antoinette cosway, better known as bertha mason, as she becomes the first wife of edward rochester and finally, the notorious madwoman in the attic. An introduction to wide sargasso sea the british library. Wide sargasso sea is a novel by jean rhys that was first published in 1966.
See also linda hutcheons notion of historiographic metafiction as the most. A term originally coined by linda hutcheon, in a poetics of postmodernism, historiographic metafiction includes those postmodern works, usually popular novels, which are both intensely selfreflexive and paradoxically lay claim to historical events and personages. The white daughter of exslave owners, she lives on a rundown plantation called coulibri estate. Jean rhys wide sargasso sea gives a radically different reading. A sensual and protected young woman, antoinette cosway grows up in the lush natural world of the caribbean. In wide sargasso sea, author jean rhys creates a metafictional rewriting of charlotte brontes jane eyre. Historiographic metafiction literary theory and criticism. Set in postemancipation jamaica, the novel traces the life of. This is categorically a postmodern art form that relies heavily on textual play, parody and historical re.
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