Abstract
A. S. Byatt's 1990 novel Possession has been the subject of numerous works of criticism, yet the images of glass that pervade the narrative have received scant attention. Nor has the glass coffin itself been fully examined as a metaphor for the cold, untouchable beauty of the two female protagonists. Byatt's reworking of the glass coffin motif is a central strategy of the novel, negotiating the reification of beauty implicated in its metaphorical relationship to glass. Ultimately, the idealized glass beauty of Snow White is drawn into collusion, not collision, with the vicissitudes of the flesh.
Recommended Citation
Hart, Carina. "Glass Beauty: Coffins and Corpses in A. S. Byatt's Possession." Marvels & Tales 26.2 (2012). Web. <https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/marvels/vol26/iss2/3>.
