A.S. Byatt
author profile
born
August 24, 1936
gender
female
place of birth
Sheffield, United Kingdom
website
genre
Literature & Fiction, Nonfiction
influences
Henry James, George Eliot, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Robert Browning
about this author
A S Byatt is internationally known for her novels and short stories. Her novels include the Booker Prize-winning Possession, The Biographer’s Tale and the quartet, The Virgin in the Garden, Still Life, Babel Tower and A Whistling Woman, and her highly acclaimed collections of short stories include Sugar and Other Stories, The Matisse Stories, The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye, Elementals and her most recent book Little Black Book of Stories. A distinguished critic as well as a writer of fiction, A S Byatt was appointed CBE in 1990 and DBE in 1999.
BYATT, Dame Antonia (Susan), (Dame Antonia Duffy), DBE 1999 (CBE 1990); FRSL 1983; Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 2003 , writer; born 24 Aug. 1936;
Daughter of...more
books by A.S. Byatt
combine editionsavg rating: 3.84 | 7249 ratings | 40 distinct works
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Possession: A Romance (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.97 — 3353 ratings — published 1990 32 editions |
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Angels & Insects: Two Novellas (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.62 — 564 ratings — published 1992 16 editions |
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The Virgin in the Garden: A Novel (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.73 — 339 ratings — published 1978 10 editions |
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The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.87 — 303 ratings — published 1994 12 editions |
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Still Life (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.87 — 291 ratings — published 1985 10 editions |
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Little Black Book of Stories (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.81 — 268 ratings — published 2003 6 editions |
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Babel Tower (Hardcover) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.82 — 265 ratings — published 1996 12 editions |
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The Matisse Stories (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.83 — 242 ratings — published 1993 11 editions |
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Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.88 — 155 ratings — published 1998 11 editions |
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A Whistling Woman (Paperback) by A.S. Byatt avg rating 3.81 — 157 ratings — published 2002 10 editions |
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quotes by A.S. Byatt
" There are things that happen and leave no discernible trace, are not spoken or written of, though it would be very wrong to say that subsequent events go on indifferently, all the same, as though such things had never been."
— A.S. Byatt
— A.S. Byatt
"What literature can and should do is change the people who teach the people who don't read the books."
— A.S. Byatt
— A.S. Byatt
"(I just like this excerpt, maybe because of the visual I have in mind.)
Above his head at street level, he saw an angled aileron of a scarlet Porsche, its jaunty fin more or less at the upper edge of his window frame. A pair of very soft, clean glistening black shoes appeared, followed by impeccably creased matt charcoal pinstriped light woollen legs, followed by the beautifully cut lower hem of a jacket, its black vent revealing a scarlet silk lining, its open front revealing a flat muscular stomach under a finely-striped red and white shirt. Val’s legs followed, in powder-blue stockings and saxe-blue shoes, under the limp hem of a crêpey mustard-coloured dress, printed with blue moony flowers. The four feet advanced and retreated, retreated and advanced, the male feet insisting towards the basement stairs, the female feet resisting, parrying. Roland opened the door and went into the area, fired mostly by what always got him, pure curiosity as to what the top half looked like.
From "Possessions," Vintage Edition, pp. 124-125, paragraph 3"
— A.S. Byatt
Above his head at street level, he saw an angled aileron of a scarlet Porsche, its jaunty fin more or less at the upper edge of his window frame. A pair of very soft, clean glistening black shoes appeared, followed by impeccably creased matt charcoal pinstriped light woollen legs, followed by the beautifully cut lower hem of a jacket, its black vent revealing a scarlet silk lining, its open front revealing a flat muscular stomach under a finely-striped red and white shirt. Val’s legs followed, in powder-blue stockings and saxe-blue shoes, under the limp hem of a crêpey mustard-coloured dress, printed with blue moony flowers. The four feet advanced and retreated, retreated and advanced, the male feet insisting towards the basement stairs, the female feet resisting, parrying. Roland opened the door and went into the area, fired mostly by what always got him, pure curiosity as to what the top half looked like.
From "Possessions," Vintage Edition, pp. 124-125, paragraph 3"
— A.S. Byatt












