Michèle Roberts, The Visitation

Rosemary White (University of Northumbria at Newcastle)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Gina Lyle (University of Glasgow), Graham MacPhee (University of Manchester), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1983

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Michèle Roberts’ second novel offers a more tentative vision of a woman’s life than the novels which precede and succeed it. In many ways

The Visitation

may be read as a transitional text in Roberts’

oeuvre

, problematizing the conclusions reached in her first novel,

A Piece of the Night

[see entry], and introducing issues raised more explicitly in her later work. This novel follows a central protagonist, Helen Home, in her search for a balance between her relationships with men, her intimate friendships with women, and her desire to be a writer. The novel begins in the womb, where Helen and her twin brother, Felix, are represented as Eve and Adam about to be expelled from Eden. This originary scene is recalled at the end of the novel, where the womb is again represented as a…

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1989 words

Citation: White, Rosemary. "The Visitation". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 January 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=10196, accessed 23 April 2024.]

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