A Whistling Woman
 First edition | |
| Author | A. S. Byatt |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | Frederica Potter Quartet #4 |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Publisher | Chatto & Windus (UK) Alfred A. Knopf (US) |
Publication date | September 2002 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom (2002) United States (2002) |
| Media type | Print (paperback, hardcover), ebook |
| Pages | 422 pp (UK paperback 1st ed.) |
| ISBN | 9780701173807 (UK paperback 1st ed.) |
| OCLC | 59489476 |
| 823/.914 | |
| LC Class | PR6052.Y2 W48 2003 |
| Preceded by | Babel Tower |
A Whistling Woman is a 2002 novel by British writer A. S. Byatt. The novel was published by Chatto & Windus in 2002 and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, another division of Penguin.
Tetralogy naming
[edit]The novel is the final in a tetralogy, preceded by The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), and Babel Tower (1996).[1] Jonathan Walker, in a paper published by Contemporary Literature, referred to the series of books as the "Frederica quartet".[2] Byatt herself expressed a preference for The Virgin in the Garden quartet when speaking about it ("It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!") and noted her publisher's intention to produce a boxed set, simply titled The Quartet.[3]
Themes
[edit]Byatt has said the novel is "about utopianism...and a dangerous sort of mystical romanticism".[4]
A Whistling Woman is half dedicated to Frances Ashcroft.[3]
References
[edit]- ^ Yeazell, Ruth Bernard (28 November 2002). "Overindulgence". London Review of Books. 24 (23). ISSN 0260-9592. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
- ^ Walker, Jonathan; Byatt, A. S.; Norfolk, Lawrence (2006). "An Interview with A. S. Byatt and Lawrence Norfolk". Contemporary Literature. 47 (3): 319–342. doi:10.3368/cl.47.3.319. ISSN 0010-7484. JSTOR 4489165. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
- ^ a b Newman, Jenny; Friel, James (2003). "An interview with A. S. Byatt". Cercles. Retrieved 11 September 2010.
ASB: ... I remember sitting at high table with my friend, Professor Frances Ashcroft, to whom A Whistling Woman is half dedicated... The whole of The Virgin in the Garden quartet is about the desirability of an androgynous mind... JN & JF: I notice that the quartet which begins with The Virgin in the Garden is sometimes called The Frederica Quartet. ASB: My paperback publisher, you will be glad to hear, is going to make it a boxed set, and it's just going to be called The Quartet. It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!
- ^ Leith, Sam (24 April 2009). "Interview: AS Byatt". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 November 2022.
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