Into the Heart of the Labyrinth. The Pursuit of Mannerist Traditions in John Banville’s Athena

Abstract

John Banville’s Athena (1995) which is generally referred to as the last part of the trilogy comprising The Book of Evidence (1989) and Ghosts (1993) shows most of the characteristics frequently attributed to postmodern fiction. This study follows a direction in literary criticism which has identified striking typological analogies between contemporary postmodern fiction and metahistorical mannerist traditions in literature and argues that Banville consciously and deliberately has recourse to mannerist/postmodern techniques. More specifically, I attempt to show that Banville functionalizes mannerist themes and stylistic devices in reaction to the petrification and deterioration of postmodern discourse, a “way of operating” (Eco) that indeed highlights the writer’s awareness that postmodernism has “run its course” (Banville). The paper concludes with a close poetological/metafictional reading of the title Athena and the function(s) of the letter A. to illustrate how the fiction-making process per se is the central concern in the novel.