Sacrifice as a Narrative Strategy in May Sinclair, Mary Butts, and H. D.

This book explores sacrifice as a narrative theme and a stylistic strategy in works by May Sinclair, Mary Butts and H. D. It argues that the modernist experiment with pronoun use informs the treatment of acts of sacrifice in the texts, understood both as acts of self-renunciation and as ritual performance. It also suggests that sacrifice, if the conditions are right, can serve as the structure upon which a cohesive community might be built. The book offers in-depth analyses of the three authors and their works, deftly dissecting the modernist narrative experiment to show that it was by no means limited ― it was a means by which to approach a wide range of stories and materials.

Sanna Melin Schyllert is Visiting Lecturer at Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3, France, having previously held posts at Lund University, the University of Westminster, and University College London. Her publications include ‘Sacrifice, Pronoun Shifts and the Creation of Self in H. D.’s Prose Works’ in The Space Between Journal (2019) and ‘Sacrifice, Community and Narrative Power in Mary Butts’s Taverner Novels’ in The Journal of Religious History, Literature and Culture (2016).