Ekphrastic exposition in the novel «The virgin in the garden» by A.S. Byatt

The article investigates intermedial structure of the early novel «The Virgin in the Garden» by contemporary British novelist A.S. Byatt. The novel begins with a prologue, bounded by the frames of the National Portrait Gallery in London and referring to the famous portraits of Elizabeth I and advertisement posters of the second half of the XX th century. Two contrasting epochs are presented from Alexander's point of view through the prism of his literary and life experience. Images of Elizabeth I are connected with the period of the golden age of English literature and art; scenes of English life of the 1960s visualize the character's contemplation on national identity and denote the period of imitation and nostalgic «parody» in the spirit of postmodernism.