《花园里的贞女》《静物》《巴比塔》和《吹口哨的女人》是当代英国最杰出的作家之一A.S.拜厄特描写二十世纪五六十年代英国知识分子，特别是女性知识分子生存状态的系列作品，简称“四部曲”。本书以“四部曲”为研究对象，立足文本细读，从社会文化史的角度，围绕自我“身份”的困惑、女性“传统”的被动和消极性格及其导致的人生悲剧、“自由女性”的生存危机和命运前景等几个方面，分别对每一部小说做了深入细致的诠释和解读，研讨了女性人物在社会动荡和变迁的历史语境下，思想、情感和生活道路选择上的彷徨和挣扎。本书试图从诠释拜厄特对知识女性生存状态的文学重构中，为我们提供重新认识和了解战后英国社会和人文风貌的新资讯。

A.S.Byatt（1936）is a distinguished English novelist and literary critic. Her quartet which includes The Virgin in the Garden（1978），Still Life（1985），Babel Tower（1996）and A Whistling Woman（2002），is a literary portrayal of British history in the 1950s and 60s. Britain，like many Western countries，experienced a time of crisis and great social change during these decades. The devastating effect of World War II，and waves from the later counter-culture movement threw the nation into turbulence and chaos. But with the sexual liberation movement，and the rise of a second wave of feminism，it was a time of opportunity and challenge，promise and bewilderment for women. On the one hand，the change brought women new possibilities for a better life，but on the other hand the increased freedom could be misfortune in disguise. Because of the complexity of the social-historical context，young intellectual women underwent a series of dilemmas in their lives and careers. Self-division and fragmentation was their inner landscape. Centered around intellectual women's existence at the time，the quartet is a female Bildungsroman which traces mainly the development of the female protagonist Frederica Potter from an immature schoolgirl to a sophisticated middle-aged woman. The present book，Life in Fragments：A Literary Reconstruction of British Intellectual Women's Existence in 1950s and 60s，combining close reading and cultural context study，explores how Byatt reconstructs those intellectual women's existential predicament and its causes.The book consists of four chapters，each dealing with one novel.Chapter One mainly discusses how the 1950s’ conservative gender ideology and social environment affects Frederica's exploration of her new identity of womanhood. It starts with the interpretation of the ideology embodied in Queen ElizabethII's Coronation，arguing that the Coronation is，beside everything else，a powerful manifestation and re-advocacy of femininity and “women -back- home”trend. Then it studies the inspiration Frederica gets from the performance of the verse drama “Astraea”，a program staged for the local celebration of the Coronation. Frederica creatively identifies herself with the role of Virgin Queen，whose power，she believes，lies in her virginity and separation. Lastly it looks into Frederica's perplexity about her coming-of-age identity which，apart from the contradiction between social expectation and her own ambition，is a result of the decline of family values，and the deteriorating social mores in a time of sexual permissiveness.Chapter Two dwells on both the social circumstances in the mid-1950s and the protagonists’ own character flaws，trying to explain why those intellectual women experience a dilemma in their pursuit of knowledge and an ideal life，with more emphasis on the writer's critical reflection upon Stephanie's character and her tragic life. First，it deals with the restrictive gender ideology and male dominance at Cambridge University which makes young Frederica feel excluded in knowledge-seeking and frustrated at women's limited future prospects. Then it moves on to examine the root of Stephanie's dull and suffocating life，exploring how her passivity and self-repression affect her choice-making in life. Trapped in domestic chores and charitable work as a clergyman's wife，Stephanie has suffered deeply from the loss of solitude and a life of mind until an accident takes her life away. It then discusses the plot of Stephanie's “accidental”death and the author's implication embedded in it. Stephanie's premature death not only symbolizes women's oppression from the then rigid gender roles，but also dramatizes Byatt's criticism of some women's personality defects which prevent them resolving the conflict between traditional roles and a modern self during the age of social transformation. It argues that Stephanie belongs to a type of women who are neither contented with traditional roles nor courageous enough to embrace new ones. She is both a victim of 1950s domesticity and her own passivity.Chapter Three，through presenting Frederica's predicament and her utopian fantasy of self-development，mainly discussesByatt's criticism of the prevailing utopianism in the mid-1960s，especially her reflection upon the protagonist's excessive pursuit of individual freedom. With the development of the women's liberation movement，women enjoy more freedom than before，but prejudice and discrimination still exist in the ideology and public life which hinder them from gaining independence and other proper rights. Frederica's divorce is the best example，causing her to suffer discrimination and violation from the crisis of legal language at the time. Then it analyzes the essence of Frederica's cut-up work entitled “Lamination”，which is not only an epitome of the chaotic world outside，but also an apt image of her chaotic and fragmented inner self. Lamination is also Frederica's strategy for survival，by which she deals with the conflicting and contradictory demands of life. But it only makes her fragmented existence worse. The chapter ends with the illustration of the nature of the novel-within-novel Babbletower，which is a dystopian fable reflecting upon the European tradition of radical liberalism. It is also an allegorical metaphor of Frederica's indulgence in sexual freedom which throws her into chaos.Chapter Four investigates the existential situation of so-called “Free Women”，and the author's vision of their future. As the concluding novel of the quartet，The Whistling Womandwells upon the problem of what course those “Free Women”like Frederica might finally follow.Should they remain single，free and independent women or get married and settle down？ It argues that under pressure both from the society and themselves，Frederica and two other single intellectual women，Agathy and Jacqueline，experience certain emotional and psychological transformation. They are，in a way，looking for a shelter，or a home，better still，which can provide them with love and security. I argue that the embedded episode of “bird women”in Flight North and the intertextual reference of “Alice in Wonderland ”are both the metaphorical analogy of their distorted image and their gradual emotional and psychological change. But at the same time they are swayed by consideration of loss of their intellectual life and the freedom of being themselves. Then it discusses the possible meanings of the novel's surrealistically open and inclusive ending，which shows Byatt's ambivalence toward the prospect of “Free Women”. On the one hand she has sympathy for them，because their passion for freedom and life of mind might be destroyed by the existing marriage system，but on the other hand she is worried by the obsessive nature of an individualistic pursuit which might harm human relationships，and eventually their own lives.The conclusion summarizes the points of Byatt's reconstruction of intellectual women's existence in the 1950s and 60s，and shows this book's possible contribution to the study of Byatt both at home and abroad.