Queen of Beauty As a hybrid novel: hybrid literature and the construction of identity

ABSTRACT This article focuses on the hybrid novel and the construction of identity, particularly using Queen of Beauty by Paula Morris as an example. Specifically, the importance of the novel’s use of narrative embedding to the novel’s hybrid structure; the hybrid narrative structure, in turn, is central to Queen of Beauty’s focus on Virginia’s hybrid identity. The hybrid nature of the novel, which is founded on narrative embedding–is critical to the development of the lead character Virginia’s growing awareness of her own hybrid identity. Morris brings together different embedded narratives together in a hybrid form that provides a complex history of Virginia’s Māori and Pākehā family. The structure of the novel provides for the progression of Virginia’s character development and how her hybrid identity is enhanced through the embedded stories that make it up. The embedded forms draw upon both oral storytelling tradition–connected to the idea of whakapapa–and the western frame of reference that places emphasis on written sources, such that both are part of Virginia’s heritage and context.