A. S. Byatt, Possession
Roland Michell, a mostly unemployed scholar, specialized in the study of nineteenth-century poet Randolph Ash, stumbles upon a letter from Ash in a library book, which could change the perception Roland’s contemporaries have on the Victorian poet: this letter is addressed to a woman, poetess Christabel LaMotte, and expresses very warm feelings. Until then, nobody had established a connection between the two poets, and Ash was thought a devoted husband.
Roland meets a specialist of feminist and lesbian poet Christabel LaMotte, Dr. Maud Bailey, a scholar with a situation and money, unlike him. Despite their differences and the fact that Roland finds her cold and distant, the two scholars unite their minds in the search of further clues that could tie the two Victorian poets. In the house of one of LaMotte’s descendants (Maud is related to LaMotte herself), they find further letters, well hidden from view. But curiosities are aroused by their strange behaviors, both in LaMotte and in Ash scholars. For Maud and Roland, who are possessed by the need to know and to own the unfolding story, a race begins to find information before others…
Of course, Possession is a famous novel by now, widely read and enjoyed, and has been made into a movie (which I didn’t want to see before reading the book). I too enjoyed reading Possession, and having studied literature myself, I could relate to the main characters and the hours spent in the library, reading criticism or analyzing poems until they hold no more secrets (if such a thing is possible!). With Possession, Byatt has given life to her Victorian poet characters in an extraordinary way. Not only has she invented their lives, their connections with famous existing people, their correspondence, but also part of their works. The Victorian poems attributed to Ash and LaMotte are really impressive, Byatt has written them with their interpretations in mind, the meanings the twentieth-century characters, Maud and Roland, would attribute to them. She has established a balance between the story they tell and more subtle allusions to biographical elements like significant places and persons, etc. I don’t know how long it took her to to that, but it is quite an achievement!
With Possession, Byatt has done for the nineteenth century what Umberto Eco did for the Middle Ages with the Name of the Rose. She has resurrected the past in all its complexities, she has vividly recalled past debates: the loss of religious faith, the rise of scientific positivism and the consequences thereof, manifested for instance by a growing belief in spiritualism and other pseudo-sciences. She also portrays the emergence of feminism and the struggle for woman artists to achieve recognition. One of the themes of the novel is of course passion, passion as a bond, as a vital force and a source of inspiration, and also as the antithesis of reason, and Byatt shows that the subject concerns the nineteenth century as much as the twentieth, since Maud and Roland’s relationship echoes Ash’s and LaMotte’s…
The only thing that prevents me from giving this novel a 5/5 is the writing style: though erudite and poetic, I found it a bit tedious with its long, winded sentences. Of course English is a second language for me, but I understand from other reviews that Possession is no easy or quick read, even if English is your mother tongue.
Possession is a must read, if you don’t mind putting time and effort in it (and is is definitely worth it!)
Rating: 4,5/5
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