Confession:
I have always thought that A.S. Byatt is a man. Silly me! When started reading Possession, I still had no idea what I
would face. As the story unfolding, I have felt it a bit odd that a man should
write so femininely a prose. Then I googled about the book; and only then I
realized that A.S. is actually
Antonia Susan. Byatt is a woman!
When I said Byatt wrote 'femininely', it is partly due to the amount of poems
scattered throughout the book, and partly because both poems and prose were
thick with feminism.
Possession is a kind of literary
detective. Two modern young scholars investigate an unknown love affair of two
fictional Victorian poets: the famous Randolph Henry Ash and the unknown—albeit
as talented as her lover—Christabel LaMotte. Roland Mitchell—a scholar who is
obsessed with R.H. Ash—has accidentally found draft of letters slipped inside
an ancient book. They were written by Ash (a married man) to a mysterious
woman, indicating a love interest. Roland’s investigation leads him to
LaMotte's distant relative who is also an established scholar on the poetess:
Maud Bailey. The pair studies tons of letters, poems, and diary entries of and
about Ash and LaMotte, to unveil the mystery. But it turns out they are not
alone, their colleagues seem to be attracted to the mystery also, and compete
with them to find what was believed as the key evidence of the love affair: a
letter buried in Ash's wife's coffin. Parallel with the investigation, the
readers follow also the lives and struggles of Roland and Maud (and their
blooming love).
I can't say I enjoyed Possession very
much. The combination of metaphysic, poetry, and feminism is not my cup of tea.
I skipped most of the poems (it's long and blubbering - for me at least, because I had no idea what those are about). What I could enjoy was
only the fast-paced literary investigation and a bit spark of attraction in
Roland's and Maud's relationship. Added with a little twist in the epilogue,
this book would have been promising, but, like I said, I just couldn't chew
overdoses of feminism. Maybe Byatt is just too sophisticated for me.
3 / 5
I'm pretty sure most people skip the poetry, even if they don't admit to it! I find Byatt to be...I don't know, too deliberately super-intellectual for me.
ReplyDeleteThat's exactly I have felt--"too deliberately super-intellectual"--I just couldn't find the words when writing this review. You put it perfectly, Jean. I did feel like Byatt tried too hard to look intelligent; it felt superficial in the end.
DeleteIt's too long ago since I read the book, but I do remember skipping the poetry too. At the time I thought she was trying too hard to be clever but I loved The Children's Book so much when I read it about 6 yrs ago, that I've wondered if I should give Possession another try now that I'm older.
ReplyDeleteAha! So you felt it too, Brona! It's sad to think that sometimes women must prove that they are more superior than men... :(
DeleteI kind of struggled with this one, and maybe it was because of the poetry, too. There was one favorite chapter I encountered, and I think it was in the center of the book. Can't remember. But this wasn't a book I kept after I finished reading it. There is a 2002 film version (starring G. Paltrow), and you remind me that I wanted to see it, just for the heck of it.
ReplyDeleteFrom the three comments so far, I gathered that most people skip the poetry! It's pity, because I felt that understanding the poetry will help me to relate to the book.
DeleteI didn't know there is the movie... might check it someday.
I remember really liking this one actually (I read it AGES ago), however I can't actually remember most of it. I'll have to revisit it, it doesn't seem to have made a great impression on me I'm afraid :S
ReplyDeleteI am curious to know how you'd think about it the 2nd time. What is it about, really?
Delete