bungakumi reviewed Possession by A. S. Byatt
Review of 'Possession' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
3.5
Hardcover, 511 pages
English language
Published 1990 by Chatto & Windus.
- ISBN:
- 978-0-7011-3260-6
- OCLC Number:
- 20418716
- ASIN:
- 0701132604
- Goodreads:
- 1286101
Copied ISBN!
A.S. Byatt has earned a unique reputation as a novelist who manages to combine passion and intellect, and the life of the emotions with that of the mind; and these qualities are shown at their triumphant best in Possession, a tour de force of wit and intelligence, romance and scholarship. Like The French Lieutenant's Woman, it is formally both a modern novel and a high Victorian novel. Two young academics are researching into the lives of — respectively — the Browningesque mid-Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash and his contemporary, Christabel LaMotte; and as they delve deeper into the turbulent and hitherto unrelated lives of the two poets through their letters, journals and poems, and trace their movements from London to the north Yorkshire coast, from spiritualist seances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany, a bizarre and haunting counterpointing and correspondence of passions and ideas begins to emerge. …
A.S. Byatt has earned a unique reputation as a novelist who manages to combine passion and intellect, and the life of the emotions with that of the mind; and these qualities are shown at their triumphant best in Possession, a tour de force of wit and intelligence, romance and scholarship. Like The French Lieutenant's Woman, it is formally both a modern novel and a high Victorian novel. Two young academics are researching into the lives of — respectively — the Browningesque mid-Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash and his contemporary, Christabel LaMotte; and as they delve deeper into the turbulent and hitherto unrelated lives of the two poets through their letters, journals and poems, and trace their movements from London to the north Yorkshire coast, from spiritualist seances to the fairy-haunted far west of Brittany, a bizarre and haunting counterpointing and correspondence of passions and ideas begins to emerge. An astonishingly rich and exhilarating blend of mystery, romance, comedy, Victoriana and modern university novel — it reaches its climax on a storm-tossed night in the churchyard where Ash and his secret are buried — Possession is A.S. Byatt's finest and most ambitious novel yet.
Acton reviewed Possession by A. S. Byatt
Review of 'Possession' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
This was a wonderful experience, and I don't know where to begin in describing it. These pages contain a mystery, a Victorian romance, a present day story of literary competition between scholars, and a modern romance. It highlights the differences between the two times in fascinating ways, and also demonstrates how silences can be the biggest clues.
Byatt creates two Victorian poets who seem so real that I looked up their names, wondering if this novel were based on anyone specific. That the author created the poems and letters of Christabel LaMotte and Randolph Henry Ash, with such believable detail, is brillant.
The cast of this story is wonderful, too. Of course, the author would have vast experience with other literary scholars and know how to draw them! Maud Bailey and Roland Mitchell, who are central to the modern plot, are both very likable people. Each, in the beginning, is …
This was a wonderful experience, and I don't know where to begin in describing it. These pages contain a mystery, a Victorian romance, a present day story of literary competition between scholars, and a modern romance. It highlights the differences between the two times in fascinating ways, and also demonstrates how silences can be the biggest clues.
Byatt creates two Victorian poets who seem so real that I looked up their names, wondering if this novel were based on anyone specific. That the author created the poems and letters of Christabel LaMotte and Randolph Henry Ash, with such believable detail, is brillant.
The cast of this story is wonderful, too. Of course, the author would have vast experience with other literary scholars and know how to draw them! Maud Bailey and Roland Mitchell, who are central to the modern plot, are both very likable people. Each, in the beginning, is concentrating on different poets and so do not come into contact until Roland makes a surprising discovery about a link between the two, something that was not known before by the literary community.
And so the story begins...I thoroughly enjoyed complex, dense novel that keeps turning such interesting corners!
