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Possession by A.S. Byatt - 4.5* - My Review

In England, scholar Roland Michell discovers two hand-written letters that Victorian poet Randolph Henry Ash wrote to an unnamed woman. After doing research, Michell guesses that the unnamed woman in Christabel LaMotte, another Victorian poet. This leads him to Maud Baily, a scholar studying LaMotte’s influence in feminist literature. The story evolves into a love story – one set in Victorian times between Ash and LaMotte and the other in present-day (1986) between Michell and Bailey.

But calling this book a love story does not do it justice. It is a literary novel filled with different types of fictional works – poetry, letters, multiple diaries, academic papers, fairytales, and historical texts. Byatt writes these in diverse styles to indicate different authorship. There are also many literary references sprinkled throughout. We follow two scholars as they attempt to uncover the real lives (and an illicit love affair) of these poets of the past.

The main theme reflects on the idea of “possession” from a variety of viewpoints: obsession with a loved one, physical ownership of property, copyrights, reputations, academic status, collections of historical artifacts, and knowledge of a person’s past (despite the fact that the person in question may have preferred privacy, feeling that parts of their lives were their own business and no one else’s).

There are several fabulous characters, particularly the villain of the piece. Mortimer Cropper is an American who wants to take Ash’s works out of the country. He conspires with one of the heirs to the Ash estate. Toward the end, it contains a strikingly drawn gothic scene complete with storm and cemetery. It contains overtones of various genres such as romance, detective, and gothic literature.

This is a complex story. It took me a very long time to read it. I could only digest small pieces at a time. I found the inclusion of the wide variety of fictional works to be very creative, but several of these were extremely long, and it got to be a little much after a while. For me, a little goes a long way. It is a complicated search for the truth, with the two storylines containing many parallels.

I found Possession a demanding read. It requires a willingness to analyze Victorian era documents, which contain clues to the scholars’ quest. Byatt’s writing is extraordinary, and her techniques inspire the reader’s curiosity, which drives the need to find out what happens to these people. It is an impressive work.

4.5

This is a book I would take to a desert island because there is so much in it. It is perfect for English majors but can be off-putting to others. I think it's fine to skip the poetry if you aren't really interested. And you're right, it's not a fast read, being both dense and long. The movie was actually pretty good too, although they made some changes. But they didn't do what I thought they should, which would be to have the same actors play the Victorian and modern couple.

I have read several other books by Byatt, but none of them are as good as this one, in my opinion.

Excellent Review. Your description of the theme is very appealing. I read a short story collection by this author last year, and it was one of my favorites. I can still picture some vivid images and ideas from the stories. I had Possession in mind or the ATY academic setting prompt (though I have since read 2-3 others that would fit). The intensity sounds like something I would enjoy, but like you said, a little goes a long way. (Sea of Tranquility was perfect for me right now - intense but short.)

Robin P wrote: "This is a book I would take to a desert island because there is so much in it. It is perfect for English majors but can be off-putting to others. I think it's fine to skip the poetry if you aren't ..."
Yes, I agree about taking it to a desert island! There's so much in it. I did not skip the poetry since there were clues to the story hidden within them, which is part of the reason it took me so long to read. I have not seen the movie but you have an interesting idea to have the same actors play multiple roles.

NancyJ wrote: "Excellent Review. Your description of the theme is very appealing. I read a short story collection by this author last year, and it was one of my favorites. I can still picture some vivid images an..."
Thanks, Nancy. This is one of 16 books I put on a list to make sure I completed in 2022. I knew I had to commit to reading it since it is long and densely written (my copy was 576 pages). I had initially planned it for the "academic setting" prompt too, but ended up reading a different, shorter book since this one was taking me so long. I'll have to look up the short story collection you mentioned.

This is one of the books I will read if "modern" wins for June. It has lots of modern, modern-lit, modern-classics, and literary fiction tags. They all mean basically the same thing to me.

This would be a great one for that tag.

I adore this book - I could not put it down when I first read it (my small children got very little attention that evening and I didn’t go to bed until about 4 in the morning!) I’ve read it again since and basked for hours in the experience all over again.

I have since figured out that I have a real ‘thing’ for authors who can so accurately operate in different writing styles for literary effect - see also ‘Cloud Atlas’ and ‘The Luminaries’

KateNZ wrote: "I adore this book - I could not put it down when I first read it (my small children got very little attention that evening and I didn’t go to bed until about 4 in the morning!) I’ve read it again s..."
So glad you enjoyed it too! I love books that keep you reading like that.

Joy D wrote: "Robin P wrote: "This is a book I would take to a desert island because there is so much in it. It is perfect for English majors but can be off-putting to others. I think it's fine to skip the poetr..."

Yes! It would be just the book!

As a comparison, have you read The Weight of Ink? I think it could be interesting to compare though they are quite different. But something tickles me that these 2 books should be kept near each other.

Yes, I really enjoyed The Weight of Ink, Theresa.

KateNZ wrote: "I adore this book - I could not put it down when I first read it (my small children got very little attention that evening and I didn’t go to bed until about 4 in the morning!) I’ve read it again s..."

Yes!! I also love authors who play with style. As a French lit major way back, we read a lot of the French "nouveau roman" form the 1960's, where authors did all kinds of experiments, like multiple time lines (which was new) or a book where the whole thing is a series of snapshot descriptions of a house and you figure out from them what is actually happening. I also loved Cloud Atlas and similar books.