Status Updates From Possession: A Romance

The modern scholars are officially playing dirty, the Victorian wives and roommates are panicking in the past, and Val has completely hit her limit. The hunt is getting dangerous!

“I must tell you, ever since that first meeting, I knew you were my fate.”

This describes Melusina hiding away her lower monster/serpent half from her husband. In the context of the novel, it represents Christabel guarding her private sexuality and her forbidden love letters. It is incredibly ironic because Roland and Maud are currently trying to break down the door to that very "dark latched room."

The Snake Tail = The Secret: In the poem, Melusina's monster tail represents Christabel's secret sexuality and her hidden life with Ash. • The Keyhole = The Academics: The husband peeking through the keyhole to spy on Melusina is exactly what Roland, Maud, Cropper, and Leonora are doing to Christabel right now. They are prying into her private, intimate "bath."

Now that you know Christabel and Ash have started a secret affair, this poem takes on a completely different, scandalous meaning. Christabel wrote it after meeting Ash.

They have to hide their massive discovery not just from the old-school male establishment (Blackadder), but from the cutting-edge feminist establishment (Leonora) too!

“The glass key”

Maud—She has constructed her cold, minimalist, pristine apartment as a castle to keep the world out. Her past relationships have left her feeling handled and invaded, so she uses her intellect and her icy demeanor as a shield.

Melusina, fairy story, with her horrible snake tail and children of many deformed children.. sensuality.. impotent desire… Virginia Woolf gets it.

Val, on her end, remains heavily cynical about the academic world. She views Roland's literary pursuits not as a source of romance, but as the very thing trapping them in poverty and stagnation.

They are stuck in a deeply stagnant relationship born out of mutual exhaustion and shared poverty rather than romantic passion. Val is cynical, sharp, and deeply resentful of the academic world that Roland is failing to break into, which only adds to that heavy, suffocating atmosphere in their basement flat.

Instead of a standard, realistic novel, a traditional Romance focuses on:
High drama and grand passions rather than mundane, everyday domestic life.
Quest-like journeys where characters search for hidden secrets, lost treasures, or profound truths.
Myth, folklore, and magic operating just beneath the surface of reality.
Coincidence and fate, where the universe seems to actively push people and events together.

I’ve lost this book but don’t want to lose where I was at so it will probably sit here forever!