Possession, by Dame A.S. Byatt
I am always delighted to find a novel I really enjoy--there aren't so many about. Strangely, I bought this book at an airport in 1992 on my way to Bangkok, but--in a excellence of procrastination--only began reading it last month :) Maybe I needed the intervening years before being ready for it (it's not short on long words...) Yet now, I see "Possession" as not just a great novel but, "in my humble opinion"--as they say, a masterpiece. Why?
It is, as the subtitle says, a romance. Two, in fact, running in parallel. One is set in 'contemporary' times (1980s as it was first published in 1990) and the other in Victorian times. The stories are different, yet clearly parallel. We have a young scholar, Roland, who finds a mysterious romantic letter penned in the 1850s by a famous poet--Randolf Henry Ash--to a woman other than his wife. The scholar wants to discover the full story and sets out to investigate. He enlists the help of fellow scholar, Maud, and together they set out on an adventure. As Roland and Maud slowly uncover the missing story from Ash's life, they are inexorably drawn into a drama of their own which in many ways follows the same path as that which they are studying.
There is actually a third parallel, briefly, with two of Roland and Maud's colleagues. A kind of echo of the main stories. I can't decide whether this unexpected addition was a good idea--intended to be thought-provoking perhaps (are we all susceptible to the same events in life...?).
Byatt's own web site says that the novel began with a contemplation of those who spend a lifetime studying one historical character. "Does he possess her, or does she possess him?". In turning this thought into a novel, Byatt not only wrote the beautifully crafted dual story-line, but also created the many documents pertaining to her 19th Century characters. Indeed, the book begins:
"These things are there. The garden and the tree
The serpent at its root, the fruit of gold
The woman in the shadow of the boughs
The running water and the grassy space
They are and were there. At the old world's rim..."
Fortunately, it's not crucial to have a liking for Victorian poetry; I found it may be skipped without losing the threads of the story, but it's worth a try, and it does add an extra dimension to the story. I rather liked 'Mummy Possest'--written, supposedly, after a traumatic seance...
"Possession" clearly shows the author's roots--University Lecturer in English and American Literature. In addition to the compelling story-line, it gives an insight into academic life. I like the part (start of Chapter 24) where Maud is trying to write a paper on metaphor:
"...are metaphorical hypostasisations of what must be seen as'.
She crossed out 'seen' and wrote 'could be felt as'.
Both were metaphors. She wrote 'could be explained as events in an undifferentiated body of experience'.
Body was a metaphor. She had written 'experience' twice, which was ugly. 'Event was possibly a metaphor, too."
I know the feeling...
Like any good mystery story, the reader is carefully led into a state where the obvious ending becomes a surprise. The rich American was not just there to add a sense of urgency. I say no more. Altogether, a splendid read.
PS: In October 2007 Byatt introduced a showing of the 2002 film version at Wimbledon Bookfest. Alas, I couldn't make it that day, but also I'm a bit wary about watching the film. This is not a reflection on the film, but just that I have a clear picture of the book's events in my mind, and I don't know if I want it changed by watching the film - however good it may be. I guess some day curiosity will get the better of me...