Thirty years ago, I read A.S Byatt’s Possession, the Booker Award winner of 1990, and was possessed by the novel. After her death, in November, 2023, I decided to revisit it, and (sorry for verbal overplay), was repossessed.
Where to start? Possession is a writer’s tour de force, and, also, the perfect novel for writers to read. For those who don’t know it, the plot has a clever duality—two time periods, the late twentieth century, and the Victorian era, running alongside, and overlapping in surprising ways. Two love stories intertwine: in the present, a young man and woman, both academics, are separately researching two Victorian poets, and discover, even as they are discovering each other, the secret love affair between their 19th century subjects. To romance and mystery now add suspense and satire, for, as these two academics search for clues that lead, at end, to their satisfying discovery, they must stay ahead of a pack of self-important, hilarious and eccentric academics who are chasing the researchers to be the first to get their hands on the sensational revelations that will rewrite the stories of these two poets.
Add more literary pyrotechnics: Byatt writes their poetry in the voices of these two Victorians: the eminent R.H. Ash’s, in classical and epic style; while, Christabel La Motte, the female poet, writes mystically and simply. And not only are these poems composed with appropriate metre, rhyme and imagery, but worthy of a close reading for their beauty and meaning. Then there is the diary of Ash’s long-suffering wife, satire of modern literary theory…and more…
Possession is a novel in which everyone is either possessed, or possessing. And I, too, have been by A.S. Byatt twice ensnared in these complex, subtle, entertaining pages.
— Jill Solnicki's books include two collections of poetry, This Mortal Coil and The Fabric of Skin (Penumbra Press), and a memoir, The Real Me is Gonna be a Shock (Lester Publishing Limited). She is currently preparing her third collection of poems, The Darkening House, for publication. Jill lives in Toronto.
You can find Jill Solnicki's poetry in Issue 301 Autumn 2024. Order the issue now:
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