Possession

Possession

by A.S. Byatt

Featured on the Time Magazine Top 100

                This novel reminded me of a class I took where I looked at several drafts of a novel looking for little clues as to what order they were written in, using clues like the evolution of the text as well as letters between the author and his agent and then his editor. Whenever I describe what the project was in detail to friends of mine I often see their eyes glaze over and a polite expression cement itself on their face. Thank you for pretending to be interested, and you have no idea what you are missing.

                The novel begins with the discovery of a love letter written by Randolph Henry Ash to Christabel Lamotte by Roland Mitchell. Mitchell discovers the letter while looking at an old book owned by Ash in a museum. Mitchell is a frustrated literature scholar whose career has been stalled by his timidity which has been often translated as weakness. He steals the letter, not with the intention of using it to pursue fame, but instead he feels that since he found the letter, pursuing the meaning is his responsibility. He teams up with Lamotte scholar Maud Bailey, a professor at a small college, who is also a distant relative of Lamotte. The two work in secret, discovering letters, tracing the movements of the two poets over a century before, and reexamining poetry that has long been considered part of the British Cannon for new meaning now that a major--albeit secret-- part of both Ash and Lamotte's life being uncovered. It may sound predictable to say that the two researchers fall in love while they uncover the complexity of the Ash/Lamotte relationship, but that would be simplifying a plot element that is handled respectfully and with earnest complexity. The characters, even the characters that are long since dead, do not act like chess pieces to make a plot go (although the novel is intricately plotted), but are real working characters with well expressed thoughts and feelings.

                This may seem like a relatively dry plot, but it is terribly fascinating. Aside from the politics of academia, which provides a great deal of the tension of the novel, Mitchell's career woes  and the wear that a career that may be intellectually fulfilling but financially has left him a veritable pauper I found deeply stressful. There was also an interesting thread of resentment that runs through the novel that is directed at Americans. An aggressive Ash collector, whose monetary resources have cowed those of the British who identify him as a literary hero, is cast as the villain. Also cast in an antagonistic, if a little more ambiguous nature is a female American professor who has been working on a feminist study of Lamotte.  Byatt seems to be protesting Americans who have a sort of obsession with British culture that borders on fetishism.

                The novel unfolds like a really smart version of The DaVinci Code. Unfortunately, the cat and mouse aspect of Possession leads to a relatively disappointing conclusion that is not tonally in keeping with the rest of the novel. I read this book while I was looking for a house last year, and this is not as conducive as one might think to enjoying a book. Added to that, one aspect of the novel is, by design, sort of like homework. Byatt reconstructs the style of mid 19th Century British epic poetry with considerable skill. It reminded me (a little too well) of reading Alfred Lord Tennyson while studying for an exam, and that was a feeling I would have rather done without while trying to work out what sorts of concessions we wanted our seller to be making.

                There was a film adaptation of Possession made in 2002, which I have not seen. I am curious. Remember a little bit ago when I mentioned the feeling of resentment I got when discussing American scholars and collectors that was present in the novel? Roland Mitchell is played by Aaron Eckhart and Maud Baily is played by Gwyneth Paltrow, so I would assume that that is an aspect of the novel which did not survive to the film. From the trailer of the film, it does not appear that either actor attempts to hide their nationality. Added to this, the film is directed by Neil Labutte, a man who had until that point directed very intense and brutal movies about relationships and male aggression. Remember, I said I was curious. I did not say I was hopeful.

Coming soon: The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer.