Re: Excuse me. I have a very clear recollection of writing to you about Possession.
Camilla Send a noteboard - 07/07/2010 12:04:03 AM
A.S. Byatt knows literary studies. Possession is possibly the best description of the best and worst of the discipline that I have ever come across. She accurately captures the thrill of holding in your hands an old edition with a particular history, the uncovering of that piece which not everyone has already seen. The whole book is an exploration of that slow uncovering which historical research is all about, the story that changes and shifts as new information is introduced; and the active creation of an interpretation. Together they make up the best of this discipline.
And then there is the scathing parody of both extremes of authorial focus: the biographically oriented, and the sexual/feminist/psychoanalytical, both of which plague the discipline in their attempts to capture and speak for the author.
Strangely, this was never how the book was presented to me whenever people tried to get me to read it. The emphasis was always on the developing relationship between the academics in parallel with that of the authors they study. This to me was a side point. I read the book as more of a love letter to a discipline than as a love story.
And I do know that while I did not phrase it as beautifully as you just did, I did talk around this. I am annoyed and slightly worried. Are my letters this boring?
<has not read the rest of your review, came straight here after my letters were indirectly insulted>
What you said, specifically, was, and I quote:
Read Byatt. Byatt ROCKS. Borrow Rebekah's Possession. NOW. She is better than Harkaway any day of the week.
That is all. It is a very enthusiastic endorsement, but it doesn't say anything about it describing the study of literature.
Your letters are anything but boring. And usually more eloquent than that bit.
*MySmiley*
structured procrastinator
structured procrastinator
/Other Liteature: Possession by A.S. Byatt
06/07/2010 06:02:40 PM
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Re: Excuse me. I have a very clear recollection of writing to you about Possession.
06/07/2010 06:43:34 PM
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I'm sure I did too.
06/07/2010 07:00:06 PM
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Re: I'm sure I did too.
07/07/2010 12:05:16 AM
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The main reason for my love of the book are the letters, I would say.
24/07/2010 10:00:13 PM
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Re: Excuse me. I have a very clear recollection of writing to you about Possession.
07/07/2010 12:04:03 AM
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Yes, I saw it more as a criticism (satire?) of obsessive academia than a love-story.
07/07/2010 10:34:12 AM
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Re: Yes, I saw it more as a criticism (satire?) of obsessive academia than a love-story.
09/07/2010 11:45:45 AM
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It's funny. I'd have to reread, but based on what I remember I have the opposite view.
24/07/2010 10:06:57 PM
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It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
24/07/2010 10:42:39 PM
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Re: It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
25/07/2010 09:09:50 AM
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Re: It's a sign of it being a good book that you can like it for such different reasons from mine.
25/07/2010 10:32:55 AM
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