Re: Yes, I saw it more as a criticism (satire?) of obsessive academia than a love-story.
Camilla Send a noteboard - 09/07/2010 11:45:45 AM
The "factory" metaphor was particularly damning. I think the parallel love-stories were meant to be the sugar-coating around the bitter pill in the centre. Though the C19 love-story was much more enjoyable to read than the C20 one, which just seemed contrived.
I agree. Although I suppose that ties in with what the characters say about overanalysing sexuality and having lost the naive belief in "love" which the earlier poets still had.
I like how the morbidity of the academics' pursuit slowly grows until it reaches the end-point of grave-robbery. (Whited out as this may be seen as a spoiler). Your point about spiritualism is also apt.
Agreed. But I think it is important that this comes from the "wrong" kind of authorial focus. Not all literary study is tarred with that same brush.
I think "infamous" is the right word for the poems. Christabel LaMotte's were bloody awful (IMO). I quite liked Ash's though. Is that a symptom of being male? 
I don't know. I didn't mind the longer ones. And I quite liked Mummy Possessd, or whatever it was called.
About interpretation: I don't think the poems are meant to be there as poems, for you to interpret as you wish in their own right. They're devices, ersatz poems, contrived for the sake of the novel they're in. They are the way they are (trite, pretentious, or whatever) because their being that way serves the purposes of the novel. Such flaws as they have are deliberate. I can see why this is frustrating for a poetry lover – they're like a cardboard cut-out of a sex symbol instead of the real thing – but you've got to hand it to Byatt that writing poetry that's bad in exactly the way you want it to be shows incredible skill. It's like a virtuoso trying to sing off-key on purpose – so much more difficult than doing it well.
I agree. Except I don't think the poems are intentionally bad. I think they are intentionally Victorian in a specific way which makes them bad because they are written today and for a set purpose. They are, as you say, images of poems rather than poems. So the badness is an accidental side-effect which is hard to avoid.
*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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