A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries) [Paperback]

Catherine Burgass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2002 | ISBN-10: 0826452485 | ISBN-13: 978-0826452481

This is part of a new series of guides to contemporary novels. The aim of the series is to give readers accessible and informative introductions to some of the most popular, most acclaimed and most influential novels of recent years – from ‘The Remains of the Day’ to ‘White Teeth’. A team of contemporary fiction scholars from both sides of the Atlantic has been assembled to provide a thorough and readable analysis of each of the novels in question.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Study Aids Get Chic - Concerned about keeping up at the book club? Stuck for something to say when dinner party talk turns to Zadie Smith? Or no time to read Captain Corelli’s Mandolin before the movie comes out? Never fear, cool new study aids are here in the form of Continuum Contemporaries....The Novel Approach, a series of handy readers’ guides to contemporary fiction. Launching in September, with further waves in January and May 2002, they’re much slicker than the frumpy cheat-aids of yore, including everything from website links to review buzz, and deliberately featuring new novels such as Bridget Jones’s Diary, The Shipping News, Trainspotting, and even the Harry Potter books." --Time Out (London)

"A brilliant idea--short, perceptive books which tell you what you need to know about some of the most vibrant and challenging writing around today--a bit like having a reading group in your pocket."--Ian Rankin

"The series comes as near to squaring various circles - popular / academic, 'good read' / 'classic Lit', novel / film of the book as any I know. And at best it goes a fair way towards reshuffling those categories and redrawing the boundaries. With the first volume, I was relieved. After two or three, I was hooked.

The books are invaluable for gathering out-of-the-way or ephemeral comment from TV and radio interviews and the web as well as from literary reviews.

Refreshingly upfront and up-to-date…

Given the space, there are remarkably balanced film/novel comparisons of the most well-known examples…

An important feature is the fully referenced bibliographies, including reviews and copious website addresses - the latter ranging from fanzines and authors' and publishers' own sites to academic discussion lists and online journals.

In method as in subject matter, these guides move freely on the interface between print culture and multimedia. Highly finished and pleasantly handleable as books in their own right, they gesture accommodatingly to both words and worlds beyond.

Taking the series as a whole, it also confirms two things: that narrative nowadays is generically highly hybrid and increasingly cross-media; and that an understanding of the processes of writing and reading 'contemporary classic' (or at least 'currently famous') fiction cannot be separated - yet must be distinguished - from the processes of making and marketing books and films."
-- The Times Higher Education Supplement, May 31, 2002


"…invaluable for gathering out-of-the-way or ephemeral comment from TV and radio interviews…the web…[and] literary reviews." (The Times Higher Education Supplement, May 31, 2002 )

"…invaluable for gathering out-of-the-way or ephemeral comment from TV and radio interviews…the web…[and] literary reviews." (, )

From the Publisher

This is an excellent guide to A.S. Byatt’s award-winning novel, now a major feature film directed by Neil LaBute. It features a biography of the author, a full-length analysis of the novel, and a great deal more. If you’re studying this novel, reading it for your book club, or if you simply want to know more about it, you’ll find this guide informative and helpful.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Continuum (January 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826452485
• ISBN-13: 978-0826452481
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #829,014 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent overview, July 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

I'm the first to admit that 'Possession' is a complex novel, but it's also one of my favourites. This guidebook might seem like an odd idea (why do you need a guidebook to a novel??) - having just finished it, though, I'm left feeling even more impressed by the novel, and itching to read it again. Dr Burgass writes clearly and is deeply knowledgeable about her subject. There are so many levels to this novel, so many nuances, and she captures most of them wonderfully. This is all in the main chapter of the book. The other material seems like a bonus: a brief history of Byatt's career and a great little section about how (and why) this clever novel sold so well. It's even current enough to have a page about the film adaptation, which as far as I know has not been released yet. But it sounds intriguing. Which is probably a good reason to read this book now - then you will know more about the novel when everybody starts talking about it again.

34 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Covers All Aspects Including the Film, September 30, 2002

By 

Diana F. Von Behren "reneofc" (Kenner, LA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

Reading A.S.Byatt's "Possession" can be a daunting task as the novel is not only interpersed with poetry and letters written by all the fictional historical characters, but is filled with allusions that only a lifetime afficiando of literature would understand. This little book by Ms Burgass will help the less erudite reader peel back the layers that comprise the entire work.
The guide is broken down into various sections that will answer questions regarding all manner of topics related to the novel. The author, the novel itself, the novel's reception, the novel's standing today, and a helpful list of study questions,further reading and websites round out the chapter topics.
I found the chapter on the novel sufficiently comprehensive to answer all my questions regarding the fictional works of Ash and LaMotte. Coverage of the novel's various themes was also extremely instructional.
I recommend this to all who enjoyed the movie and want to fully enjoy the book's entire experience.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finding Ways To Balance Good Desires So They Can Co-exist, October 23, 2006

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One More Option (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A.S. Byatt's Possession: A Reader's Guide (Continuum Contemporaries) (Paperback)

I give this book 5 stars because it did what I hoped a book like this would do: It gives the reader more ideas, history, and perspectives from which to interpret A.S. Byatt's novel "Possession." This is not a Cliff Notes. It's more like if you invited a person who was way "too" smart and "too" informed to your book club discussion. Of Byatt she says, "She has worked assiduously towards encompassing what are frequently regarded as mutually exclusive states." And this is true in so many ways. Byatt takes on ideas that most people consider contradictory and challenges those assumptions capably.

There is a "signifanct part of the work (Byatt's fiction) which is semi autobiographical." "As the main title suggests, the novel is about possession, and in line with its complex form dramatizes multiple aspects of this theme, exploring the nature of possessive love and the contrary impulse to self-preservation; superficial possession - of things - and supernatural possession by ghosts, literal and metaphorical; the quest for knowledge (intellectual possession)," and "a degree of self-possession (pride)."

Catherine Burgass examines the book's form, plot choices, and language. She gives examples of the literary criticism and reviews the book has received from major media sources and different schools of thought (old and new). The book intrinsically asks how do contemporary focuses and forms interact with the considerations of the past and future? "Part of Roland and Maud's mutual attraction is, paradoxically, a shared desire for solitude."

When A.S. Byatt was asked if she was tempted to write biographies of other people, she replied, "I do not wish to spend most of my life on somebody else's life - not one other person's life. The words came to me long before the plot of the novel, Possession, and it was to do with being taken over - or alternatively, taking somebody over, depending on whether you're a sympathiser or a hunter."

Byatt's characters are beautifully complex. Ash is sensitive to past, modern, and possible future sensibilities. So "at one point in the novel, Ash considers the way to win Christabel: 'He would teach her that she was not his possession' (p.279)" or anyone else's possession for that matter. And in the end "She and Ash remain linked in their lifetimes, poignantly through this child, whom neither of them can publicly own." The "child" in the novel could be representative of many good things they shared, their literal child, their chemistry of ongoing communication, or the things their relationship created in the real world. The novel explores how and why both characters choose to hide or silence parts of their relationship.

Love that creates consistent beauty and quality is rare. Some people think it comes only once. Some believe they can experience it in several ways, at the same or different times. Some find it in art and work as much as they find it in other people. Regardless, it is rare for most people. And the novel and the Reader's Guide explore how seemingly contradictory loves may co-exist by reconsidering perceptions, definitions, and forms.

I wrote a review of the movie before I read Ms. Burgass' Reader's Guide. My review is on Amazon if you'd like additional perspectives. If you like the movie Possession or the novel, and you'd like to consider it further, I highly recommend this book. Ms. Burgass really cared about the intelligence, complexity, and work that went into creating the novel. And her Reader's Guide may open doors to considering the story in new and valuable ways.