Possession: A Romance A. S. Byatt

1. Possession: A RomanceA. S. Byatt First Chapter. Analysis

2. Main Topics • Roland Mitchell’s Characterization • Quest (Ash’s lawless love story) • Quotations • Draft Letters • Illegal action

3. Quotations • Science • Vico’s Principj di Scienza Nuova Fiction • Ash’s Complete Works • Gods, Men and Heroes • Complete Correspondence Of R. H. Ash • Pranks Of Priapus • The Grecian Way of Love • The Garden Of Proserpina

4. Fictional Book • A fictional book is a non-existent book created with the purpose of a work of fiction. Such a book may: • provide the basis for the novel plot • add verisimilitude by supplying plausible background info • act as a thread of a particular writer’s output or canon • be used as a device to illustrate a story within a story

5. The Grecian Way of Love may refer to a philosophical aspect of love • In Greek mythology: Priapus, was a minor rustic fertility God, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. It refers to physical love.

6. Myth Proserpina was Cerere’s daughter raped by Pluton the king of Ade while picking up some flower on Pergusa lake shore. She became Ade’s wife and queen of Hell. In Possession In Ash’s The Garden of Proserpina, as in the Greek myth, there is a dramatic change in life routine. You can find the same situation in Ash and Lamotte’s love story. Ash breaks into Lamotte’s life as did Pluto in Proserpina’s.

7. Giambattista Vico:: an Italian philosopher, historian and lawyer. In Possession Discovery of Ash’s letter drafts addressed to a mysterious woman. Vico’s text is about philosophy, history and poetry. The text is based on human reason. Its location between the two previously quoted texts underlines the role of reason to look for a possible connection between different aspects of love. G. Vico states ancient people used myth to express universal values and truths. Byatt uses the same device to introduce the kinds of love story visible in the romance with Proserpina’s myth.