Dispossessing Femininity in Byatt's Possession

Authors

Jenna Miller

Keywords

Possession, A.S. Byatt, femininity, feminism, feminism progress

Abstract

A.S. Byatt’s best-selling 1990 novel Possession follows the character of Roland Michell, an intelligent but struggling academic who has devoted his life and studies to the brilliant Victorian author, Randolph Ash. Roland joins forces with Maud bailey, an expert on a similarly talented but under-recognized Victorian author Christabel LaMotte, in order to better study the relationships between LaMotte, Ash, and Ash’s wife, Ellen. Roland’s and Maud’s literary studies develop along with their relationship, but the more the two of them learn about the relationship between Ash and Christabel, the more they discover that the truth about their Victorian counterparts is both more complex and immediate than they had expected.

Recommended Citation

Miller, Jenna (2015) "Dispossessing Femininity in Byatt's Possession," AWE (A Woman’s Experience): Vol. 2, Article 7.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/awe/vol2/iss2/7