Possession Theme of Education

A. S. Byatt has said that Possession plays with the form of the "campus novel" just as much as it does with the forms of "the detective story, the biography, the mediaeval verse Romance, the modern romantic novel, and Hawthorne's fantastic historical Romance in between" (source). In other words, Possession is, among other things, a sometimes satirical and often playful account of academic life in the late 1980s.

The novel suggests that it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference between education and miseducation in academia, especially at this level, and it often pokes fun at the academic trends and fashions of the late twentieth century. Even so, Possession celebrates the spirit of academic work as much as it satirizes the realities of academic life. After all, its heroes are, first and foremost, people who've chosen to spend their whole lives loving literature.

1. What do we know about Roland Mitchell's education before going to the university, and what do we know about his education at the university?
2. In what ways did Beatrice Nest's university education differ from James Blackadder's? Were there important similarities?
3. Do we know anything about Randolph Henry Ash's education? What about Christabel LaMotte's?

In Possession, Maud Bailey and Roland Mitchell chat about the ways in which academic study can suck the life out of literary works, making it more difficult to love and appreciate those works over time. On the whole, the novel seems to support this point of view, and it suggests that academic methodologies and practices should be taken with a grain of salt.

Apart from taking a satirical look at academic life in the late 1980s, Possession also explores the broader theme of "knowledge" in general. By repeatedly alluding to the biblical tale of the Garden of Eden and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Possession sets up age-old contexts for its characters' experiences of sexual discovery, "education," and knowledge.