How we cite our quotes: Possession: A Romance. London: Vintage Books, 1991.
Quote #10
It is possible for a writer to make, or remake at least, for a reader, the primary pleasures of eating, or drinking, or looking on, or sex. […] They do not habitually elaborate on the equally intense pleasure of reading. There are obvious reasons for this, the most obvious being the regressive nature of the pleasure, a mise-en-âbime even, where words draw attention to the power and delight of words, and so on ad infinitum, thus making the imagination experience something papery and dry […]. (26.39)
This is the only passage in Possession in which the novel's narrator reflects on the "power and delight" of literature in such a self-conscious way. But hey, who doesn't love a little metacommentary now and then?