Bring on the tough stuff - there’s not just one right answer.
- At one point in Possession, Maud Bailey disses the "cosmic masculinity" she perceives in Randolph Henry Ash's writings (4.37). Does Possession itself seem to have a vision of "cosmic masculinity"? What about "cosmic heterosexuality"?
- What does Possession actually tell us—explicitly, that is—about the relationship between Blanche Glover and Christabel LaMotte? What does it imply? Why is this important?
- What tone does Possession take toward nineteenth-century spiritualist practices? Does it poke fun at them? Does it represent them as possible paths to insight and truth? Some mixture of both?
- Roughly speaking, how much of Possession's pages focus on the novel's twentieth-century narrative? How many reproduce historical documents and letters? How many transcribe stories, poems, and excerpts from literary criticism? What's the actual breakdown here? Why did Byatt write the novel this way?
- Possession has already been adapted for the screen, but imagine that a remake is in the works, and you've been asked to cast it. Who would you pick? Why?