RIP A. S. Byatt

[Charles Albert]

Romantic poetry has no appeal to me at all (though, when I hit Red Dragon,
I'm glad I had read some Blake), and I too admit that it's my fault, but it
serves an essential function in the book. It's worth persevering.

It's kinda like "Is Pale Fire good poetry?" To which I can only answer "if
it isn't, it is very good bad poetry."

But even though Harold Bloom and I are bonded at the hip with respect to
Pale Fire and CoL49, that is the dead end of any comparison. So govern
yourself accordingly.

love,
cfa



On Fri, Nov 17, 2023, 5:41 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> I had trouble with *Possession, *which i'll blame on myself and a simple
> twist of fate.
> Couldn't feel the age; didn't know it but very superficially and the plot
> felt ....forced
> not organic........I never finished it but, again, I feel my mind was never
> all there with it....
>
> I liked a couple shorter things better......Maybe I was just always too
> busy to follow a longer plot
> easily....
>
> On Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 1:57 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Period satire could veer towards insider playtime. But I do expect (hope)
> > Posession to have more depth than such style/culture formal play.
> >
> > On Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 1:26 PM Paul Cray <pmcray at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > It's a very good book, although it probably helps to be Adam Roberts (
> > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Roberts_(British_writer)) to get
> the
> > > most out of it. The Victorian poet whose life and work the novel turns
> > > around is a mashup of Browning and Tennyson. I suspect the faked up
> poems
> > > are hilarious(*) to a Victorianist!
> > >
> > > (*) In that they presumably raise many a wry eyebrow and chortle of
> > > recognition.
> > >
> > > Paul
> > >
> > > On Fri, 17 Nov 2023 at 09:32, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Thanks cfa,
> > >>
> > >> I’ve just ordered Posession from AbeBooks for the *free shipping*
> price
> > of
> > >> $4!  I’m always interested in a new author recommendation from a
> > respected
> > >> source, and who can resist SUCH A DEAL ($4!) !
> > >>
> > >> David Morris
> > >>
> > >> On Fri, Nov 17, 2023 at 10:37 AM Charles Albert <cfalbert at gmail.com>
> > >> wrote:
> > >>
> > >> > A.S. Byatt, Scholar Who Found Literary Fame With Fiction, Dies at 87
> > >> >
> > >> > I am eternally indebted to the friend who insisted I must read
> > >> Possession.
> > >> >
> > >> > love,
> > >> >
> > >> > cfa
> > >> > --
> > >> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >> >
> > >
> > >
> > >> --
> > >> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> > >>
> > >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>