AS Byatt's "Possession": names etc.
Feb. 26th, 2010 02:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wombat1138The movie version of Possession falls into my category of major disappointments in media adaptations-- not epic fail as such, but one of those prestige projects with respected directors/actors and good source material whose sum total (imho) didn't live up to any of those parts. (The main other example that comes to mind is Les Miserables with Liam Neeson, Geoffrey Rush, and Claire Danes.)
I was re-reading the book over the weekend and started jotting down notes about the characters' names and various other elements. I'm still mystified about a few names which may either cause me to klonk myself with obviousness when I finally get them, or which I just don't have the requisite familiarity with Victorian literature to pick up (frex, I can't remember whether I've read all of the epic poems associated with the modern leads), but hey.
In no particular order--
Epigraph, chapter 1: I think that in Byatt's conceptual framework, there's a certain degree of intrinsic unity to the apparent triptych of woman, snake, and garden-- cf. the metonymic extended repetition of these lines toward the end of the book. Furthermore, "garden" includes both the enclosed/hidden vegetation (esp. the prized golden fruit) and the walls that enclose it-- cf. the riddle of the egg etc., and the triple color-mapping of white, green, and gold onto Maud/Christabel. The snake/tree elements also sprawl out in other directions, though.
Roland Michell: reference to Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (stylistic cross-ref to Ash). Mont St.-Michel (esp. wrt the watery associations of Melusine and Ys); St. Michael as the guardian of Eden? "Mole" nickname: tunnelling underground (below walls?); cf. Ariane le Minier.
(Addendum: Carolingian legendary Roland as defender of a mountain pass; best friend Olivier = "olive tree"?)
Randolph Henry Ash: nothing particular on his overall initials or first two names... similarity to "Raimondin (de Lusignan)"? The duality of living tree vs. dead embers permeates the entire book. Index colors generally grey/black.
(Headsmack addendum: "Roland" is a partial anagram of "Randolph". Not sure what to do with the leftover PH letters by themselves or in conjunction w/ "Henry", though.)
James Blackadder: the initial eidolon of the "serpent at the root", as the dark (iron-grey) guardian of the subterranean "Ash Factory"; "James" <- Jacob, who serpently strikes at the heel.
Paola: not really sure what to make of her; there's the obvious "moth" (to the ashy flame?) comparisons in her intro, plus a possible pale parallel to Blanche (played up in the movie?)... she's fond of Roland, but only in a passing way; she does warn him later of Blackadder's impending wrath, though.
Val: (this was one of those embarrassing headslap moments) simply "valle" as unguarded/shadowed declivity; slough of despond? Brittle pink/black palette later softened to happier grey/plum (fruit again?).
(arghargh-- where on earth did that scrap of notes just fall off my keyboard onto? oh well, continued randomish stuff from memory)
Fergus Wolff: Fenris Ulf, "devourer". White/gold doublet of Christabel's grey hound "Dog Tray"?
Maud Bailey: several links explicitly stated in text-- Tennyson's "Maud" ("icily regular, splendidly null" quoted verbatim several times), "motte and bailey" (inner barricades, her work on textual liminality), "princess" in a glass tower/coffin. Slightly more subtly, a "vagina dentata" pun via "mawed". White/gold/green colors; references to (serpentine?) length and (tree-towering?) height.
Christabel LaMotte: Coleridge's "Christabel"-- cross-ref tree as plot point; Sir Leoline's name... ooh, "Geraldine" is identified as the daughter of "Sir Roland de Vaux", for more intertextual goodness-- vaux <- plural of Old French val (later valle) <- Latin vallis <-> "wall"? Cf. Maud wrt "motte and bailey" and white/gold/green. Large teeth = snake fangs?
(There's also an overlapping taxonomy of birds, reptiles, and insects as symbols of the inhuman/alien. I should find the DVD of Angels and Insects to watch it again as a much better Byatt-based movie, not that I can remember whether I've read the original novella :b )
Beatrice Nest: "blessed refuge"; woolly sheep. Attention frequently limited to surface impressions without delving deeper-- bafflement by Ellen's journal; her salad and mousse at the Mortlake conference described as "[they] looked delicious" (emph. added) w/o further info.
Ellen Best Ash: Her name mostly baffles me :b surname as simple indicator of prize/power? The only reason I've been able to think of for "Ellen" is as the complement to Leonora Stern (which might also add another layer to the "Best" primacy) -> Eleanor of Aquitaine? Helen of Troy? both probably also linked to "Leoline" in Coleridge, though. The various unrequited/unfulfilled Elaines around Lancelot?
Leonora Stern: another vagina dentata pun-- "man-eater" + "rear end"? She has two definite slips in conversational idiom, even in the American version of the book: "car hire" instead of "rental car"; "leave hold" instead of "let go".
Blanche Glover: "white hands". Isolde aux Blanche Mains? (I think Byatt may've had a passing reference to "Elaine[sic] aux blanches mains"?)
Mort Cropper: the deathly Grim Reaper, complete w/ license plate "666 ANK"(-ou/-h?); likes putting/keeping things in enclosed boxes.
George and Joan Bailey: "George" <- etm'ly "farmer" (more lit'ly "earth-worker")-- attachment to home soil, fallow fields (empty house, Christabel's neglected grave/room etc.). Darby and Joan? Joan of Arc? (who the heck *is* Mildred?)
Central flashbacks: the black/yellow stones in Ash's portrait <- Blanche's pockets, and the "cannonball" beach Maud and Roland later visit. Daisy ring <- holly-leaf finger-pricking game, but also the floral wreath Ash weaves at the end. Christabel's name first used just before consummation; Ash's name not used until the end of the sequence.
Ariane le Minier: Ariadne as guide through labyrinth; minier = "miner" delving underground.
Sabine de Kercoz: no idea about the last name; rape of the Sabine women? the text is inconsistent wrt Sabine's novels were published during her lifetime-- Ariane's introductory letter says they weren't, but her last letter says that they were.
[Addendum: "Kercoz" <- quercus, "oak", as another tree reference? The French/Breton words of "oak" seem to be completely different, though. According to some sources, Ys was protected by a sacred oak until it wasn't.)
Euan McIntyre: <- "Eugene", well-born? or another Celtic version of "Ian" <- "John"? hmm-- "McIntyre" supposedly means "son of the carpenter"; metaphorically raising Val from the grave? (Mary/Martha/Lazarus/Bethany refs elsewhere) Inverse-horse comparison; "O love, be fed with apples while you may".
May/Maia Thomasine Bailey: the month of May; a state of potentiality (mother may I-- the May 1st date appears as a marker somewhere, her birthdate?). "Thomasine" <- the waterfall, but also female twin(s) with Melusine (corporeal vs. conceptual).
I was re-reading the book over the weekend and started jotting down notes about the characters' names and various other elements. I'm still mystified about a few names which may either cause me to klonk myself with obviousness when I finally get them, or which I just don't have the requisite familiarity with Victorian literature to pick up (frex, I can't remember whether I've read all of the epic poems associated with the modern leads), but hey.
In no particular order--
Epigraph, chapter 1: I think that in Byatt's conceptual framework, there's a certain degree of intrinsic unity to the apparent triptych of woman, snake, and garden-- cf. the metonymic extended repetition of these lines toward the end of the book. Furthermore, "garden" includes both the enclosed/hidden vegetation (esp. the prized golden fruit) and the walls that enclose it-- cf. the riddle of the egg etc., and the triple color-mapping of white, green, and gold onto Maud/Christabel. The snake/tree elements also sprawl out in other directions, though.
Roland Michell: reference to Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" (stylistic cross-ref to Ash). Mont St.-Michel (esp. wrt the watery associations of Melusine and Ys); St. Michael as the guardian of Eden? "Mole" nickname: tunnelling underground (below walls?); cf. Ariane le Minier.
(Addendum: Carolingian legendary Roland as defender of a mountain pass; best friend Olivier = "olive tree"?)
Randolph Henry Ash: nothing particular on his overall initials or first two names... similarity to "Raimondin (de Lusignan)"? The duality of living tree vs. dead embers permeates the entire book. Index colors generally grey/black.
(Headsmack addendum: "Roland" is a partial anagram of "Randolph". Not sure what to do with the leftover PH letters by themselves or in conjunction w/ "Henry", though.)
James Blackadder: the initial eidolon of the "serpent at the root", as the dark (iron-grey) guardian of the subterranean "Ash Factory"; "James" <- Jacob, who serpently strikes at the heel.
Paola: not really sure what to make of her; there's the obvious "moth" (to the ashy flame?) comparisons in her intro, plus a possible pale parallel to Blanche (played up in the movie?)... she's fond of Roland, but only in a passing way; she does warn him later of Blackadder's impending wrath, though.
Val: (this was one of those embarrassing headslap moments) simply "valle" as unguarded/shadowed declivity; slough of despond? Brittle pink/black palette later softened to happier grey/plum (fruit again?).
(arghargh-- where on earth did that scrap of notes just fall off my keyboard onto? oh well, continued randomish stuff from memory)
Fergus Wolff: Fenris Ulf, "devourer". White/gold doublet of Christabel's grey hound "Dog Tray"?
Maud Bailey: several links explicitly stated in text-- Tennyson's "Maud" ("icily regular, splendidly null" quoted verbatim several times), "motte and bailey" (inner barricades, her work on textual liminality), "princess" in a glass tower/coffin. Slightly more subtly, a "vagina dentata" pun via "mawed". White/gold/green colors; references to (serpentine?) length and (tree-towering?) height.
Christabel LaMotte: Coleridge's "Christabel"-- cross-ref tree as plot point; Sir Leoline's name... ooh, "Geraldine" is identified as the daughter of "Sir Roland de Vaux", for more intertextual goodness-- vaux <- plural of Old French val (later valle) <- Latin vallis <-> "wall"? Cf. Maud wrt "motte and bailey" and white/gold/green. Large teeth = snake fangs?
(There's also an overlapping taxonomy of birds, reptiles, and insects as symbols of the inhuman/alien. I should find the DVD of Angels and Insects to watch it again as a much better Byatt-based movie, not that I can remember whether I've read the original novella :b )
Beatrice Nest: "blessed refuge"; woolly sheep. Attention frequently limited to surface impressions without delving deeper-- bafflement by Ellen's journal; her salad and mousse at the Mortlake conference described as "[they] looked delicious" (emph. added) w/o further info.
Ellen Best Ash: Her name mostly baffles me :b surname as simple indicator of prize/power? The only reason I've been able to think of for "Ellen" is as the complement to Leonora Stern (which might also add another layer to the "Best" primacy) -> Eleanor of Aquitaine? Helen of Troy? both probably also linked to "Leoline" in Coleridge, though. The various unrequited/unfulfilled Elaines around Lancelot?
Leonora Stern: another vagina dentata pun-- "man-eater" + "rear end"? She has two definite slips in conversational idiom, even in the American version of the book: "car hire" instead of "rental car"; "leave hold" instead of "let go".
Blanche Glover: "white hands". Isolde aux Blanche Mains? (I think Byatt may've had a passing reference to "Elaine[sic] aux blanches mains"?)
Mort Cropper: the deathly Grim Reaper, complete w/ license plate "666 ANK"(-ou/-h?); likes putting/keeping things in enclosed boxes.
George and Joan Bailey: "George" <- etm'ly "farmer" (more lit'ly "earth-worker")-- attachment to home soil, fallow fields (empty house, Christabel's neglected grave/room etc.). Darby and Joan? Joan of Arc? (who the heck *is* Mildred?)
Central flashbacks: the black/yellow stones in Ash's portrait <- Blanche's pockets, and the "cannonball" beach Maud and Roland later visit. Daisy ring <- holly-leaf finger-pricking game, but also the floral wreath Ash weaves at the end. Christabel's name first used just before consummation; Ash's name not used until the end of the sequence.
Ariane le Minier: Ariadne as guide through labyrinth; minier = "miner" delving underground.
Sabine de Kercoz: no idea about the last name; rape of the Sabine women? the text is inconsistent wrt Sabine's novels were published during her lifetime-- Ariane's introductory letter says they weren't, but her last letter says that they were.
[Addendum: "Kercoz" <- quercus, "oak", as another tree reference? The French/Breton words of "oak" seem to be completely different, though. According to some sources, Ys was protected by a sacred oak until it wasn't.)
Euan McIntyre: <- "Eugene", well-born? or another Celtic version of "Ian" <- "John"? hmm-- "McIntyre" supposedly means "son of the carpenter"; metaphorically raising Val from the grave? (Mary/Martha/Lazarus/Bethany refs elsewhere) Inverse-horse comparison; "O love, be fed with apples while you may".
May/Maia Thomasine Bailey: the month of May; a state of potentiality (mother may I-- the May 1st date appears as a marker somewhere, her birthdate?). "Thomasine" <- the waterfall, but also female twin(s) with Melusine (corporeal vs. conceptual).