![]() So it has often existed in antagonism with the novel. From medieval stories of chivalry to the antique verse tales of Keats, Coleridge and Scott, and on to the Victorian Arthurianism of Tennyson, romance included what Congreve defined as "miraculous Contingencies and impossible Performances". Romance has always implied remoteness from the events of everyday life, the territory of knights and damsels rather than men and women. So, what does its subtitle lead us to expect? This novel, so informed by academic literary criticism (and its follies), frequently expects its reader to notice the peculiar properties of different genres. Already we might suspect that "romance" implies more than our habitual, narrowed meaning: a love story. Possession: A Romance, its full title announces, as if proclaiming its difference from the usual run of novels. ![]() ![]() T he declaration on the title page of Possession suggests that this is a peculiar kind of novel, operating by special rules. ![]()
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