There’s a pretty devastating review of A.S. Byatt’s latest novel in the current issue of The New Republic . I’ve not kept pace with Byatt since I read Possession years ago, but I remember being impressed with Byatt’s erudition and range as a writer. The TNR reviewer, though, suggests that Byatt uses erudition and a trendy post-modern pastische of styles to mask the fact that she’s got no characters and no real plots. He charges that she is not really a novelist of ideas so much as a melodramatist. The review provides little encouragement to read Byatt, but I’m curious to figure out why I was so impressed with Possession .