A. Byatt

Příběh s takřka detektivní zápletkou je situovaný do univerzitního prostředí a prolínají se v něm osudy několika hrdinů ve dvou časových rovinách a s vtipem a místy až karikaturním nadhledem se v něm setkávají a konfrontují základní lidské hodnoty.Jeden z nejlepších anglických románů 90. let 20. století, oceněný v r. 1990 prestižní cenou Booker Prize.

Svět tří povídek britské prozaičky A. S. Byattové se nám zprvu může zdát zvláštní a poněkud estétský. S jejich hrdinkami ale krok za krokem poznáme, že není jiný než ten, který žijeme my, jen barevnější, zabydlený rozmanitějšími tvary a bohatší obrazností. Jak jinak, když mu jako symbol i guru vládne Henri Matisse svými obrazy. Každý z nás má takový svět nadosah, jen přijmout, co nabízí umění, příroda a každý barevný den. Pro Byattovou se nepřítomnost barev rovná smrti – ovšem barvy nejsou jen to, co je venku, ale především to, co nosíme v sobě.

"Possession" is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems, they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time.

Famous author Olive Wellwood writes a special private book, bound in different colours, for each of her children. In their rambling house near Romney Marsh they play in a story-book world - but their lives, and those of their rich cousins and their friends, the son and daughter of a curator at the new Victoria and Albert Museum, are already inscribed with mystery. Each family carries its own secrets. They grow up in the golden summers of Edwardian times, but as the sons rebel against their parents and the girls dream of independent futures, they are unaware that in the darkness ahead they will be betrayed unintentionally by the adults who love them. This is the children's book.

During the second world war Antonia Byatt was given a book of Norse myths by her father. She read it and reread it but there was one myth she was drawn to in particular and which has continued to hold her under its spell - the Myth of Ragnarok. The Ragnarok myth, otherwise known as the Twilight of the Gods, plays out the endgame of Norse mythology. It is the myth in which the gods Odin, Freya and Thor die, the sun and moon are swallowed by the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Midgard eats his own tale as he crushes the world and the seas boil with poison. It is only after such monstrous death and destruction that the world can begin anew. This epic struggle provided the fitting climax to Wagner's Ring Cycle and just as Wagner was inspired by Norse myth (it was also Hitler's favourite myth!) so Byatt has taken this remarkable finale and used it as the underpinning of this highly personal and politically charged retelling.

Greedy, cruel and foolish, the Gods deserve to die...From the Booker Prize-winning author of "Possession" and "The Children's Book" comes a mesmerising tale of the end of the gods and the destruction of life on this planet. Into her version of Ragnarok, surely one of the most thrilling and apocalyptic of myths, A.S. Byatt weaves the story of a young girl evacuated to the British countryside during the Second World War. Struggling to make sense of her life, she is given a book of Norse myths, and her inner and outer worlds are transformed.

Possession is an exhilarating novel of wit and romance, at once a literary detective novel and a triumphant love story. It is the tale of a pair of young scholars investigating the lives of two Victorian poets. Following a trail of letters, journals and poems they uncover a web of passion, deceit and tragedy, and their quest becomes a battle against time.

Greedy, cruel and foolish, the Gods deserve to die ...From the Booker Prize-winning author of Possession and The Children's Book comes a mesmerising tale of the end of the gods and the destruction of life on this planet. Into her version of Ragnarok, surely one of the most thrilling and apocalyptic of myths, A.S. Byatt weaves the story of a young girl evacuated to the British countryside during the Second World War. Struggling to make sense of her life, she is given a book of Norse myths, and her inner and outer worlds are transformed.