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Possession is a very serious game about Postmodernism. Do you agree? Byatts purpose within her novel Possession is a very serious critique of Postmodernism and its respective philosophies. Although the novel has been written in a rather playful manner which is suggestive of game playing, the actual fact becomes a deconstruction of the central foundations which uphold postmodern thought. The game like nature of Possession is only valid insofar as Byatt playfully exploits postmodern techniques to reveal the incoherencies of the foundations. Additionally Byatt dictates the lives of the theorists as being devoid of meaning and thus any deficiencies in the characters lives can be seen as a deficiency in that particular ideology, in this case being postmodernism. Through both content and technique, Byatt constructs a very serious game about postmodernism and plays it directly with her readers. Possession is a romance, as noted in the books by-line and this genre is explored through the comparative, game-like structure of the two relationships investigated in the book. Byatt uses the romantic genre, as a vehicle to challenge the contemporary experience of romance. Through contrasting this contemporary experience with a nostalgic vi