Possessions: A Novel

Author: Kristeva, Julia

Brand: Columbia University Press

Binding: hardcover

Number Of Pages: 220

Release Date: 27-01-1998

Part Number: 9780231109987

Details: Product Description
This sequel to Kristeva's celebrated allegory The Old Man and the Wolves returns to the corrupt, seaside resort of a mythical town, where the boundaries between East and West, civilization and barbarism, and good and evil are erased.
Amazon.com Review
All similarities between
Possessions and your average hard-boiled detective novel end with the headless corpse that shows up at the beginning of Julia Kristeva's novel. Kristeva, you see, is not your average writer of detective fiction. She is a psychoanalyst and linguistic theorist, the author of books on both language and depression--two themes she weaves through this intellectual mystery. The tale begins with Gloria Harrison, a translator who is murdered and decapitated after a dinner party. Enter Stephanie Delacour, an old friend of the victim and a journalist with a nose for murder. Though Kristeva has provided all the necessary components for a standard mystery--a victim, several suspects, and a detective--she seems far more interested in exploring the psychological issues surrounding her characters than the crime itself. The pages of
Possessions are filled with reflections on motherhood, depression, semiotics, and more. So if you're looking for a mystery novel that will stimulate your brain rather than your adrenaline production,
Possessions is a good place to start.
From Booklist
Kristeva, a French critic and psychoanalyst, writes an intelligent, compelling psychological thriller that grips the reader from the first sentence of the book: "Gloria was lying in a pool of blood with her head cut off." And the tension never slackens, as the narrator, Stephanie Delacour, a Parisian journalist and amateur detective, arrives at the Eastern European resort of Santa Varvara to help the local police captain learn the reason behind the violent death of her friend, translator Gloria Harrison. A dinner party at Gloria's place is the focus of the inquiry: Who were the party guests, and when did they last see Gloria alive? In the course of the investigation, Gloria's life is uncovered; readers primarily learn of her disabled son, by whom she was possessed. And, too, there is the question of whether Gloria's head was separated from her body by the person who killed her or whether it was done later by someone else. Cerebral and ruminative, this riveting novel is as much about the ways of living as it is about the ways of dying.
Brad Hooper
Review
At its best, the book is passionate without being sentimental, consistent but not beholden to a system. Yet about halfway through,
Possessions begins to drag. Maybe Kristeva gets bored; or maybe, having dealt herself an interesting hand, she hasn't quite the skill to play it out.... When the plot begins to fade, so does the pursuit of existential mysteries. --
The New York Times Book Review,
From the Back Cover
This sequel to Julia Kristeva's celebrated allegory The Old Man and the Wolves returns to the corrupt seaside resort of a mythical town, where the boundaries between East and West, civilization and barbarism, and good and evil are erased. Part mystery, part meditation, this engrossing tale features the return of Parisian amateur detective and newspaper reporter Stephanie Delacour (Kristeva's alter ego), drawn into the mystery of a friend's murder. The story opens with the gruesome discovery of the decapitated body of gifted translator Gloria Harrison. Delacour finds herself participating in the investigation in the company of Detective Superintendent Northrup Rilsky. As the mystery unfolds, Delacour veers away from Rilsky's investigation, on to a trail that leads to the real killer. Kristeva uses the classic thriller genre to animate the themes that run through her work as a linguist and philosopher. While Stephanie Delacour probes a brilliant gallery of suspects, we read between the lines some of the sorrows and dilemmas that are the focus of Kristeva's own life and

EAN: 9780231109987

Package Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches

Languages: English, French