| The British writer A. S. Byatt, whose uncommon talents have been played to the fullest in her work Possession: A Romance, is noted for her writing of neo-Victorian fiction. Byatt has constructed two dimensions of space and time in the novel, the Victorian past and the modern society (mostly the British and American literature circle), in which people's different ways of life and spiritual outlook in different ages are vividly displayedthrough texts in various styles. Meanwhile, the novel meditates seriously on modern reality while attempting to restore the unknown past.Since the novel shifts and shuttles between past and present, the relation between the two offers a point that is worth exploring. This thesis, with reference to available criticismsboth at home and abroad, intends to analyze the subtle past-and-present relation from three perspectives through a careful reading of the text: the present is the fallen past, the present is the inherited past, and the present continues to persist in the modern context. In this process, the author's originality in juxtaposing the past and present to realize her primary intention of linking the two together could be clearly observed.The present is the fallen past is elaborated in terms of scholarship and inner-self. The modern society, which is morally depraved in these two aspects, pales before the Victorian past. The present is the inherited past mainly demonstrates that the two modern scholars Roland and Maud, in whom unique poetic temperament could be discerned, are heirs to their Victorian predecessors Ash and LaMotte respectively. These two sets of corresponding characters, carefully invented by the author, make it predictable that the present would resume its Victorian plot and the past would persist in the modern context. The last part tries to interpret the modern campus novel in the work as continuance of the Victorian romance; in other words, the latter resuscitates and regains its delayed happy ending in the former's discourse.
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