Brief Review: 'Morpho Eugenia', by A.S. Byatt

Reviewed , co-editor, Aristos

Compelling characters, a simple yet ingenious plot, and the vivid evocation of the richness and turmoil of Victorian life, all combine to make A.S. Byatt's 1992 novella Morpho Eugenia a splendid work of fiction. (The film Angels and Insects faithfully translates Byatt's novella to the screen, but takes its title from the volume in which Morpho Eugenia was published.)

Byatt's tale begins as William Adamson, a brilliant young naturalist, has just returned from ten years in the Brazilian jungle. Having lost all in a shipwreck on the journey home, he accepts the hospitality of his wealthy patron, whose estate offers refuge and a semblance of employment. William soon falls in love with, and succeeds in marrying, his patron's beautiful eldest daughter, Eugenia - a creature as delicate and vulnerable, it appears, as the moths and butterflies he pursued in the jungle. Enter Matty Crompton, the rather austere young governess who is clearly William's match in spirit, intelligence, and erudition. Aspiring to far more than her drab and circumscribed existence on the estate, the enigmatic Matty shares William's thirst for life and knowledge, and she works with determination and resourcefulness to gain her ends.

Byatt's complex narrative, blending personal intrigue with intellectual and social ferment, reflects many of the era's major transformations: the gradual unfolding of the mysteries of nature under the scrutiny of science; the challenge presented to religious faith by the theory of evolution; the rapid ascendance of men and women of talent, initiative, and integrity; and the corresponding decline of a decadent aristocracy. Morpho Eugenia is an inspiring work of fiction, owing not only to the values and sentiments it embodies but to the intelligence, wit, and grace with which it is written.

[Editor's note: Byatt's two-novella work Angels and Insects is available from Random House as a Vintage paperback.]