Imagining characters : six conversations about women writers / A.S. Byatt and Ignês Sodré ; edited by Rebecca Swift.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 259-263) and index.

In this collection of conversations, leading British novelist/critic Byatt and Brazilian psychoanalyst Sodré discuss novels by six women writers: Austen's Mansfield Park, Brontë's Villette, Eliot's Daniel Deronda, Cather's The Professor's House, Murdoch's An Unofficial Rose, and Morrison's Beloved. The authors bring particular insight into the development of these works (and especially their effect on readers) and of the novel in general. Though a sameness in the prose makes for smooth reading, one is left wishing that the voices of Byatt and Sodré were more distinctive. The book's most effective part is the final conversation, in which the authors discuss the value of dreams and stories, emphasizing the importance of reading and sharing reading through conversation as a valuable means of learning.