The problems of Cassandra and Julia Corbett, the heroines of [The Game], come into the domain of moral philosophy. One solution, it seems, is to recreate life giving it the direction and shape it customarily lacks. Their story is encompassed between two fictions—a Brontëan game of medieval battles and romance which they devised as children and, later on, a novel in which Julia attempts to capture her sister's life.

The illusion of omnipotence which games like these offer is clearly full of danger…. One manipulates a fantasy world, the other the people round her: adults' versions of the child-hood game. However, playing games also has a positive aspect in ritualizing the fierce rivalry between the sisters. When they bring their feelings into the open the effects are disastrous….

Mrs. Byatt's protagonists have not enough substance to carry their philosophical load. Only Cassandra has the weight to...