British author A

British author A.S. BYATT. BYATT is known by many Americans for "Possession," a Booker Prize-winning Victorian novel published here in 1990. Her new novel, "Babel Tower," is just hitting the bookstores (Random House). Set in the turbulant 1960s, the book is about Frederica, a young woman involved in a divorce and custody suit, as well as the prosecution of an "obscene" book. "Babel Tower" is the third book in a planned quartet of novels ("The Virgin in the Garden" and "Still Life") set in different mid-centuary time frames. Besides being a best selling author, BYATT is also a critic, a reviewer, a radio dramatist, an editor, and a university lecturer. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE