Mansfield Park: A Tolerable Comfort

[harmony_bites]

As some of you might know, silburygirl is a serious Austen scholar; she's doing a paper on Mansfield Park and urged me to reread it when I told her it was the one Austen novel I loathed and gave me instructions on what to look for. I did and posted a review on LibraryThing and Goodreads. Sil urged me to post the review on LJ, because she wants to see what

Comments

[gioiamia]

Holy crap, how did I never reply over here? I was sure I had.

I had MEANT to stop by and make sure you had this link to the JAFF (Jane Austen Fanfiction) Index: http://www.jaffindex.com.

I love that site. I wish every fandom had something that searchable, however I'm sure it's only a workable endeavor because their fandom is so small.

Anyway, I'll have to get up the nerve to attempt MP again some time, as I've never really cared for that book, and thus haven't read the fanfiction. So although I can't give you any recs for MP fics (which was also what I *though* I posted here months ago), that's a fantastic resource in finding good ones.

Now, here's an icon of your favorite Mr. Darcy by way of apology for my wretchedly late reply.

[harmony_bites]

Hee. Better late than never!

I can't say rereading MP made it a favorite on the order of the other books. But it raised it from a book I hated to one I admired--well, that, and Silburygirl telling me what to look for that allowed me to look at the book with new eyes.

Mind you, I don't like Fanny the way I do the other heroines. I'd love to have Catherine ... Elinor ... Marianne ... Elizabeth ... Emma Watson (and even Emma Woodville) ... Anne and/or Charlotte over for tea. I think they'd all make good friends. Fanny I'd still back away slowly from. But I have a lot more sympathy for her and for the way she turned out second time around.

I've never really cared for that book, and thus haven't read the fanfiction.In a way that makes it more appealing to me than say P&P for fanfiction. Fanfic imo is at its best in the road not travelled, in being somewhat critical and subversive of its author. I'm pretty happy to leave the Darcy's where we left them (And trying Berdoll, really, really left me wanting them left alone). The Crawfords

[ctrent29]

I gone over "MANSFIELD PARK" several times. I still dislike Fanny and Edmund. No matter how many times I have read the novel, I am still repelled by their hypocrisy.

[rpowell]

In a lot of ways, I think Mansfield Park is an outlier among Austen’s mature novels and that might be why even fans of her are thrown by it.

This comments seems like an attempt to criticize readers for not liking "MANSFIELD PARK". You accuse them of being incapable of appreciating a "mature novel" (in your words) because . . . what? Because they are not mature? Is that what you are saying? Has it ever occurred to that some readers who are capable of enjoying and appreciating a "mature novel" simply dislike "MANSFIELD PARK" because they don't consider it . . . "mature"?

Yet, in his final conversation with Mary Crawford, Mary disgusts him by criticizing her brother and Maria not for having an affair but for getting caught, focusing entirely on appearances and showing no principles.This only strikes me as another example of Edmund's hypocrisy. He criticizes Mary for refusing to be outraged over Henry and Maria's behavior. Yet, he also criticizes Mary for failing to show any respect to her Royal Navy uncle - the same uncle who

[elidyce]

Ooh, Mansfield Park

[harmony_bites]

Hmmmn. I can see the parallels now that you point them out, and you make a good case for Fanny--you do. I just can't like Fanny though, even if on second read I found I could sympathize with her. I can't see her as anyone I'd like for a friend, while with Jane Eyre or the other Austen heroines....

I do agree Mrs Norris makes a splendid villain. She's so soul-killing. And of course, on second read, I was tickled to recognize the HP reference--including one to a "Severus." (And now I have to picture poor Filch as a Jane Austen fan...)

[elidyce]

Maybe it's the mum-thing... I want to rescue Fanny and snuggle her and protect her from the Evil Aunt. :) But I was cripplingly shy myself, and sometimes still am, so that creates some sympathy right there.

And surely we all knew he was lurking in his lair reading confiscated Muggle romances in between student floggings! Although I admit, I was always picturing bodice rippers rather than Austen.

[harmony_bites]

And surely we all knew he was lurking in his lair reading confiscated Muggle romances in between student floggings! Although I admit, I was always picturing bodice rippers rather than Austen.

*snickers* Me too! Suddenly, I find myself more sympathetic to him--and hoping he found happiness with Minerva (in the Shiv-verse of The Arithmantic Dating Agency)

[rpowell]

I admit, I always liked Fanny Price, I think for the same reasons that I adore Jane Eyre. They have a lot in common.

And yet . . . I see the differences. I think Jane Eyre is a little more open-minded and not as inclined to harshly judge others. I think Fanny would not have disliked the overly pious Mr. Brocklehurst as much as Jane did. And I cannot see her falling in love with someone like Edward Rochester. Fanny would be more inclined to fall in love with the likes of St. John Rivers.