My first Austen.
Quite different from what I expected.
Everything seems to be about wealth and money.
Interesting and challenging - I just did not get a few sentences and verbs and expressions.
And I think we overanalyse and project too much when reading classics.
Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
8/10
@beexcessivelydiverting @bookstodon @romancelandia They're charming on the outside and have some good qualities which make them really interesting characters. This #novel is all about elegant facades hiding rotten interiors, good abilities and powers abused for selfish goals, and the "good guys's" struggle to see through that. And I think it's an absolutely ingenious novel :) #MansfieldPark #Austen #bookstodon
@beexcessivelydiverting @bookstodon @romancelandia For example, I think the reason why many people don't understand the novel's disapproval of #MaryCrawford and her brother, is that (perceived) promiscuity back then had serious real-life consequences and could ruin a woman's life which is much less the case now. So Henry Crawford, by seducing Maria, is really ruining lives, and his sister condones that. Not to mention his narcissistic, dishonest flirtations with everyone. #austen #MansfieldPark
@beexcessivelydiverting @bookstodon @romancelandia I think #MansfieldPark is perhaps underestimated because it's much less funny than #JaneAusten 's other novels, and the main topic is #ethics , which can feel preachy even when it's not. It's all about #class , #power , #abuse , #bullying , #deception and even, indirectly, about #slavery .
A close reading of #JaneAusten's work shows that she was indeed very political. For example, she denounces the slave trade in #MansfieldPark and her brother Henry was an abolitionist.
I'm not here to debate your voting choices as long as you vote!
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#WritingCommunity #ReadingCommunity #Regency #Georgian @romancelandia
Finished Mansfield Park. Definitely a weak Austen. Fanny and Edmund are too piggish to be likeable. The ending is a mess of letters that are unclear as to who is doing the reading or who has done the writing. #MansfieldPark #janeausten #bookstodon
I've said it before in various other questions, but for me, it's MANSFIELD PARK. It's a snooze fest.
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Further to do with #MansfieldPark #bookstodon Is #janeausten fooling us? Edmund and Fanny are pompous judgemental gossips and the real heroine is Mary Crawford. I've forgotten the plot, in the 20 years since I've read it, so more will be revealed.
And now for Mansfield Park. Not my favourite Austen but mainly due to a blander heroine than Elizabeth and Emma. We'll see how I rate it this time round. It's probably twenty years since I read it last.
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