Ah, my three favorite people who made me smile throughout the entire movie! Lydia was a complete innocent fool but a cute one. Being as neive as she was, marrying Wickham, made me laugh. I love how the colors of their dresses show their personality. Kitty, Mrs. Bennett, and Lydia are in bright colors for they are cheerful always. Mary wears dark colors for she is a bit gloomy, I must say. Elizabeth wears very plain colors as she is considered that (though, quite frankly, she was rather amusing, herself). Jane wore natural colors for her beauty.

Ooh! Darcy! Well, at least the movie company chose a good-looking Darcy for this film...

I love these dresses and would wear them everyday.

Jane's gowns are so beautiful and I admire them! The embroidery is hard to see.

There you go!

Here are some ridiculous gowns from Marie Antoinette with Kirsten Dunst. They are not historically correct and let me point out why...

In the ACTUAL Georgian era, colors such as hot pink were not used. Though, they had a love for many

colors, neons were not invented until later.

Also, Marie Antoinette, I read, was sexual and revealing in this film after she was married to Louis. In real life, Marie Antoinette was Catholic and they were not revealing in that sinful way. In fact, they could not have children until a year or more later. Yes, they had a number of children. But Marie and her husband (along with the children, I believe) were beheaded because of the revolution against Catholics.

I actually like Kirsten's gown if it weren't so low.

Emma

I liked ALL of the gowns in this movie- they were so feminine.

Northanger Abbey

I think she looks beautiful in this muslin, hmm? I hope to make a dress like that soon...

I am trying to make this dress (though, with it cut higher, of course). I picked out green fabric with small leaves on it- it goes well, actually.

In order to fully comprehend Austen's meaning, I have to look up these two words of which the meaning I often confuse. No, they cannot be used interchangeably or one will perpetrate an usage error. Sense pertains to common sense, rationality and practicality and sensibility emotions. No sooner has one delved into the first few pages of this novel than one would perceive that Elinor Dashwood is the more sensible sister and Marianne the emotional one:

"Elinor saw, with concern, the excess of her sister's sensibility; but by Mrs. Daswood it was valued and cherished. They encouraged each other now in the violence of their affliction." [6]

"To satisfy me [Marianne], those characters must be united. I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both." [13]

"Their taste was strikingly alike. The same books, the same passages were idolised by each---or, if any difference appeared, any objection arose, it lasted no longer than till the force of her arguments and the brightness of her eyes could be displayed. He acquiesced in all her decisions, caught all her enthusiasm..." [34]

The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters' characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. This leads some to believe that the book's title describes how Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense and sensibility in life and love. Marianne's biggest flaw is her blinding sensibility---her being too rash and preoccupied with opinions she thinks are most important in relationship. Not waiting until Willoughby's sentiments are fully known, she proceeds to her partiality for him. Her anxiety of expectation and pain of disappointment know no bound. Her prejudice against Colonel Brandon for being neither lively nor young, which seems resolved to undervalue his merits, leaves her no sympathy from me. I gloat over love's woe that will descend on Marianne who so much on the strength of her own imagination has decided on the imperfections of a sensible man.

Since Austen-esque author Amanda Grange first gave us Darcy's Diary, the retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Mr. Darcy's perspective in 2005, she has been dutifully working her way through all six of Jane Austen's heroes with her books; Mr. Knightley's Diary, Captain Wentworth's Diary, Edmund Bertram's Diary and the latest hardcover release, Colonel Brandon's Diary. Each supply readers with an interesting male vantage on Jane Austen's classic stories faithfully retold to mirror Jane Austen's storyline, character personality and theme. It's almost like reading Jane Austen's novels from a parallel universe, but written in a more modern style. 

In this newly released paper back edition, Amanda Grange gives the hero of Mansfield Park, Edmund Bertram a sympathetic and honest treatment. If you are interested in seeing how a man thinks (as apposed to Jane Austen's feminine view point) I would recommend giving this novel a try. Even though you may already know the storyline, revisiting one of Jane Austen's most complex and intriguing novels is a always a treat. And if you (like me) believe in keeping the best for last, Ms. Grange is presently writing Henry Tilney's Diary, which I am certain from my interest in Jane Austen's delightfully charming character, will be well worth the wait! 

Review highlights 

"Once again, Amanda Grange has provided a highly entertaining retelling of a classic Jane Austen novel, as seen through the hero's eyes. EDMUND BERTRAM'S DIARY is pure fun, with the story told in a diary format that makes the reader feel like she's taking a peek into Edmund's most innermost thoughts. . . I enjoyed every moment of it." - Kay James , Romance Reader at Heart 

"Edmund Bertram's Diary is a sympathetic portrait of a young man struggling with the difficult choices that life throws at us all." - Austenblog 

"Grange captures the flavour and period extremely well, giving those of us who cannot get enough of this type of novel a story that is both cleverly told and enjoyable." Red Roses for Authors Reviews 

"Amanda Grange has hit upon a winning formula and retells the familiar story with great verve." - Historical Novels Review 

Further reading 

• Read an excerpt from Edmund Bertram's Diary
• Read an in-depth interview of Amanda Grange on AustenBlog
• Amanda Grange's website 

Mansfield Park Madness: Day 15 Give-away

Leave a comment by August 30th to qualify for a drawing on August 31st for one of three copies available of 

Edmund Bertam's Diary, by Amanda Grange

Berkely Trade (2008). A re-telling of the novel Mansfield Park from the perspective of hero Edmund Bertram. Trade paperback, 344 pages, ISBN 978-0425223796 

Upcoming posts
Only two days left to qualify for the many great give-aways
Being offered during Mansfield Park Madness.
Winners announced August 31
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Roundup & Conclusion

THE SEQUELS

A recent review at the venerable on-line periodical Publisher's Weekly of the re-issue of Mansfield Park Revisited by Joan Aiken gave me quite a good chuckle. It's amazing how a small typo can change the whole direction of a book! It appears on first glance that this reviewer thinks that Jane Austen's heroine from Mansfield Park is one in the same as Broadway legend Fanny Brice! 

Now, our dear Fanny Price has been called many things; insipid, weak and other unmentionables which have lead to a few heated Janeite debates on Austen-L and elsewhere online, but this is a first. We knew that Mansfield Park was full of theatricals and references to the stage, but if my memory serves, Fanny refused to act in play Lovers' Vows in the novel, so if she has had a change of heart and I have missed Fanny's singing, dancing and comedic talents on Broadway, it is quite an oversight! Oh what merriment this typo created! 

Mansfield Park Revisited

Joan Aiken. Sourcebooks, $14.95 paper (208p) ISBN 978-1-4022-1289-5 

Author and scholar Aiken (1924-2004), known for her Jane Austen continuations, has imagined a sequel to Mansfield Park that'll satisfy some Austen fans while enraging others. Heroine Fanny Brice has married her cousin Edmund Bertram and decamped for the family's Caribbean plantation, leaving her younger sister, Susan, behind to serve as Lady Bertram's companion at Mansfield Park. Less timid than her sister, but dismissed just the same by her finer relatives, Susan soon encounters the Crawfords, Henry and Mary, a diverting but amoral brother-and-sister pair who had nearly undone the proud Bertram family. Aiken's sympathetic vision of the Crawfords' fate, after their seduction of Fanny and her cousins, may strike a false note for Austen purists, but Aiken ably reproduces the author's traditional plot twists and social comedy, if not her fluid prose or biting satire. (Oct.) 

Mansfield Park Revisited is being reissued by Sourcebooks on October 1, 2008, and quite possibly Joan Aiken's sequel to Mansfield Park does contain the character of Fanny Brice, the Broadway and Radio legend, who hoofs her way to the Bertram's Caribbean plantation to sing and dance and entertain the locals. But I doubt it!  

Mansfield Park Madness: Day 15 Give-away

Leave a comment by August 30th to qualify for a drawing on August 31st for one copy of 

Mansfield Park Revisited: A Jane Austen Entertainment, by Joan Aiken

(On sale Octber 1, 2008) Sourcebooks Landmark (2008). Re-issue. Sequel to the novel Mansfield Park in which Fanny's sister Susan's story is revealed. Trade paperback, 208 pages, ISBN 978-1402212895 

Upcoming posts!
Only two days left to qualify for the many great give-aways!
Winners announced August 31st.
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Conclusion

What happens when you mix the classic novelist Jane Austen with mystery writer Anne Perry? Author Carrie Bebris's delightfully funny and fresh Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mystery Series. Avid readers of Ms. Berbis will be happy to learn that the fourth book in the series, The Matters at Mansfield: Or the Crawford Affair will be available on September 2nd. for their continued amusement and delight. 

In the previous novels in this series; Pride and Prescience: Or, A Truth Universally Acknowledged, Suspense and Sensibility or, First Impressions Revisited, and North By Northanger, or The Shades of Pemberley, we follow Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy after their marriage as they visit their friends from the different Jane Austen novels and sleuth out murder and mystery throughout Regency England. I have not been able to acquire an advance copy of this novel to comment on it thoroughly, and it is a bit too soon for reviews to be about online, but here are some excellent reviews on the author's previous title North by Northanger (which won the Daphne du Maurier Award in 2007) to give you an idea of her style and renown. 

"Bebris provides another feast for Janeites in . . . this well-told tale." Publishers Weekly 

"Bebris captures Austen's style and the Regency period perfectly, drawing her characters with a sure hand." Library Journal 

"A new Mr. and Mrs. Darcy mystery is always cause for celebration in this household --  and the latest adventure featuring the amatuer sleuths is well up to Carrie Bebris' usual high standard. . . . A terrific read: I devoured it in a single sitting." Jane Austen's Regency World 

"An utter delight . . . every aspect is pitch-perfect." -- Romantic Times Book Club (Top Pick) 

"The writing is crisp, dryly humorous, and consistent with Austen's style. This book is the best of the three mysteries so far. It is tightly and credibly constructed down to the last detail, heavy on danger and intrigue, historically accurate, and engaging." VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates) 

Further reading 

• Review of The Matters at Mansfield: or The Crawford Affair at Publishers Weekly
• Author Carrie Berbis's website
• Read an excerpt of The Matters at Mansfield: or The Crawford Affair 

Mansfield Park Madness - Day 15 Give-away

Matters at Mansfield: or The Crawford Affair 

Part of the Mr. and Mrs. Darcy Mysteries, by Carrie Bebris. Pride and Prejudice's characters of Mr. and Mrs. Darcy going sleuthing in this detective mystery spinoff. Hardcover, 288 page, ISBN 978-0765318473 

Upcoming posts 
Only two days left to qualify for the many great give-aways
Winners announced August 31
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Roundup & Conclusion

In this third book in "The Jane Austen Series" from author Debra White Smith, the story of Jane Austen's early 19th-century novel Mansfield Park is retold in contemporary New York city with the famous public Central Park as its axis. Prolific author White Smith has had great success with her series of retellings of Jane Austen's major novels which include First Impression, Reason and Romance, Central Park, Northpointe Chalet, Amanda, and Possibilities (in book series order). Her Christian influenced writing style appeals to many readers and Jane Austen fans that are looking for an entertaining light romance with amusing plots. Experienced readers of Austen might also enjoy discovering and identifying all of Smith White's contemporary characters and plot lines from Austen's novels, or might suggest this series of books to a novice Austen reader to motivate them to in turn read Austen and find the similarities between the each of the books. 

Review highights for Debra White Smith 

"Her characters are delightful and the resolutions satisfying." Jill Elizabeth Nelson, Romantic Times 

"Still, Debra White Smith's stories-Possibilities is the sixth and presumably the last in her Austen series-have a certain sweet appeal, and the world that she creates is consistent in its detail, whether or not one would care to live in it. Not every ardent Janeite will like these tales, but they may well bring new Converts to the Fold, so to speak, if one of her readers decides to try out the real thing." Alison T., AustenBlog 

"I enjoy Jane Austen and feel that Debra White Smith does an excellent job portraying each character from Jane Austen into a present-day character, for example, in Central Park each character faces the same overall issues that they do in Mansfield Park. I have enjoyed the Austen Series and would recommend it to readers." Bible Knowledge Bookstore customer comment 

Further reading 

• An interview of Debra White Smith on Focus on Fiction 
• Debra White Smith's website 

Mansfield Park Madness: Day 15 Give-away 

Leave a comment by August 30th. to qualify for a drawing on August 31st. for one copy of

 Central Park: An Austen Series Book 3

By Debra White Smith. Harvest House Publishers (2005). Contemporary re-telling of the novel Mansfield Park set in New York. Trade paperback, 348 pages, ISBN 978-0736908733 

Upcoming posts 
Only two days left to qualify for the many great give-aways
Winners announced August 31
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Roundup & Conclusion

I love discovering new joy!  Current finds include:

• Rewatching old movies and finding new symbolism, meaning, and interpretation.  Yesterday I watched The Color Purple and it was like watching it for the first time.  It spoke to me about maintenance of the spirit, freedom for women, and discovered truths.
• Music from the '60s especially the Jersey Boys and the Hairspray Soundtrack as well as music from ABBA and Mamma Mia (circa 1975).
• Baked goods and coffee.  Yummo.  The last bit of coffee in my cup is always to die for!
• For this insight that came to me while I was immersed in travel:  "Manners, wit, and a sense of adventure will get one very far on the quest to see the world.  If one forgets how to be adventurous, simply observe a child at play.  Good manners are also very important and should start in the home.  Speak to people you meet while traveling alone, even if it is to simply say, "Stop harassing me" or "Hi".
• "I want people to be happier when I come into a room, than when I leave." ~Larry Harp
• The Jane Austen Book Club (film).  How awesome!  Please watch.
• My age.  There is so much living to be done.
• My new bucket list which includes:  Taking a dance class, going on a hot air balloon ride, reading Jane Austen books, watching all of the Disney movies again, having mermaid camp, going on a gypsy safari.

A woman of principle and prudence must be consistent in the style and quality of her attire; she must be careful that her expenditure does not exceed the limits of her allowance. She must be aware, that it is not the girl who lavishes the most money on her apparel, that is the best arrayed. Frequent instances have I known, where young women with a little good taste, ingenuity, and economy, have maintained a much better appearance than ladies of three times their fortune. No treasury is large enough to supply indiscriminate profusion; and scarcely any purse is too scanty for the uses of life; when managed by a careful hand. - by a Lady of Distinction, The Mirror of Graces, 1811, p 69 -70

Some things never change. A little further on the Lady writes:

Hence, we see, that hardly any woman, however related, can have a right to independent, uncontroled expenditure; and that, to do her duty in every sense of the word, she must learn to understand and exercise the graces of economy. This quality will be a gem in her husband's eyes; for, though most of the money-getting sex like to see their wives well-dressed, yet, trust me, my fair friends, they would rather owe that pleasure to your taste than to their pockets! (p 70-71)

• This book and other equally interesting period books can be ordered at R.L. Shep Publications

• My other post about the book

Good sense, like hers, will always act when really called upon; and she found that she had been able to name him to her mother, and recall her remembrance of the name, as that of "William's friend," though she could not previously have believed herself capable of uttering a syllable at such a moment. The consciousness of his being known there only as William's friend was some support. Having introduced him, however, and being all reseated, the terrors that occurred of what this visit might lead to were overpowering, and she fancied herself on the point of fainting away. The Narrator, Chapter 41 

Quick Synopsis 

Henry visits Fanny in Portsmouth and attempts to show her that he has mended his selfish ways, showing concern for his tenants and her health. He asks her for business advice and she responds, "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be". A chatty letter from Mary Crawford confirms that she only values money and connections. Fanny borrows books from the circulating library so she and Susan can study together. Edmund writes to only talk about Mary, and mentions that he saw Maria and Henry together at a party in town.  Tom is seriously ill. Three months pass and Fanny longs to be home.  Mary writes quizzing Fanny about the extent of Tom's illness. If he dies, their will be a better man to inherit Mansfield. Mary writes again, warning Fanny of a rumor about Henry. What does it mean? The newspaper reveals that Henry and Maria have run off together. Scandal! Edmund writes to reveal that Julia and Mr. Yates have eloped. She and Susan are summoned immediately to Mansfield. Everyone there is in a sour mood. Aunt Norris blames Fanny for Henry's actions. No sign of the couple. Tom improves and will live. Edmund has a falling out with Mary and is done with her. Henry will not marry Maria, so in support of her favorite niece, Mrs. Norris leaves Mansfield to live with her. Edmund realizes he is in love with Fanny and they marry to live in Mansfield parsonage. Sir Thomas finally has the daughter he longed for. The end! 

Musings 

I am continually struck by what good sense Fanny has in the face of pressure and adversity. She often acts as everyone ought, the moral compass of principled decorum. Her visit to Portsmouth is quite an eye opener for the reader and the heroine. Jane Austen does not write about poverty often, but she certainly has the knack for it. I am in no doubt of the shabby condition of the household, the coarseness of her father with his ‘oaths' and drinking, the unruly ragamuffin siblings, and the indifference of her mother to it all. Sir Thomas may have sent her there to see what a small income means, but I laughed out loud at our dear Fanny's expense when I read this passage! 

After being nursed up at Mansfield, it was too late in the day to be hardened at Portsmouth; and though Sir Thomas, had he known all, might have thought his niece in the most promising way of being starved, both mind and body, into a much juster value for Mr. Crawford's good company and good fortune, he would probably have feared to push his experiment farther, lest she might die under the cure. The Narrator, Chapter 42 

Too true! To torment her further, Henry Crawford arrives and is so civil and genteel, reminding her of her cousins and the more refined life that she has come to appreciate at Mansfield Park. When he begins to tell her of his concern for his tenants, I am a bit suspicious. Austen really starts to lay on the sympathy for Henry to confuse her, and us. Will he truly be reformed by his love of Fanny? He alone seems to be aware of how abominably her cousins treat her at Mansfield, even more so from a distance, as they have forgotten her in Portsmouth and do not write. He sees the change in her health and knows that she must walk and take the air to maintain it. It all starts to add up in Fanny's mind.

And, if in little things, must it not be so in great? So anxious for her health and comfort, so very feeling as he now expressed himself, and really seemed, might not it be fairly supposed that he would not much longer persevere in a suit so distressing to her? The Narrator, Chapter 42

The story quickly turns to be all about Mary Crawford and her continued hope to mold Edmund into the rich and prominent man she craves. Through a series of letters Fanny is kept informed of the dealings of her cousins. It is her lifeline, and she anxiously awaits word as the news in each letter brings new anxieties and concerns. Foremost on her mind is Edmund and Mary's relationship. Will he propose?  But he is silent and only Mary, who Fanny would rather not correspond with at all writes boasting of her society friend's approval of him. Mary only values material things; a house in town, parties and praise from society and Fanny is disgusted by it. Mary is being influenced by her environment and friends!

Yet there was no saying what Miss Crawford might not ask. The prospect for her cousin grew worse and worse. The woman who could speak of him, and speak only of his appearance! What an unworthy attachment! To be deriving support from the commendations of Mrs. Fraser! She who had known him intimately half a year! Fanny was ashamed of her. The Narrator, Chapter 43

The long letter that Fanny has been anticipating finally arrives from Edmund. He does see Mary's faults and her fixation on the values that he has questioned from the very first. She is even more corrupted by her friends and the changes he sees in her from the influence of Mrs. Fraser a cold-hearted, vain woman who married for convenience has altered Mary for the worse. He sees the differences between what she wants (money) and what he can offer more acutely. Still conflicted he shares an important observation with Fanny.

"I cannot give her up, Fanny. She is the only woman in the world whom I could ever think of as a wife. If I did not believe that she had some regard for me, of course I should not say this, but I do believe it. I am convinced that she is not without a decided preference." Edmund Bertram, Chapter 44

Fanny, with her gentle and patient manner exclaims to herself that he should "Fix, commit, condemn yourself ". Bravo! She has had enough vacillation, and wants relief from the prolonged agony of not knowing. When Lady Bertram writes to alert Fanny that Tom is gravely ill, I though that they might send for her, but no. She must continue in her exile with her family, away from all whom she really cares about. Fanny is further appalled when Mary writes to quiz her for information on the extent of Tom's illness. Material girl that Mary is, Edmund now becomes an even better catch for if he should become the heir to a Baronet if his brother dies.

She (Fanny) was more inclined to hope than fear for her cousin (Tom), except when she thought of Miss Crawford; but Miss Crawford gave her the idea of being the child of good luck, and to her selfishness and vanity it would be good luck to have Edmund the only son. The Narrator, Chapter 45

The next few chapters of the novel swiftly move to the climax and conclusion packed with so much action and drama that the pages just fly by for me. Fanny will receive two letters that change the entire course of her family and her life. The first letter hastily written and brief, is from Mary warning Fanny of a rumor about Henry. She is puzzled. What does it mean? To learn the whole story by chance is a clever twist by Austen when Fanny's father discovers the scandalous tidbit in the gossip section of the London newspaper. Henry and Maria have run away together, and the couple's whereabouts are unknown. Astonishing!

"but so many fine ladies were going to the devil nowadays that way, that there was no answering for anybody." Mr. Price, Chapter 46

That Austen should give the simple and unrefined Mr. Price the delivery of such an insightful line is hysterical and very effective. Fanny's reaction is a telling sign of her good nature, always wanting to believe the best of everyone and everything. She does not want to acknowledge it, but pieces the facts together from Mary's letter and changes her mind. The second letter from Edmund confirms her fears and adds to others in his news that Julia and Mr. Yates have scandalized the family further and eloped to Scotland. Sir Thomas has requested that she return home immediately, and Edmund will arrive tomorrow to fetch her and Susan. Incredible! She has been released from her exile, but has she been forgiven? Edmund and Fanny have a joyful reunion "My Fanny, my only sister; my only comfort now!", and she sees that Edmund is in low spirits and very quiet. She is very glad to quickly be on their way home!

How her heart swelled with joy and gratitude as she passed the barriers of Portsmouth, and how Susan's face wore its broadest smiles, may be easily conceived. The Narrator, Chapter 46

How will the rest of the family be when she arrives after a three month absence and under such distressing conditions? Sour and sullen. Amazingly, Mrs. Norris is in the worst state having taken her favorite niece Maria's impropriety personally since she had recommended the match. She shifts the blame very quickly though, now censuring Fanny for the couple's wild behavior. If she had accepted Henry's proposal he would have not looked elsewhere for amusements. Edmund is quiet and distant for some time until he finally confides in Fanny, relaying his final conversation with Mary Crawford and her downfall in his eyes.

"but the manner in which she spoke of the crime itself, giving it every reproach but the right; considering its ill consequences only as they were to be braved or overborne by a defiance of decency and impudence in wrong; and last of all, and above all, recommending to us a compliance, a compromise, an acquiescence in the continuance of the sin, on the chance of a marriage which, thinking as I now thought of her brother, should rather be prevented than sought; all this together most grievously convinced me that I had never understood her before, and that, as far as related to mind, it had been the creature of my own imagination, not Miss Crawford, that I had been too apt to dwell on for many months past. That, perhaps, it was best for me; I had less to regret in sacrificing a friendship, feelings, hopes which must, at any rate, have been torn from me now. And yet, that I must and would confess that, could I have restored her to what she had appeared to me before, I would infinitely prefer any increase of the pain of parting, for the sake of carrying with me the right of tenderness and esteem.' Edmund Bertram, chapter 47 

The final blow in his view against her character and good judgment will be in her seeing the fault not in the deed itself, but that they were not clever enough to hide it and continue clandestinely. Her desire for Henry and Maria to marry and for his family to overlook the ‘sin' and accept them back is more than he can abide. He now sees that he has never understood her before, and been deluded into overlooking her true nature. Again, Austen allows us to see people's foibles through adversity, when our true principles are tested. Mary's final decline in Edmund's esteem is a great example of this. He is now done with her forever. His fears that he shall never meet another woman so fine again soon change. 

Scarcely had he done regretting Mary Crawford, and observing to Fanny how impossible it was that he should ever meet with such another woman, before it began to strike him whether a very different kind of woman might not do just as well, or a great deal better: whether Fanny herself were not growing as dear, as important to him in all her smiles and all her ways, as Mary Crawford had ever been; and whether it might not be a possible, an hopeful undertaking to persuade her that her warm and sisterly regard for him would be foundation enough for wedded love. The Narrator, Chapter 48 

So this is the extent of the romance for Fanny and Edmund? I do admit to feeling a bit cheated, given only a few short passages on the last page, but in looking back on their relationship throughout the novel it had been foreshadowed long ago by Austen through their friendship and mutual regard for each other. Is she slyly telling us that men and women can not be friends. That their is always more in any man - woman realtionship? Sadly, there is no proposal and acceptance scene. Drat! However, just like Edmund I also came to think of their being a couple as a natural thing, and not a reaction to his rejection of Mary. Austen wraps up the novel in a neat package very quickly.

Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly in fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest. The Narrator, Chapter 48

Those who have erred and behaved badly get their just deserts, hurrah! Henry will not marry Maria and she leaves him to live with Mrs. Norris, who "it may be reasonably supposed that their tempers became their mutual punishment", Julia and Mr. Yates are eventually accepted back into the fold (after Sir Thomas comes to understand the extent of his wealth), Dr. Grant is promoted to Westminster and moves to London, dies from a fit of apoplexy from eating three rich dinners in one week, Mary lives with her widowed sister in London unable to find again such a fine man among the dandies in London, and Henry regrets the loss of Fanny forever, and ever! Sir Thomas, the one person who had also acted badly throughout the novel changes - now sees the error of his ways through the neglect of his daughter's education - and is happy that he has found the daughter that he had always wanted in Fanny. Edmund succeeds to the living of Mansfield, and they live happily ever after in the shadow of Mansfield Park. 

On that event they removed to Mansfield; and the Parsonage there, which, under each of its two former owners, Fanny had never been able to approach but with some painful sensation of restraint or alarm, soon grew as dear to her heart, and as thoroughly perfect in her eyes, as everything else within the view and patronage of Mansfield Park had long been. The Narrator, Chapter 48 

THE END 

Further reading 

Online text complements of Molland's Circulating Library

Cast of characters

Chapter 41-48 summary

Chapter 41-48 quotes and quips 

Mansfield Park Madness: Day 14 Give-away 

Leave a comment to by August 30 qualify for the free drawing on August 31 for one copy of.

Mansfield Park: Broadview Literary Texts Series

Broadview Press (2001). Novel text and introduction and notes by June Sturrock. Trade paperback, 528 pages, ISBN 978-1551110981 

Upcoming posts

Day 15 - Aug 29          MP: Sequels, Spinoff's and Retellings
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: The Scoop! What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Roundup & Conclusion

Vanaf vandaag zendt Canvas terug de vijfdelige reeks van "Reynebau en Rotten" uit. In de eerste aflevering staat de Britse geschiedenis centraal. Windsor is hun eerste bestemming. Windsor is de residentie van de koninklijke familie sinds 1066. Omdat Jonny Rotten toch wel een losbol is, rijden ze snel mogelijk verder richting Taplow. In dit stadje maken ze kennis met de grote en wondermooie tuin en houden ze een roeiercompetitie in Phyllis Court Club.

Na het heerlijke boottochtje rijden ze voorwaarts naar het stadje Glastonbury waar de sage rond King Arthur ontstond. Dit stadje is (was) een bedevaartsoord voor pelgrims. De pelgrims bezochten de beroemde abdij waardoor de monniken zowat geld in het laatje kon brengen.  De legende gaat dat King Arthur in dit stadje begraven is, maar archeologen hebben nooit het graf gevonden.  Als kers op de taart werden ze tot ridder geslagen; "rise Sir Marc!".

Verder bezochten ze het stadje " Bath".  Als sinds de Romeinse tijd werd dit stadje druk bezocht omwille van de geneeskrachtige termen.  In de 18e eeuw werd Bath een moderne badplaats, goed bezocht door het rijkere deel van de bevolking.

In het programma vertelden de Engelse boeren dat het parlement niet meer met hen rekening houdt. De president wil van hun landbouwgrond een gezinspark maken zodat het geld opbrengt. Maar de boeren voelen zich bedreigt omdat zij de laatste generatie traditionele Engelse boeren zijn.

Wanneer ik naar het programma keek viel mij het karakterverschil tussen Marc Reynebau en Jonny Rotten enorm op. Ondanks vullen ze elkaar wel goed aan en amuseren ze zich rot ;)

Hup naar volgende week donderdag!

Take the Quiz here!

Both Lady Catherine and Darcy are rather overbearing parental figures. While I think that Darcy is much more normal than Lady Catherine there might have been difficult moments when Georgiana would have to face his anger i.e. in the case of her attempted elopement.

The obvious differences are that Anne is small and thin, while Georgiana is tall and her figure well built. Georgiana is accomplished, while Anne is not, and we might assume that Georgiana isn’t sick. But they both speak very little, and each of them needs their companion’s guidance. I have a feeling that it’s not so much that Anne is so dumb and Georgiana so sensible, as that Darcy hired a better lady companion than Lady Catherine did.

Anne tries to be like her mother outside of the house i.e. she visits their tenants almost daily. She often stops at the parsonage but rarely comes in. Although her reasons in this case might be different than her mother’s - when she comes in it’s not to instruct them about their life. However, Georgiana too seems to do things only because she knows it’s what Darcy expects of her, i.e. on his entrance she exerts herself much more to talk to Lizzy.

Lizzy found Anne rude even before she spoke to her. She only saw her from afar while Anne was talking to Charlotte. Lizzy said “She is abominably rude to keep Charlotte out of doors in all this wind.” But there’s no wind. Just minutes earlier Lizzy was getting ready for a walk.

Additionally, although Anne didn’t come in, she in fact stopped to invite the Lucases and Lizzy to Rosings, and it’s just the next day after their arrival. Of course it’s not as striking a civility as that of Georgiana who called on Lizzy on the day of her own arrival, but then we all know that she’d never call if Darcy didn’t drag her, and she’d never invite them to dine if Darcy didn’t tell her to.

Inside the house we see Anne very subdued. She’s not uncivil or haughty, she’s just passive. While of course no one might dream of talking when Lady Catherine does, there are moments when Lizzy and Anne might have had a conversation. Yet, she doesn’t speak.

Elizabeth was ready to speak whenever there was an opening, but she was seated between Charlotte and Miss De Bourgh -- the former of whom was engaged in listening to Lady Catherine, and the latter said not a word to her all dinner time. Mrs. Jenkinson was chiefly employed in watching how little Miss De Bourgh ate, pressing her to try some other dish, and fearing she were indisposed.

It’s interesting that although Elizabeth was ready to speak she didn’t. It’s all blamed on Anne. And later:

Their table was superlatively stupid. Scarcely a syllable was uttered that did not relate to the game, except when Mrs. Jenkinson expressed her fears of Miss De Bourgh's being too hot or too cold, or having too much or too little light.

Yet, if Charlotte sat with them she’d likely speak to Anne. Charlotte seems to be the only sensible person of Anne's acquaintance, and the only one she talks to in any normal manner (although we're not told what the two talk about).

A similar situation at Pemberley:

Georgiana's reception of them was very civil; but attended with all that embarrassment which, though proceeding from shyness and the fear of doing wrong, would easily give to those who felt themselves inferior the belief of her being proud and reserved. Mrs. Gardiner and her niece, however, did her justice, and pitied her.

By Mrs. Hurst and Miss Bingley, they were noticed only by a curtsey; and on their being seated, a pause, awkward as such pauses must always be, succeeded for a few moments. It was first broken by Mrs. Annesley, a genteel, agreeable looking woman, whose endeavour to introduce some kind of discourse proved her to be more truly well bred than either of the others; and between her and Mrs. Gardiner, with occasional help from Elizabeth, the conversation was carried on. Miss Darcy looked as if she wished for courage enough to join in it; and sometimes did venture a short sentence, when there was least danger of its being heard.

Anne needs Mrs. Jenkinson’s help in “placing a screen in the proper direction before her eyes” while Georgiana needs “many a significant look and smile” from Mrs. Annesley to remember of her post - ordering the refreshments.

So they both seem suppressed. None of them speaks. Only that Georgiana’s silence is excused as shyness while Anne’s is called stupidity. Of course Anne is older, and Georgiana isn’t out yet, but likely Georgiana is more worldly anyway. She lives chiefly in London, was sent to a school, later received even better education from the London masters, and attended dinners at Darcy’s friends, while Anne never leaves Rosings. Yet, compared to the girls Fanny Price, who can talk to Mr. Rushworth or the Crawfords, seems a veritable chatterbox.

In Anne’s case Lizzy doesn’t make any effort to know her better, in Georgiana’s she does, even though the situation must be very stressful to herself with Caroline sitting there too, and Darcy being expected any moment. But both Anne and Georgiana behave similarly.

Also, although Anne’s ill health is generally spoke of, Lizzy is the only one who thinks that Anne looks pale, sickly and cross. But there is a moment when Anne smiles at Collins’s compliment and an allusion about her and Darcy. So even if she’s naïve and a bit vain, she’s not so cross. Lizzy’s view seems to be tainted by her jealousy, just as Lydia’s view of Miss King, or Caroline’s of Lizzy.

Lizzy and Mariah’s last evening at Rosings ends with “When they parted (…) Miss De Bourgh exerted herself so far as to curtsey and hold out her hand to both.” which in case of someone as passive as Anne seems like a sudden outpour of emotion. It might mean that Anne finally felt at ease enough to do anything.

Of course Lady Catherine hired a governess she liked, just as Collins is a parson who suits her. Darcy had other ideas and so Mrs. Annesley is objectively a much better companion than Mrs. Jenkinson. Yet, with a companion like Mrs. Annesley Anne might make a better impression, while Georgiana would make a worse one with Mrs. Jenkinson at her side.

I'll post a few thoughts soon on Rogue (when my head is filled with coherent thoughts and not with goo.)

Cool thing of the day on the blogs:

Sarah Monette has a GREAT Q & A session going on over at her blog, answering all sorts of questions. I love her Doctrine of Labyrinths series: Melusine, The Virtu, The Mirador, and I can't wait for Corambis, the final books of the series. The world she has built for these books is so complex, and Felix and Mildmay are incredibly conflicted and well-developed characters. I'll be sad to see the series end, but I am also looking forward to seeing what she comes up with next. BTW, another great book she co-wrote with Elizabeth Bear Companion to Wolves shouldn't be missed!

Currently reading:

Currently listening to:

She was kind enough to answer some questions for us about biography-writing, historical fiction, the Shelley circle and Austen - and we've also got a copy of Death and the Maidens to give away. Read on...

Firstly, this is something that has always fascinated me: how are you drawn, as a biographer, to a particular subject? You must have found Fanny through her mother, but you could easily have written about Mary Shelley instead. What was it that made you notice Fanny on the sidelines and think, 'there's a story that needs to be told'?

I was very involved in the feminist movement in the US, both as an activist and then as a scholar excavating early women writers (this work culminated in The Sign of Angellica from Virago). Over the years I became more and more drawn both to biography and to reflections on the feminist movement. Mary Wollstonecraft combined the two concerns. She always interested me with her extraordinary mix of selflessness and egoisim, and I came to wonder if, to be a revolutionary, a person had to be egotistical--had to believe in herself to the extent that she could avoid the encroachments of others and be a little blinded to their needs.

Self-absorbed people exert a sort of fascination and Fanny felt this-for her mother in reality and idea,  for her step father William Godwin and for the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. For my book I was keen not to see Fanny-as some commentators had seen her when they mentioned her at all-through modern terms such as ‘depressive' or ‘masochistic'. I don't think she enjoyed suffering; she simply suffered towards the end of her life and circumstances were against her. I also saw her as someone who had the capacity to put other people's needs before her own-with all the repercussions that such a capacity entailed. I am interested in the isolated individual, someone who has none of the supports of family, religion and community. Mary Shelley was far less isolated than Fanny and so less interesting in this respect. Also she has been well served by biographers.

When I wrote the Wollstonecraft biography I dealt with a person who was in part her own autobiographer and largely made the terms on which she wanted to be received (where I moved away from these I met hostility from some reviewers-well, one in particular). I then wanted to write about a person influenced by her but whose inner life was not so publicly given. At that point I was keen to write on Fanny but the publishers to whom I suggested her steered me towards my other possible subject, Lady Mount Cashell (Rebel Daughters). I don't think this book quite worked, mainly because there was no way to get very close to the subject and because I found it more difficult to imagine the inner life of an aristocratic lady than that of a struggling middle class woman. After finishing that book I was determined to write on Fanny, whether anyone wanted the work or not.

The publishers I approached insisted that the book be on all the Godwin girls. But I knew it had to have Fanny centre stage, even if so much less was known about her than of Mary and Claire Clairmont. That in the way was the point-though you are right in your review: she does tend to disappear at times even in my narrative, and of course those who covered up her death meant her to do so. But I wanted to give her as loud a voice as I could. I was always haunted by the travels of Mary Wollstonecraft in Scandinavia with her lively, spirited little girl. When I saw the coroner's list of unclaimed bodies, which included this once spirited girl, I really did feel her story had to be told.

The Romantics made it very hard to divorce the art from the artist's personality. Does this kind of intellectual detachment become impossible after you've spent a certain amount of time delving into these people's lives? For example, can you read and appreciate Shelley's poetry without being reminded of his unpleasantness as a person? Or do you feel, as a feminist, that it's the reader's responsibility to be aware of the implications of everything he stood for?

Personally I think you can separate aesthetics and ethics. In biography you usually sees the world with one central figure but there are obviously other views and in the end I would hope to illustrate and suggest but not really judge. So, yes, to answer your question, l love some of Shelley's poetry but not all. I much prefer the occasional lyrics to the big mythological works. In the latter I don't think he has the stature of Keats or Wordsworth.

In the summer of 1818 when he saw the death of his daughter he thought almost entirely of himself not Mary and I found him repellent; and yet he wrote two of his finest poems, ‘Lines written among the Euganean Hills' and ‘Julian and Maddalo'. I guess I come back to my point that genius is usually egocentric and takes its toll on others. For later readers, if not for the immediate sufferers, it may be worth the price.... I think I could forgive Shelley a lot if he weren't so self-righteous; in that respect a straightforward anti-feminist like Byron is more appealing.

Are you writing another biography at the moment, or thinking of starting one?

My present work is finishing off my Jane Austen edition-the last volume is just in but not proofed. But I have been collecting material for something on the Shelleys and Byron in Venice in 1818 when the baby Clara Shelley dies. So much mystery surrounds the event. Various Italians declare they have documents but it is an uphill struggle to get them to let me see them. Venice seems to keep no records of Protestant deaths.

You're an Austen scholar, but you've also worked on other early women novelists. What in your opinion makes Jane Austen so special? Does she really dwarf all her contemporary competition, or do you think some of these contemporaries deserve to be much better known than they currently are?

I do think Austen is ‘greater' than the other writers of her time, including Walter Scott, Maria Edgeworth, and Frances Burney, the main rivals. Of these I find Burney the most interesting. Austen has skills quite beyond Burney-her experiments with free indirect speech, her depiction of inner lives. At the same time Burney has a wider range: she shows people in emotional crises and she has a more extensive canvas in terms of class. So it is irritating when she is just seen as a poor relation of Jane Austen.

After enjoying the narrative of Death and the Maidens so much, I'm not at all surprised you're also writing novels... As a biographer and historian, you have obvious advantages as an historical novelist - but are there any disadvantages to knowing your time period too well from an academic perspective? Also, knowing Austen's works as well as you do - and in such meticulous detail - does it make it easier or harder for you to give your own imaginative slant to them?

I have to admit that I have just written a novel, loosely based on Jane Austen-not another sequel I hear you say - not quite, but a retelling. I see it as a way into historical fiction, which is what I want to write in future.

Whether or not my spinoff is published , I enjoyed writing it. My historical knowledge was useful I think: I liked the fact that I knew what street led into what in the London of about 1814.  The influence of Jane Austen herself is more complicated. While she is inimitable in the broad sense, there are tricks of style it is very easy to echo; indeed it is pleasurable to seem to be echoing her-but probably for others it is  as irritating as I find the ‘prythees' of students dressed up as Elizabethans in English stately homes during wet summers. As Austen on the web indicates, it is agreeable to slip into Austenland and hard to leave; it's always an interactive world, only a little beholden to Jane Austen the great novelist.

Lastly, please recommend five books...

Aphra Behn's The Fair Jilt.   This is a novella written in the Restoration. Despite being so early it has not been bettered in its depiction of the complex psychology of sex and self-gratification. It is also cunning in its use of a narrator who undercuts many of the clichés she seems to be delivering to the reader: such as the repentance of the wickedly energetic central character. It catches, too, the huge influence of fickle public opinion on our individual attitudes.

Irene Nemirovsky's  Suite francaise, an unfinished work about the German invasion of France in 1940.  This is a wonderful work full of startling details of human nature under pressure. Considering the author's own precarious position, it is also remarkably full of humanity and tolerance. One of the great novels of the 20^th century.

William Boyd The New Confessions.  I have friends who struggled with this and didn't like the use of an 18^th century work to illuminate the 20^th century film industry, but I found it an amazing achievement. It ranges from Rousseau to the trenches of the First World War to Hollywood. All are well realized and the whole is more enjoyable than I am making it sound.

Penelope Fitzgerald   The Gate of Angels . I was first attracted to this because it was yet another novel partly set in Cambridge, which, like Venice, is perhaps too thickly overlaid with fiction.  I soon saw that this was quite different from the others, spare, taut,  shrewd and brilliant. The story, set in the early 20^th century,  brings together across class and education a Cambridge fellow and a poor and spirited London nurse; it economically pits ideologies of religion and science,  metaphysical speculation and human discomfort.  The style is clipped and the narrator wastes no words

Anita Desai's Clear Light of Day.  I must confess at once that I count Anita as a friend but even without this bonus I would find this a wonderful book. Set in Old Delhi, it is slow, beautifully written, reminding me of Chekhov in its sense of historical change outside the frame of the work. It is a picture of delicate emotions and of minds filled with cultures and languages that sometimes cohere, sometimes clash and often make both character and reader uneasy.

-:oOo:-

The winner of the giveaway copy will be drawn this Sunday, 31 August, so don't forget to leave a comment! (As usual, my vulpine fellows are ineligible...)

MOVIES

Interestingly, it has been exactly seven months since this adaptation of Mansfield Park aired on PBS during The Complete Jane Austen series last January. I wish that I could say that time has made my heart grow fonder, but a recent re-viewing has not changed my feelings in any respect to my original review, and I am still greatly disappointed in it. It fails as a true adaptation to Jane Austen's masterpiece for many reasons which I and others have previously pointed out, but I think that I could have overlooked all of its blunders if the screen writer Maggie Wadey had allowed our heroine Fanny Price to have the moral fortitude and principles that Jane Austen had endowed to her in the first place! This Fanny Price is more a flighty Kitty Bennet, ready to follow than act as the moral compass for us to measure the behavior of the rest of characters against, which I believe was Austen's intension.  

There are some who like this film and there are elements that I enjoyed and appreciated myself. The cast was excellent with one exception. Here are a few images to highlight their performances. 

Fanny Price (Billie Piper) and Edmund Bertram (Blake Ritson) enjoying a ride and discussion on the grounds of Mansfield Park. Piper flopped as Fanny given nothing to work with, and Ritson was not quite staid and moralistic enough, though he was nice eye candy, looking rather like a young Rod Stewart! 

Mary Crawford (Hayley Atwell) was duly devious and alluring and shined in the role. When she was not on screen, I was waiting for her return! Henry Crawford (Joseph Beattie) is a talented actor who I recently enjoyed in Brideshead Revisted, but I wanted him to be stronger and more slippery than the director Iain McDonald would allow. 

Maria Bertram (Michele Ryan) was the ultimate knock-out sultry siren! What man could resist such beauty and charm? Mr. Rushworth (Rory Kinnear) seems to be always portrayed by large slightly pudgy men who are a bit clueless! On this account, the director selected the ideal match to Austen's intension and Kinnear plays Rushworth perfectly. Julia Bertram (Katherine Steadman) being the second fiddle to her sister Maria is thankless role in the movie and the book. Steadman was, well second fiddle. 

Sir Thomas arrives home from Antigua unexpectedly to discover his children in the throws of a theatrical. The looks on their faces tells all. This part, they got right. 

Fanny Price (Billie Piper) in one of her happier moments. Fanny is not given much dialogue with any substance unfortunately.  Piper gives her lots of perk though! 

Mary Crawford (Hayley Atwell) looking at Edmund with impudence and authority. She will make any man who dares to love her tow the line. 

Lady Bertram (Jemma Redgrave) regally lounges on the settee with Pug (Holly). Though not stated in the novel, I often wonder if Lady Bertram is ill or under the influence (as some actors have seemed to portray her). This Lady Bertram actually has opinions and notices her children! 

Henry Crawford (Joseph Beattie) attempts to convince Fanny Price (Billie Piper) to marry him. I never quite felt his intensity and determination as I did in the novel. Austen is so persistent in his pursuit, that at one point, I actually thought that Fanny was wavering and would succumb. This Fanny is not as appalled and repulsed as she should be. 

Edmund Bertram (Blake Ritson) at the exact moment he realizes that Mary Crawford is a fake and rejects her. Ritson is at his best in this scene. 

Fanny and Edmund finally discover that they love each other, all because of the color purple. Go figure! 

Further reading and viewing 

• Mansfield Park 2007: Another Perspective, by Ellen Moody, Ellen and Jim have a blog, too!
• The Dummification of Mansfield Park, by Vic (Ms Place) Jane Austen's World
• A woman looks in on wealth, finds love, in 'Mansfield Park', David Wegand - SF Chronicle
• Mansfield Park Review: No Hope of a Cure, by Laurel Ann, Austenprose
• Mansfield Park (2007) on YouTube 

Mansfield Park Madness: Day 13 Give-away!

Leave a comment by August 30th. to be eligible for a drawing on August 31st for one copy of

Mansfield Park (2007)

Adapted by Maggie Wadey, directed by Ian B. MacDonald (Aug 27) ITV & WGBH production, 92 minutes. Staring Billie Piper as Fanny Price, Blake Ritson as Edmund Bertram and Hayley Atwell as Mary Crawford. 

Upcoming posts
Day 14 - Aug 28          MP novel discussion chapter 41-48
Day 15 - Aug 29          MP: Sequels, Spinoff's and Retellings
Day 16 - Aug 30          MP: What People Are Saying
Day 17 - Aug 31          MP Madness Roundup & Conclusion

today was a wonderful day, i am bit overdue for one. the weather was perfect, i could've done the final hike today, but i put it off until the weekend. instead i did laundry. right now you are thinking, that's hardly an equal trade, but it is almost septemeber, in fact monday is september first. i am rapidly running out of summer weather, and since they are calling for scattered showers all the rest of the week, today was the perfect day to hang the clothes out on the line. it is one of my favorite things about summer, the smell of line dried clothes.

i picked up another edition of the movie mansfield park from the library today. although the acting was much better than the last movie, and mrs bertram was not featured nearly so prominently as in the last movie. they made changes to the story. big changes. william was cut out completely, susan took his place and fannie had a much stronger relationship with susan than was ever indicated in the book, edmund must have had spinal surgery, they completely removed his backbone, or prehaps it was his testicles. fannie accepts henry's proposal then rejects him the next day driving him into maria's arms and bed. yes it's all fannie's fault that they are adulterers. sir thomas was a slave owner who tortured his slaves and raped the women. once again the actress who plays mary crawford bears an uncanny resemblance to serena from bewitched and appears to be about a good 20 years older than the part calls for. jane must be spinning in her grave. when will they learn you don't f@ck with jane austen?

i have finished the back of the green sweater, i will have to post pictures soon, and have a fair start on the front. there's another class tonight. i am going to sign up for two more knitting classes for fall. i also signed up for a cooking class next week.

According to the producers' press release Amanda falls as hard for Darcy as he does for her. She is overjoyed with his proposal, and her doubts about his belonging to one Elizabeth Bennet (Gemma Arterton - the Bond's girl) are quickly quelled by the man himself, who says that he doesn't care one bit for our Lizzy. Amanda accepts and her head is full of plans for their happy union when Caroline Bingley tells Darcy to enquire after Amanda's past. When Darcy learns about her many flings, he breaks the engagement. He can't marry a non-virgin. Darcy proposes to Caroline Bingley, and Amanda feels bereft.

In the meantime all of the havoc Amanda caused to other characters hits the roof, and Mr. Bennet is deadly wound in a duel with Bingley. Amanda finds her way back to the future and is desperate to find Elizabeth. Darcy, who can't overcome his feelings for her, follows her and declares his undying love again. Amanda finds Lizzy, who is working as a nanny (the producers say that it means that she fared in the future very well! really!) and is enamoured with internet. While at Amanda's flat Lizzy shows Darcy all of the P&P sites she had found, but it seems he's still only after Amanda. When he fights with Amanda's ex over her, Amanda takes him and Lizzy back to Regency.

And here we are. With Darcy engaged to Caroline, in love with Amanda, and not caring one bit for our Lizzy , while Amanda is as in love with him as ever, and afraid that he might now fall for Lizzy once he had met her. Are we supposed to feel sorry for Amanda? Hmm...

Anyway, I've been thinking about possible outcomes to this macabre. Here they are:

1.) Since Amanda and Darcy are in love with each other, and the synopsis shows it’s deep and serious on both sides, Darcy should only prove to her that he’s not going to fall in love with Lizzy just because Austen wrote so, break his engagement to Caro, and we have a happy ending for them.

2.) Lizzy might be infatuated with Darcy (after reading all of the P&P fanfic with a better Darcy than theirs, lol), and Amanda’s boyfriend became all romantic lately, so perhaps Darcy falls in love with Lizzy after all (although he doesn’t seem interested so far so it's not very convincible) and poor Amanda, with a broken heart, returns to her ex.

3.) Amanda, feeling guilty about all of the mess she’d done, has a one night hot sex with Darcy and sneaks to modern London in the morning. Perhaps her boyfriend follows her to the Regency era to fetch her. Darcy marries Lizzy as a substitute.

4.) They end the episode in an unresolved manner, allowing everyone to imagine whatever they wish.

5.) Amanda wakes up on her sofa, with P&P at hand – it was all a dream!

I guess my problem with the series is that no matter how original the authors think they are, they really are not. There are thousands of fanfics with better premises and plots (some of them sci-fi too) that at least managed to remain true to Austen's characters, what certainly cannot be said about this series. Moreover, the plot lacks intelligence. The ideas they use are among the most cliché ones in all of the fandom. There is nothing new and fresh about them, they were compromised many times.

I have no idea how they are going to fix the mess they wrought in their tale, but I know that I'm not interested in a Darcy who could fall for Amanda the Mary Sue, and so I don't care. I just wish that a TV company that have a budget for a four episode long costume TV series might spend it in a better manner. Do they really think that watching Darcy fall for their Amanda is every girl's dream? Come on!

I would certainly prefer to watch something clever and witty set in the era even if it didn't have anything to do with Austen. Jane Austen's fans aren't as stupid as the producers imagine them to be, are they?

Muitas mulheres consideram ele um cara sexy... um cara tentou por isso a prova.

correndo.

usando inclusive o modelito camisa-branca-molhada...

Judging from the sidewalk patrons alone, you can't even order Evian at the Italian restaurant without producing a receipt proving that you laid down over a hundred dollars for your designer aviator sunglasses.

Contrast this with the bicycle cops from Denver's elite riot patrols lunching just yards away at Sam's No.3 on the corner of 15th and Curtis. The sidewalk venue makes for an interesting picture-perfect respite from the previous day's clashes between rioters and police.

Some of the delegates from the Ohio delegation pose for pictures with these law enforcement officials, the smiles and jovial scene is a wondrous contrast to a morning's brush with heated counter-protesters and police.

Some of the guests to the Iowa delegation stepped up the plate and helped diffuse a passionate three-way skirmish between protestors, police and various delegates and Denver youth who were calling for pro-GLBT rights. Iowa Hall of Pride members witnessing the encounter were livid to point out that some of those advocating better treatment of GLBT Americans were not so much protected by police as watched aloofly, cautiously.

The corners of Stout St. and 15th have turned into a big tent circus, missing only the tigers and elephants (although plenty of pins showed elephants and John McCain in, shall we say, very humbling descriptions). Just up the street from the tents are the fake-couture stalls, ironically just across from the local TJ Maxx.

An unofficial caucus of California delegates could easily be achieved across the street from the Grand Hyatt Hotel surrounding well-patronized the fake Gucci, Coach and Armani couture accessories stall. Nearby, the La Boehme "gentlemen's cabaret" is experiencing a boom of business, judging from the clumps of police that stand around the building.

Speaking of booming business, the lobby of our hotel has remarkably been transfigured into a mangled media crime scene, with photographers and slithering sloughs of cables holding the hotel's Starbucks and Rialto Café hostage. The crunch for coffee, as Jane Austen said, "working on a weak mind produces every kind of mischief."

The raised Formica table just steps away from the Rialto café has been mystically turned into a potpourri power scene, with Iowa delegates rapidly chatting with Nevada delegates, reporters, bloggers and the occasional DNC official so proudly wearing their orange "Podium" identification tags.

The only thing missing at this scene are brownies. You can hardly expect to play DNC backroom braggarts on an empty stomach.

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"Me!" cried Fanny..."Indeed you must excuse me. I could not act any thing if you were to give me the world. No, indeed, I cannot act." Fanny Price, Chapter 15 

Gentle readers, Please join us for the third in a series of six diptych reviews of the revised editions of Jane Austen's six major novels and three minor works that were released this summer by Oxford World's Classics. Austenprose editor Laurel Ann is honored to be joined by Austen scholar Prof. Ellen Moody, who will be adding her professional insights to complement my everyman's view.

Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen

Oxford World's Classics Rev. Edition (2008)

Laurel Ann's review

In a popularity poll of Jane Austen's six major novels, Mansfield Park may come close to the bottom, but what a distinction that is in comparison to the rest of classic literature! Even though many find fault with its hero and heroine, its love story (or more accurately the lack of one), its dark subtext of abuse, neglect and oppression, and its overly moralistic tone, it is still Jane Austen; with her beautiful language, witty social observations and intriguing plot lines. Given the overruling benefits, I can still place it in my top ten all-time favorite classic books. 

Considering the difficulty that some readers have understanding Mansfield Park, the added benefit of good supplemental material is an even more important consideration in purchasing the novel. Recently I evaluated several editions of the novel currently in print which you can view here. For readers seeking a medium level of supplemental material, one solid candidate is the new reissue of Oxford World's Classics (2008) which offers a useful combination of topics to expand on the text, place it in context to when it was written, and an insightful introduction by Jane Stabler, a Senior Lecturer in English at the University of Dundee, Scotland and Lord Byron scholar. 

Understanding all the important nuances and inner-meanings in Mansfield Park can be akin to ‘visiting Pemberley', the extensive estate of the wealthy Mr. Darcy in Jane Austen's more famous novel Pride and Prejudice. One is intrigued by its renown but hard pressed to take it all in on short acquaintance. The greatest benefit of the Oxford World's Classics edition to the reader who seeks clarification is Jan Stabler's thirty page introduction which is thoughtfully broken down into six sub categories by theme; The Politics of Home, Actors and Audiences, The Drama of Conscience, Stagecraft and Psychology, Possession, Restoration and Rebellion, and Disorder and Dynamism. Written at a level accessible to the novice and veteran alike, I particularly appreciate this type of thematic format when I am seeking an answer or explanation on one subject and do not have the time to wade through the entire essay at that moment. Her concluding lines seemed to sum up my recent feelings on the novel. 

"The brisk restoration of order at Mansfield Park and healing of the breach between parent and child is underwritten by the same doubt that lingers around the last scene of Shakespeare's King Lear: ‘Is this the promis'd end? (v. iii 262). Recreating the urge to defy parental authority while teaching us to sit still, and pitting unruly energy against patient submission to the rule of law, Mansfield Park is an enthralling performance of the competitive forces which governed early nineteenth-century politics, society and art." 

For me, Mansfield Park is about Jane Austen teaching this unruly child to sit still and enjoy the performance! With patience, I have come to cherish Fanny Price, the most virtuous and under-rated heroine in classic literature! Re-reading the novel and supplemental material was well worth the extra effort, expanding my appreciation of Austen's skills as a story teller and the understanding of the social workings in rural Regency England. I am never disappointed in her delivery of great quips such as 

"But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them." The Narrator, Chapter 1 

Also included in this edition are four appendixes; the first two on Rank and Social Status and Dancing which are included in all six of the Oxford World's Classics Jane Austen editions and have been previously reviewed, followed by; Lovers' Vows (the theatrical that the young people attempt to produce in the novel), and Austen and the Navy which helps the reader understand Jane Austen's connection to the Royal Navy through her brothers James and Francis and its influence on her writing. The extensive Explanatory Notes to the text help place the novel in context for the modern reader while offering helpful and insightful nuggets of Regency information. 

Mansfield Park may have the dubious distinction of being Jane Austen's most challenging novel, but I have come to appreciate her characters and plot by better understanding of the subtext through supplemental material and further re-readings of the novel. It is now one of my favorite Austen novels. Readers who hesitate to read Mansfield Park because of the ‘bad rap' that it has received over the years are reminded of heroine Fanny Price's excellent observation to the unprincipled character Henry Crawford, "We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be". The Oxford World's Classics Mansfield Park is certainly a fine edition to help you discover your own better inner-guide to the novel! 

Please join us for the next review of Emma in September

Read my previous reviews in the Oxford World's Classics - Jane Austen Collection

• Sense and Sensibility
• Pride and Prejudice

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Oxford World's Classics
Oxford University Press, Rev. Ed. (2008)
Trade paperback, 480 pages, ISBN-13: 9780199535538
James Kinsley, editor 

Supplemental Material
Jane Stabler: Introduction and Explanatory Notes
Vivien Jones: Select Bibliography, Chronology and Appendixes
Biography of Jane Austen
Note on the Text
Textural Notes

Prof. Ellen Moody's review 

"The World as a "take-in":  the latest Oxford _Mansfield Park_

Tom Townsend (Edward Clements, the Edmund character) regaling Audrey Rouget (Carolyn Farina, the Fanny Price character) with Trilling's commentary; she is not thrilled. [1] (1990 _Metropolitan_, free adaptation of _MP_)

Many covers of _Mansfield Park_ feature a grand ancient house seen in

the distance (even though Austen tells us it was modern) 

As Laurel says, here we are for a third go at a series of diptych reviews. This time our topic is _Mansfield Park_, a book which has become controversial first as utterly dislikable -- boring, distasteful, and worse yet, a grave moral comedy; and then as radical -- subversive, a book intended to expose the viciousness and ruthless exploitation upon which the comfort of the powerful and rich depends, indeed the most profound and far reaching, the richest of Austen's books, not a mere love story, which element in the book often nowadays scarcely gets a look-in by some critics.  This singling out of the book as particularly "difficult" and needing especially diligent defense begins in 1944 when the first of the 20th century texts about Austen written by non-academic ordinary women readers, popular novelists themselves, Sheila Kaye-Smith and G. B. Stern's _Speaking of Jane Austen_ hit the until then overwhelmingly male-dominated mostly high-minded criticism-land of Jane Austen (Mark Twain's resentful venom and Rudyard Kipling's ironies are rarities).  You see, as Edmund Wilson then (in reaction) condescended to explain, it seems "there is something wrong with _Mansfield Park_ and [Kaye-Smith and Stern] have a great deal to say it."  Edmund Wilson's "Long Talk about Austen" informed the world, among others, the today still supremely prestigious Vladmir Nabokov, that Jane Austen must be included in courses of great authors; the story goes Nabokov bristled, at which Wilson huffed, so Nabokov swallowed hard and reluctantly put _Mansfield Park_ in his syllabus[2]. 

The iconic scene of all the _MP_ movies:  Fanny (Sylvestre Le Tousel) writing, this case her beloved brother William; in all three costumed dramas, but especially this first (1983 BBC) she is the (unusal female) narrator of much of the story through subjective retrospective scenes.  Here we see her in her "nest of comforts," her attic (as yet unheated). 

Here (1999 Miramax) she will when grown up (Francis O'Connor) will write stories (sometimes for her beloved sister Susan, Sophia Myles), but the function is occasionally the same, if the mood, upbeat comedy and directed at someone near her, like Edmund (Jonny Lee Miller) despite the gothicized surroundings, has been altered. 

Hitherto I have confined myself to complementing Laurel's reviews with contextualization in the form of brief surveys of recent editions of the novels, covers and illustrations, film adapations available, and secondary issues about the book as a book, for "Ours is a competitive business, sir:" the latest Oxford _Sense and Sensibility, the problem of which text to choose (1811 or 1813); for A novel many novel-readers feel called upon to read: on the latest Oxford _Pride & Prejudice_, some sense of a series of book and movie events which have led to the book's having become since the second half of the 20th century a transcendent best-seller (beginning with her nephew's 1870 memoir, and including the usefulness of the book's archetypal strong romance for movies, careers in and outside classrooms, and the heritage industry).  

I will again offer some description of other recent editions, and talk about the problem of which text to chose (we again have two texts printed in Austen's lifetime, 1814 and 1816), and end on the movies, one of which is in my judgement a masterpiece of filmic art, the 1983 BBC _Mansfield Park_, one of the best film adaptations of an Austen book, and there have been many[3]. The difference will be this time I will discuss the book's content directly with the aim of doing as many have done before me (I'll quote them) explaining why there seems to be such disquiet to the point we are told (by Kingsley Amis, be it noted a misogynist in his fiction) _Mansfield Park_ is not the real Jane Austen, is utterly uncharacteristic, a product of imposed self-denying "revulsion physical and particular," this Marvin Mudrick's response partly to her heroine who stands for a type whom all right-minded people avoid and whose pious hypocrisy (aggressive-passiveness if you prefer) they see through in life and fiction[4]. continue reading

Fanny at the moment when Tom (Christopher Villiers) has suddenly called upon her to take a part (from the other side of the room, where he is busy suiting his convenience) and then insists: as she becomes the center of a scene she is intensely distressed (Edmund, Nicholas Farrell, and Mary, Jackie Smith-Wood, sit behind her) as

fn1.  Audrey Rouget, _Metropolitan_, in Whit Stillman's _Barcelona/Metropolitan_ (London & Boston: Faber, 1994):192-93.  She is discussing Lionel Trilling's essay (see my discussion of this and other essays on _MP_ below). 

fn2.  See (and read if you haven't as yet) the fascinating Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern's _Speaking of Jane Austen_ (New York: Harper, 1994), published n England as _Talking of Jane Austen_; Edmund Wilson, "A Long Talk About Jane Austen," _Classics and Commercials: a literary chronicle of the forties_ (New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Cudahy, 1951):196-203; and the overpraised "Jane Austen: Mansfield Park," in Vladmir Nabokov, _Lectures on Literature_, ed. Fredson Bowers (New York:  Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1980):9-60. Nabokov analyzes the design and themes of the incidents at Sotherton and the play-acting, but the description of Austen's novles as "delicate patterns, with her collection of eggshells in cotton wool," in comparison say to the rich wide world ("tawny port") of Dickens reveals the masculinist disdain of Austen:  he writes: "Personally I dislike porcelian and the minor arts ... Let us not forget there are people who have devoted to Jane all their lives, their ivy-clad lives ..." and so on and so forth (p. 63). 

fn3. For me undoubted masterpieces of filmic art which seriously engage with Austen's texts are the of the apparently faithful adaptations: 1972 BBC _Emma_, 1979 BBC _P&P_, the 1983 BBC _MP_, the 1995 BBC/WBGH _P&P_, 1995 Miramax _S&S_ and 1995 BBC _Persuasion_ (95 was a great year), _ and the commentaries the 2007 _Persuasion_ and 2008 _S&S_.  Of the free adaptations another _MP_ film stands high, Whit Stillmans' independent 1990 _Metropolitan_, the Tamil 2000 _I have Found it_ (_S&S_), Victor Nunez's independent 1993 _Ruby in Paradise_ (_NA_) and the 2006 Warner _Lake House_ (_Persuasion_) seem the best in the serious vein, the Amy Heckerling's 1996 Paramount _Clueless_ (_Emma_ and 2001 Columbia Tristar _Bridget Jones Diary_ (_P&P_) in the comic.   I also find of real interets the 1987 BBC _NA_, 2007 BBC/WBGH _NA_ , and the much-maligned (lie the book), 2007 ITV _MP_ 

fn4. Kingsley Amis, "What Became of Jane Austen," _Jane Austen: A Collection of Critical Essays_, ed. Ian Watt (NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963):141-43; Marvin Mudrick, _Jane Austen: irony as defense and discovery_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1952); 155-80. 

The story takes place mostly in Bath, England when a young Catherine Morland is sent to spend a few months with friends of the family, the Allens. On one her first days she encounters a very sociable young man named Henry Tilney. Catherine soon develops a strong crush on Tilney, but unfortunately, he is nowhere to be seen for the next few chapters. Enter Isabella Thorpe. She reminded me very much of Mary Crawford from Mansfield Park. Isabella also came with a brother, John Thorpe, who did nothing but torment Catherine with his obnoxious behavior. Through a series of missed chances, Catherine is finally able to keep her engagements with the Tilney siblings once they return to Bath. Striking up a pleasant friendship with Henry and Eleanor, Catherine is soon invited to spend a few months at Northanger Abbey with the Tilney family, and here the fun ensues. Her mind ripe with images of Ann Radcliffe's Udolpho, Catherine lets her imagination get the better of at the abbey. Henry, even encourages Catherine's fantasies by drafting an entire plot of her adventures exploring Northanger Abbey in a scene that could have been taken straight out of Udolpho. Henry's imagination and sweetness in this scene made it one of my favorites in the whole book.

Catherine Morland is an extremely likable heroine. She is early on defined as "almost pretty" by her parents, but also very humble and simple. Isabella is a flirt more concerned with fashion than her friend's well-being. John Thorpe and Henry Tilney are polar opposites of each other in virtually every way. Henry comes from a family with money, the Thorpes only pretend to have money. John abhors reading: "I never read novels; I have something else to do" (p32), whereas Henry tells Catherine "The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."(p85). But at the heart of the story is just a love of a good story, which is why the romance of the Catherine and Henry, and that of Catherine's brother James and Isabella is almost in the background to Catherine's love of books and love for a good story.

This book is one best read late at night. I was up until 1am reading before I finally made myself go to bed. I kept falling into that trap of "one more chapter" but that's not so easy when each chapter is only 2 or 3 pages long, and you are dying to know where Catherine and Henry will finally meet, or if the Thorpes will keep interrupting their plans.

FINAL GRADE: A+

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One of her daughters, Elizabeth, becomes prejudiced against her future suitor Darcy, because of his arrogance and uncalled-for interference with his friend Bingley’s courtship of her sister Jane. In spite of this, Darcy falls in love with Elizabeth - a blow to his pride - proposes, but is rejected. However, his sensitive assistance when Lydia Bennet elopes, dissolves Elizabeth’s prejudices, and the two are reconciled.

Oh wow. I can't believe just how my feelings for this book turned round. I went from feeling so indifferent to it at the start that I kept finding excuses not to read it to wanting to read it slowly in order to make it last.

I wanted to slap some of the female characters hard to start with. My head could tell me that the ladies would have behaved that way in 1813 when the novel was first published, but my heart couldn't stand the way they were so pathetic! However, I soon got over that and warmed to them.

I especially loved the characters of Lizzy, Mr Darcy (despite never having seen P&P on the TV, I still pictured Darcy as Colin Firth - which is no bad thing!) and Mr Bennet. Oh, and Jane.

I wanted to slap Lydia for being so selfish, and give Mrs Bennet a damn good shake by the shoulders for being such an embarrassment.

It had humour in spades. It was sad too. Mr Bennet being trapped in such a loveless marriage was a tragedy considering his lovable and amiable nature.

I have quite a few 'favourite bits', but I think the one that stands out for me was where Jane stood up to Lady Catherine when she came to dissuade Elizabeth from having a