In Which We Rant and Rave in Favor of Mansfield Park

Jane Austen’s novel Mansfield Park really gets a bum rap from critics and readers. Sometimes I think that I am its only advocate, campaigning to an empty room. Granted, it is not as emotionally charged as Sense and Sensibility or as light, bright and sparkly as Pride and Prejudice, but it does have an admirable [...]

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Mansfield Park: Mary Crawford – that peculiarly becoming temptress with a harp

The harp arrived, and rather added to her beauty, wit, and good-humour; for she played with the greatest obligingness, with an expression and taste which were peculiarly becoming, and there was something clever to be said at the close of every air. Edmund was at the Parsonage every day, to be indulged with his favourite [...]

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Mansfield Park: Why does Fanny Price Rankle Our Ire?

When her two dances with him were over, her inclination and strength for more were pretty well at an end; and Sir Thomas, having seen her walk rather than dance down the shortening set, breathless, and with her hand at her side, gave his orders for her sitting down entirely. From that time Mr. Crawford [...]

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Jane Austen and the Seven Deadly Sins: Pride and Vanity

Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot’s character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new made [...]

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Mansfield Park Revelation: I am Fanny Price! Are You?

Newby Hall, Yorkshire
In Defense of Fanny Price
Even after the conclusion of Mansfield Park Madness, I am still ruminating over the novel and the characters. In order to put them to rest, I must get one thing off my chest! My journey to understand the novel has lead me to several insights and one profound truth. 
At [...]

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Mansfield Park Madness: Roundup & Conclusion: Winners Announced!

She was of course only too good for him; but as nobody minds having what is too good for them, he was very steadily earnest in the pursuit of the blessing, and it was not possible that encouragement from her should be long wanting. The Narrator on Fanny Price & Edmund Bertram, Chapter 48 
“Nobody minds [...]

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Mansfield Park: Jane Austen’s Collection of Opinions: Day 16 Give-away!

 
OPINIONS 
Mrs. Augusta Bramstone – owned that she thought S. & S. – and P. & P. downright nonsense, but expected to like M. P. better, & having finished the 1st vol. – flattered herself she had got through the worst. 
We have the unique pleasure of still having Jane Austen’s collection of opinions by her family [...]

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Mansfield Park Sequels: Edmund Bertram’s Diary: Day 15 Give-away!

 THE SEQUELS
 
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 [...]

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Mansfield Park Sequels: Mansfield Park Revisited: Is Fanny Price a Funny Girl? Day 15 Give-away!

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 [...]

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Mansfield Park Sequels: The Matters at Mansfield: Day 15 Give-away

THE SEQUELS 
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. Bebris will be happy to learn that the fourth book in the series, The Matters at Mansfield: Or the Crawford Affair will [...]

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Mansfield Park Sequels: Central Park: Day 15 Give-away

THE SEQUELS 
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 [...]

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Mansfield Park Chapters 41-48: Summation, Musings & Discussion; Day 14 Give-away!

THE NOVEL
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. [...]

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