Category: Austen
-
Fanny Price, the necessary ninny
Mention Mansfield Park to a devoted Austen-ite and you get the tell-tale sigh: yes, but Fanny Price! Why does she have to be so … Pious? Humourless? Blessedly, teeth-grindingly annoying? In any situation, you can count on Jane Austen’s heroine (a poor cousin taken to live with rich relatives at age 10) to be terribly proper.…
-
In praise of Miss Bates
As every politician knows, the trick is to push – but not too much. You want to hit that sweet spot between keeping people comfortable, and stirring them up. Jane Austen understood this. But okay, first things first. Having mentioned Austen, I need to say that her writing is gorgeous, her characters finely drawn, her…