Posted by Kali on April 30, 1997 at 18:03:50:
In reply to A brain working overtime posted by Amy on April 30, 1997 at 00:41:37
Mansfield Park inhabits parallel universes of interpretation.
] We are living proof of this. Could Jane Austen have meant for us to read
] her book both ways? Meant that it would hold up a mirror to ourselves,
] like a complex ink blot test?
] If so, this is a stunning accomplishment for a writer confident in her
] mature powers of written expression. Jane Austen must have known the
] isolation of the very bright and could well have wanted to stretch and try
] something unique and difficult which had not been attempted before.
Not quite. While agree that there may well be something deeper in MP than meets the eye, I doubt it's that sexually-twisted. More importantly, I don't think that the main plot holds up well enough for the piece to be considered genius, unless, of course, the point was to catch people and lure them into the darkness of the underworld with a purposely warped plot.
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