What Alistair Duckworth thinks

Posted by MB on January 19, 1998 at 20:10:06:

In response to What did JA think of her society?, written by Patrick/mr (moved from the PP board) on January 11, 1998 at 11:30:18

Who is this Alistair bloke, you may be asking? The author of The Improvement of the Estate, a book on JA which I read a few years ago.

According to Al, the fact that Mr. Gardiner was prevented by business from travelling to the Lake District (and thereby ending up in Derbyshire) and the fact that Mr. Darcy returned to Pemberley a day early because of business with his steward were not coincidences. They were a symbol of JA uniting the upper and middle classes, an optimistic look toward not only the future of the Elizabeth-Darcy union but to the union of the landed gentry and the merchant class. Or possibly the capitulation of the landed gentry to the merchants?

He certainly convinced me! But I still don't think this makes JA a "radical". If so, she would have united Darcy with the Lambton innkeeper's daughter....

Michele
;-)

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