How does Mansfield Park compare to Jane Austen's other novels?

Well, one way to answer this question is to tell you that when I first started reading Jane Austen as a teenager, I loved Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, kinda liked Emma, but really didn't like Mansfield Park and Persuasion. read more

As I have matured, I really really like both Mansfield Park and Persuasion. I think that Mansfield Park is very different from Austen's earlier novels. She still has the biting wit and satire, but it is more subtle. The heroine, Fanny, is less immediately likeable than Elizabeth or Elinore. read more

Of all Austen’s novels, Mansfield Park is the one written on the widest canvas. It’s the only one to be called after the name of the house (Northanger Abbey was given its title posthumously by Austen’s brother – she in fact called it “Susan”). This gives us an important clue. read more

Return to Jane Austen's writings Return to Jane Austen's art and her literary reputation This is a lightly-edited version of a posting to the AUSTEN-L mailing list. read more