Robert Paul Wolff: Jane Austen, Mansfield Park a la Edward Said

[@virginialuisa6769]

Very good lecture, very informative...thank you. If you would like to see an excellent film about William Wilborforce and the anti- slavery movement in the UK, watch "Amazing Grace". Wonderful cast, very well done, very moving story.

[@flopondia]

Wonderful lecture! So clear and interesting, thank you!

[@joanvanore322]

I was disappointed in the movie, since it wasn't at all a portrayal of JA's Fanny Price, but I absolutely appreciate their bringing forward the clear background to the novel. It's been hard to digest-- Sara Crewe's fortune (A Little Princess) is made in South African diamond minds. The Bertram fortune is based on slavery. And the older I get, the more aware I am of SirThomas's AND Edmund's manipulation of her through praise of her feminine virtues. Damn. But I would rather see the complexities than treat her novels as fantasy-based chick flicks. Anyway, thanks for this-- it's quite interesting, and helpful.

[@joanvanore322]

This is wonderful! Don't want to be a nitpicky so-and-so, but it's the middle daughter who marries Sir Thomas. That's why she's referred to as Miss Maria Ward, rather than Miss Ward. The eldest marries Mr. Norris, the youngest, Mr. Price. Sorry if I'm being a asshole.

[@kevinrussell-jp6om]

I assumed (without looking it up) that Sir Thomas married the eldest Ward daughter, but your mention of their address labels proves your point. You are NOT being an AH. I've heard some conclude the Ward family was NOT genteel but middle class, but is this true? The other sister married a clergyman (the second son of a landed family?) and a gentleman, and the youngest married a lieutenant of Marines. I believe that was a commission that had to be purchased (he was a gentleman). Fanny was simply not AS genteel as the Betram brood. Would Edmund Bertram have married his cousin is she'd been a middle class hoyden?