ankaret, that is exactly what I would have said. The only thing I can see that distinguishes S&S is that it was her first published novel and thus I suppose is important in establishing the genre.
pashazade, the more often I read MP, the more I warm to Fanny. In many ways, this is my favourite Austen novel (though I know that is an unpopular opinion).
I like but don't love Fanny (I admire her moral courage enormously though), but I love Mansfield Park, I think it's a wonderful novel and gets better every time I read it. The characterisation, the structure, the emotional subtlety...
Yes, that's a very good way of putting it. I think that Fanny in real life wouldn't be my best friend and there are things I would find frustrating about her, but I have enormous admiration for her and a lot of sympathy. She is such a strong character, despite her apparent weakness, and I would like to be a lot more like her than I am.
I think it is a shame that so many people write off Mansfield Park because of their feelings about Fanny (and to some extent, Edmund), because as you say it is such a great book. I really feel that it is Austen at her most accomplished.
Although the film (from 5 or 6 years ago, not the recent TV version) did take a few too many liberties for my liking, I loved Lindsay Duncan's performance as Mrs Price and Lady Bertram and I thought it was a stroke of genius to cast the same actor in both roles.
I'm not voting because I don't think any of them can be dismissed. They all have their strengths, even, as others have noted, S&S for being the first. Perhaps Northanger Abbey because it wasn't important enough to get onto the list!
I love Sense and Sensibility. It's a sentimental thing - I have no objectivity about it because I love all the characters so much.
And I probably love Persuasion and think it's her best book because it was Karen's favourite book, and the discussion of it in the RM Family hooked me in and intrigued me before I ever read it. I am that shallow.
I didn't answer because I found the question impossible. Both S&S and Persuasion literally define the border between the classic and romantic periods of literature; MP and Emma are both important for reasons of constitutive rhetoric; and P&P is the definition of why the romance novel can be great literary fiction!
Actually Northanger Abbey is pretty important too, from the standpoint of inter-genre commentary. So I'm stuck.
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 02:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 03:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 03:46 pm (UTC)I think it is a shame that so many people write off Mansfield Park because of their feelings about Fanny (and to some extent, Edmund), because as you say it is such a great book. I really feel that it is Austen at her most accomplished.
Although the film (from 5 or 6 years ago, not the recent TV version) did take a few too many liberties for my liking, I loved Lindsay Duncan's performance as Mrs Price and Lady Bertram and I thought it was a stroke of genius to cast the same actor in both roles.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 05:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 06:32 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 06:33 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 06:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-24 09:01 pm (UTC)And I probably love Persuasion and think it's her best book because it was Karen's favourite book, and the discussion of it in the RM Family hooked me in and intrigued me before I ever read it. I am that shallow.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-25 06:13 pm (UTC)Actually Northanger Abbey is pretty important too, from the standpoint of inter-genre commentary. So I'm stuck.