Austenathon

FYI, there are good things going on over here re Mansfield Park: http://www.librarything.com/topic/116245# and on related threads for the Austenathon.

Thanks for pointing this out! I'm in the midst of re-reading Mansfield Park and find this discussion thread very interesting.

I read this a few days ago and will post it here in case it is of interest to anyone. It should certainly spark debate.

http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/9827382304/just-like-a-woman

"When V.S. Naipaul picked a fight with women writers in an interview earlier this year, citing a “narrow view of the world” as the source of female inferiority, he scorned Jane Austen for “her sentimental ambitions, her sentimental sense of the world,” declaring that no woman, not even Austen, was his literary equal. “A woman,” he said, “is not a complete master of a house, so that comes over in her writing.” Women at best produce “feminine tosh.”"

Yikes! This would have been bad in any century, but it's hard to believe anyone, much less a noted author, said it earlier this year. Pathetic.

Here's one for Northanger Abbey: http://www.librarything.com/topic/123503

Emma: http://www.librarything.com/topic/120628

Pride and Prejudice: http://www.librarything.com/topic/111804#

Sense and Sensibility: http://www.librarything.com/topic/104775#

No Persuasion yet.