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Loading... The Improvement of the Estate: A Study of Jane Austen's Novelsby Alistair M. Duckworth
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Originally published in 1994. In The Improvement of the Estate, Alistair Duckworth contends that understanding Mansfield Park is fundamental to appreciating Jane Austen's body of work. Professor Duckworth understands Mansfield Park as underscoring the central uniting theme in Austen's work--her concept of the "estate" and its "improvement." The author illustrates Austen's connection to the values of Christian humanism, which she conveys through the uniting theme of estate improvement. According to Duckworth, the estate represents moral and social heritage, so the manner in which individuals seek to improve their estates in Jane Austen's novels represents the direction in which she saw the state and society moving. Finally, Duckworth underscores Austen's awareness of the importance of a society of individuals whose behavior is socially informed. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.7Literature English & Old English literatures English fiction Early 19th century 1800-37LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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First of all, anyone who reads this book should be familiar with the plots of all Austen’s novels; Duckworth is a scholar writing to other scholars, and he clearly doesn’t care about “spoiling” the plots for anyone! Because of the academic orientation of this book, the writing style is pretty dry, and Duckworth also spends a lot of time referring to other scholars and discussing their interpretations of Austen’s work. That said, I found his arguments very interesting, and mostly quite persuasive. I particularly liked his interpretation of Mansfield Park, which he gives in the first chapter (although he discusses all the other novels in chronological order); it makes a lot of sense and makes Fanny Price a slightly more likeable character for me. This book isn’t intended for a general audience, but a diehard Austen fan or eighteenth-century scholar would probably find it interesting.