tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836032513708232334.post7183276213562406582..comments2024-03-12T04:39:29.868+00:00Comments on A Vindication of the Rights of Mary: Jane Austen's secret nodRoberta Wedgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13619847452197496153noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836032513708232334.post-45441416976042900102011-05-30T20:13:09.323+01:002011-05-30T20:13:09.323+01:00Roberta, yes I am very much aware that Mary W. hel...Roberta, yes I am very much aware that Mary W. held Darcy's view that extensive reading was necessary for any accomplished woman!<br /><br />As for Gordon's bio, she misses the most important surrogate for Mary W in all of Jane Austen's fiction, none other than Mary Bennet! (yes, I mean that!)<br /><br />Check this out for what i mean:<br /><br />http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2010/11/jane-austen-was-haunted-by-ghost-of.html<br /><br />http://sharpelvessociety.blogspot.com/2011/03/part-one-of-jane-austens-pleasure-in.html<br /><br />Cheers, ARNIEArnie Perlsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01720424361279466002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836032513708232334.post-73221631047527314162011-05-30T16:05:15.501+01:002011-05-30T16:05:15.501+01:00I am delighted to hear from a paid-up Janeite! Lyn...I am delighted to hear from a paid-up Janeite! Lyndall Gordon deals with the Austen canon in her biography, detailing the characters who draw on the legacy of Wollstonecraft. I'll be dealing with that in a week or two.<br /> <br />You may or may not know that Wollstonecraft prescribed the reading of novels as an excellent way to develop insight into other people's states of mind. This at a time when many educators proscribed them!<br /><br />As for Mary's girlhood passions (Frances, and before her, Ardent Jane): well, it all hangs on one's definition of lesbian, doesn't it? And again, I will be writing about this in future posts.Please come back!Roberta Wedgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13619847452197496153noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4836032513708232334.post-72254255297695687112011-05-30T15:12:00.612+01:002011-05-30T15:12:00.612+01:00You are barking up exactly the right tree! My own ...You are barking up exactly the right tree! My own research has shown that Jane Austen did indeed hide a complex allusion to Mary Wollstonecraft in not one but several of her novels, including Mansfield Park, and you have correctly identified some of the "bread crumbs" which lead to identifying that allusion in Mansfield Park.<br /><br />Let me add one aspect of the allusion which makes it even more interesting---in Godwin's Memoir of his deceased wife, we read that Mary’s feelings for Fanny “for years” “constituted the ruling passion of her mind”.<br /><br />Several scholars have speculated as to whether Mary Wollstonecraft and Fanny Blood had lesbian feelings for each other, regardless of whether they ever acted on them physically. Similarly, Austen scholars have speculated endlessly as to whether Mary Crawford and Fanny Price felt similarly. This is NOT a coincidence!<br /><br />Anyway, I thought you would like to hear the above, and am curious to hear your response!<br /><br />Cheers, ARNIE PERLSTEIN<br />sharpelvessociety.blogspot.comArnie Perlsteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01720424361279466002noreply@blogger.com