> -----Original Message----- > From: Philip Hart [mailto:philiph at SLAC.Stanford.EDU] > Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2003 9:57 PM > To: Mia McDavid > Cc: dragaera at dragaera.info > Subject: Re: Dragaera and Shakespeare > > > On Thu, 20 Feb 2003, Mia McDavid wrote: > > > Philip Hart mentions authors interested in theater: > > > > >Austen (_Mansfield Park_) > > > > IIRC, the theatrical goings-on in that novel were, in fact, Unwise, > > and a source of Temptation, and led to Folly and Ruin. > > Cool caps. > > I didn't like that book until I learned to take Miss Crawford > as the heroine, from which viewpoint the goings-on were a > valiant struggle for freedom or something. We call it the Freaky Chick book. Fanny is definitely one of Austen's stranger characters ever. Have you seen the more recent movie version? I like Miss Crawford too. Charlotte Bronte had that thing in Jane Eyre where they played charades but it was really elaborate and theatrical, with props & costumes. She wasn't so negative about it although, like in Mansfield Park, it was also used as a means for flirtations etc. Rachel