24.12.24

Mansfield Revisited

Found at the Athenaeum: a sequel to Jane Austen's Mansfield Park by another JA, Joan Aiken. The first thing Aiken does is promptly remove happily married Fanny and Edmund from the action by sending them to the West Indies. Our heroine this time is Fanny's younger sister, Susan, a slightly more lively and opinionated character than her meek sister (though still virtuous and thoughtful). 
 
Mansfield Revisited is not exactly Jane Austen, but it's certainly in the same universe. Aiken does a superb job of replicating the dialogue and concerns of Austen's world, and as always, her ear for language is nuanced, playful and note-perfect. Aiken's Lady Bertram is a particular delight. The only moment that didn't ring Austen-true for me was when Susan has an internal reflection using the pronoun 'I.' I couldn't swear that Austen never does that, but somehow it didn't feel right.

Aiken brings back those attractive, selfish characters the Crawford siblings, and metes out suitable fates to them, and she does a good job of making them much more sympathetic, though still faithful to their more youthful selves. I enjoyed Mansfield Revisited a lot, though it doesn't contain quite the same depths as the original. I'm not usually a fan of other-authored sequels, but I'll make an exception for this, and also for Jill Paton Walsh's Wimsy novels.

 

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