Publisher's Synopsis
Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security.Mansfield Park, published in 1814, is the third novel by Jane Austen. The protagonist is Fanny Price, an intelligente and sensitive girl; at age ten her impoverished family sends Fanny to live with her wealthy aunt and uncle. Edmund, her cousin, will always be near her and Fanny soon realize that she is in love with him. Many tests await her before her dream is crowned.Jane Austen was born in Steventon, England, in 1775.Not much else is known other than she always lived with her family and that she never got married. After she died, her brothers destroyed most of her private letters, leaving very little biographical detail about her private life. Her novels are: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.The overburdened and impoverished family of Fanny Price sends her at age ten to live in the household of her wealthy aunt and uncle were she will experience the good and the bad of life. The novel shows many autobiographical associations. Austen drew considerably on her own experience and the knowledge of her family and friends. Her acute observation of human behaviour informs the development of all her characters. In Mansfield Park, she continues her practice, like that of the portrait miniaturist, painting on ivory 'with so fine a brush'.From the late 20th century onward, Mansfield Park has been considered Austen's most controversial novel. In recent decades, historical context and allusions have featured prominently in criticism as has a growing awareness of Austen's sophisticated psychological characterisations.
