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Review
'...a fine achievement....a book that sometimes provokes but invariably stimulates.' - Peter Kemp, The Independent
...'one of the most readable books yet to appear on Jane Austen, as well as the most interesting in itself.' - John Bayley, London Review of Books
'He has a fine eye for the apparently slight detail which can unfurl signification.Tanner makes the reader think anew about Jane Austen and about much else in the light of her writing.' - Gillian Beer, The Times Higher Educational Supplement
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This reissued edition features a new Preface by leading Romantic scholar Marilyn Gaull who examines Tanner's background and places the original work in context. Lively and informative, the Preface helps to reinforce and explain the continued importance of Tanner's work. Accompanied by an insightful Note on the Text by Austen scholar John Wiltshire, and an expanded Bibliography and Index, this is a timely republication of a study which is now regarded as one of the finest, and most accessible, introductions to a great novelist.
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Tanner, a reader at Cambridge, has written an insightful literary criticism about the seven novels Austen wrote (Sandition was incomplete at the time of her death). His book is written for the 'close' reader of Austen's work. I was introduced to his text in one of my courses on Austen.
For example, in his chapter on 'Mansfield Park' Tanner lays out the underpinnings of the story as one of conflict between the order of the rural countryside (Mansfield Park) versus the disorder of Portsmouth and the corrupting influence of London. Various characters stand for these places as well as the moral failings of society. The three sisters Mrs. Price (lust) represents Portsmouth, Mrs Norris (envy) and Mrs. Bertram (sloth) represent Mansfield Park on the verge of breakdown. The Crawfords (avarice) interlopers from London, reprent the alluring but treacherous ways of urban life. Fanny, Edmund, and Mr. Bertram represent the ordered rural life.
When asked what "Mansfield Park' was about, Ms. Austen replied it was about "ordination." The word ordination comes from the Latin word--ordo. Tanner says Ms. Austen, concerned "with the problem of how a true social order could be maintained, particularly in a troubled period, clearly considered the role of the clergyman as being of special importance."
Tanner says Mansfield Park is loaded with symbolism. For example, on a group walk Fanny stays on the straight and narrow path by remaining stationary on a bench, while Edmund and Mary Crawford walk the Serpintine path. Maria and Julia stray from the cultivated garden into the "wilderness" behind the iron gate with Henry Crawford.
Fanny Price wears an amber cross, a gift from her beloved brother William. She hangs it on a gold chain given her by Edmund. Wearing these two gifts over her heart gives her "inner peace."
Fanny is the center of the story. Although many readers may perceive her as a prig, she is a very complex character. She is Austen's source of Good Orderly Direction. At the end, Mr. Bertram the "lord" of Mansfield Park recognizes her as his "true" daughter.
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