Close Readings: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane Austen

Podcast: The LRB Podcast (LS 56 · TOP 0.5% what is this?)Episode: Close Readings: ‘Mansfield Park’ by Jane AustenPub date: 2025-01-29Get Podcast Transcript →powered by Listen411 - fast audio-to-text and summarizationOn one level, Mansfield Park is a fairytale transposed to the 19th century: Fanny Price is the archetypal poor relation who, through her virtuousness, wins a wealthy husband. But Jane Austen’s 1814 novel is also a shrewd study of speculation, ‘improvement’ and the transformative power of money.In this abridged version of the first episode of Novel Approaches, Colin Burrow joins Clare Bucknell and Thomas Jones to discuss Austen’s acute reading of property and precarity, and why Fanny’s moral cautiousness is a strategic approach to the riskiest speculation of all: marriage.To listen to the full episode, and all our other Close Readings series, subscribe:Directly in Apple Podcasts: https://lrb.me/applecrnaIn other podcast apps: https://lrb.me/closereadingsnaFind further reading and viewing on the episode page: https://lrb.me/mansfieldparkpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesThe podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The London Review of Books, which is the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Listen Notes, Inc.