Austen revisited

I don't really approve of Jane Austen sequels, although I often get frustrated by the cavalier despatch of some major story line at the ends of her novels - what really happened to Aunt Norris, for example;  I'd like to be sure she was thoroughly unhappy and regretted her former snobby, petty minded bossiness - but I doubt it. 

But I have recently read Joan Aiken's Mansfield Revisited; and really, this is a very odd book for me to read.  For a start, I think Mansfield Park is probably my favourite Austen (though not the best), so I was reluctant to read anything which might spoil it.  And secondly - my caveat about Aunt Norris apart - it is a very satisfactory ending to the novel.  You don't have any doubt that Fanny and Edmund will be happy, and other characters like Susan are not developed enough to really engage your interest.

But I enjoyed it, and one fear was instantly dispelled.  Although Aiken is an accomplished writer, she (like almost everybody else who has picked up pen or played with a keyboard) is so far short of Austen that you could never get confused as to which is Austen and which is modern imitation - no danger of thinking that Susan's marriage (because this is the main focus of Aiken's book) actually happens in Mansfield Park.  In truth, this is mainly due to the plot, and the uneven pace and texture of the novel, which is already causing the novel to slip from my memory after a few days; on the other hand, some of the language is very good indeed.

For example, the opening paragraph, which annouces Sir Thomas's death while abroad might almost pass for the work of the Mistress; and Susan's comment that Lady Bertram bears her husband's death with insensibilty is quite as wicked as Jane herself. But Susan is too brash, and the plot too sudden to be more than a casual caprice, albeit an enjoyable one.  I set out on the book, thinking that such sequels ran the danger of diminishing Austen - I now realise that Austen is far too noble a work to suffer, and that these fanciful continuations are harmless, even if they will not find a significant place in my library!

Comments

[Cornflower]

Nothing to do with Joan Aiken's treatment of Austen, but did the boy Lindsay ever read her Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Black Hearts in Battersea or Night Birds on Nantucket?

[Harriet]

I read another Aiken JA sequel recently though it was in a slightly different mode as it was a continuation of JA's unfinished novel The Watsons. She is a fine writer and I enjoyed it -- I'll have to try this one sometime.