《曼斯菲尔德庄园》的政治经济学:范尼·普莱斯与大西洋的工人阶级

The Political Economy of Mansfield Park:Fanny Price and the Atlantic Working Class

本文基于雷蒙德·威廉斯对奥斯汀的阐释,但不赞成他提出的奥斯汀并非社会批评家的观点。本文认为《曼斯菲尔德庄园》从劳工角度出发,对经济现代化过程中的社会成本进行了抨击。范尼的许多态度(比如她在朴次茅斯造船厂与亨利就资产管理进行的讨论)都反映了她的平民立场,而她在小说中最大胆的行为——拒绝亨利的求婚——代表了平民对社会互惠性的要求。总而言之,这部小说驳斥了玛利亚·埃奇沃思等人的作品中对政治经济的鼓吹宣传。

Based on Raymond Williams’interpretation of Austen,but dissenting from his view that she was not a social critic,this article examines Mansfield Park as an attack,from the perspective of labour,on the social costs of economic modernization.Many of Fanny’s attitudes(such as her discussion with Henry,in the Portsmouth dockyards,of estate management)express a plebeian perspective.Indeed,her most daring action in the novel-refusing Henry’s marriage proposal-represents a plebeian demand for social reciprocity.Overall,the novel is a riposte to the propaganda for political economy found in,for example,the tales of Maria Edgeworth.