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Article: Jane Austen and the reconsigned child: the true identity of Fanny Price. (Miscellany).(Mansfield Park)
- Article from:
- Persuasions: The Jane Austen Journal
- Article date:
- January 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Jane Austen Society of North America. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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JANE AUSTEN IS THE ARTIST of the settled village and meticulously delineated family relations, but in this paper, I consider some of the ways that her novels represent and work through the ancient literary theme of child-stealing, an area of concern that seems the antithesis of these things. The association of Jane Austen and the representation of the stolen child is no mere act of scholarly eccentricity on my part. Child-stealing is an extremely common phenomenon, but seldom named as the ugly thing it is; instead, it is often disguised as something unavoidable and benign, if not absolutely virtuous. As a phenomenon, it presents in many ways: as illegal, semi-legal or ...