Mansfield Park, Jane Austen
McArthur Park, wet cake and all
(Have you ever noticed how similar Mansfield Park is to Shakespeare's All's well that ends well? Both works' anti-heroes are named Bertram; both works' heroines lowly but honourable; the world that surrounds them is inpenetrable and full of people higher than they; they are wards of richer women due to their fathers' deaths; they are both in love with wayward and arrogant people connected to them like relatives; they end up in love that seems disturbing and unhappy to the reader. I wonder whether Mansfield's park was JA's variation on Shakespeare's theme?)
(I wouldn't doubt it drom. That really is the beauty of Shakespeare, timeless, universal themes. There is also the possibility that JA thought of this on her own, perhaps under the influence of Shakespeare, and made it her own story, which counts as innovation on a theme.)
That's very true, Cav; I find it a huge coincidence that both's characters are so similar (and the anti-heroes given the same, rather rare surname, Bertram,) but dumb luck does often come into play. Parts of Mansfield Park's plot are rather original, like the whole Antiguan slaves subplot, (which is rather shocking to be in an Austen novel,) but I guess that after seeing the connection, I can't avoid reading more into it. I'm surprised to see that there are no links to something about the correlation of the two works on the Internet... perhaps I should write something...
There is no truth in the News (Isvestia)
And no news in the Truth (Pravda)
-- Soviet era Russian proverb
The Citizenship Initiative.
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, Simon Schama
The Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis
The Meriwether Lewis and William Clark Expedition
