By the way, come to think of people who might read this: When you said one of the Mitford sisters was an admirer of Hitler, I didn't realize you meant "she moved to Munich for four years and stalked Hitler, to the point of creeping him out."
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Jane Austen/Mitfords news
Mansfield Park kept me up until 2 am! It's crunching my heart into little pieces. I'm inspired to throw this out there to those of you who obsess about Jane Austen: is Mansfield Park her greatest novel? Because: I've never been so engrossed by a book that had 'so much to recommend against it'--uh, for one, lack of a single likable character.
By the way, come to think of people who might read this: When you said one of the Mitford sisters was an admirer of Hitler, I didn't realize you meant "she moved to Munich for four years and stalked Hitler, to the point of creeping him out."
By the way, come to think of people who might read this: When you said one of the Mitford sisters was an admirer of Hitler, I didn't realize you meant "she moved to Munich for four years and stalked Hitler, to the point of creeping him out."
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Um yeah! Unity was a real piece of work! I frequently use quotations from the Mitford letters in my classes - especially the ones Unity wrote home from Bavaria when she was stalking Hitler. There are some classic lines in there about how the Fuhrer was trying to choose between soups and how he was talking about Jews and it was lovely. When Diana married Oswald Mosely (head of the British Union of Fascist) in the Goebbels' drawing room, Hitler gave them a silver framed photograph of himself as a wedding present. They are the best family ever!
They really are the best family, ever. One was a radical socialist, right?
Another perk about being an evil dictator is that you don't ever have to worry about what you're going to give people for weddings, holidays, etc.
I didn't know anything about hte Mitford sisters. Fortunately, Wikipedia has a quote about them: "Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur"
Any of you historians want to comment on the significance of liking chicken in pre-WWII England?
I am SO HAPPY you are finally on board with the Mitfords. And, yes, Decca was a commie. Her first husband was a cousin or something of Churchill. That's one of the fun things about the Mitfords: they're connected to everyone in InterWar England.
When I told my students that Hitler gave Diana a framed picture of himself as a wedding gift, they were enchanted. Students love the Mitfords.
It saddens, me, however, how enthusiastic you are about MP. It is by far and away NOT her greatest book. It's the one I have only reread once, because it is so boring.
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