Monsterfield Park
| Monsterfield Park | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | Jane Austen |
| Cover artist | Mr David Weaver, RA |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Metropolitan (Whitehall, London) |
| Publication date | 1811 |
| ISBN | N/A |
Monsterfield Park is the fifth novel by the English novelist Jane Austen. Published in 1811, it is generally regarded as a low point of her career, presaging Perversion's descent into pornography and the subsequent disaster of Pride and Prejudice.
The book has been adapted for the cinema on several occasions, most notably as J J Abrams' 2008 blockbuster Monsterfield, which attempted to spice up the desperately thin storyline by shooting with handheld cameras. However, the resulting class action by audience members suffering from extreme motion sickness is rumoured to have wiped out the entire profits of the production. It is probably best to draw a veil over the very latest adaptation, Zombies in Big Momma's House (2011), whilst noting that it won a special award at that year's Golden Raspberries for the
worst instalment in an already desperately bad franchise[citation needed].
It is also noted for being the only one of Austen's works to have been turned into an opera. I Coli (1878) by the Italian composer Giacomo Rigatoni relocates the action to ancient Egypt, and is notable for the aria La tua manina è scesa al largo ("Your tiny hand has dropped off").
Critical appraisal
Monsterfield Park was savaged by the critics. Even Joseph Robert Brighouse, who Austen could usually rely on to defend her, commented that
I would rather MASTICATE my own EARLOBE than read any more of this EXCREMENT.
See also
Further reading
- Filth, Eric. The Oxford Companion to Literary Fannies. Oxford University Press, 2003.
