This edition published 6th November 2008 by Penguin Classics. Originally published 1811.
Audio book narrated by Juliet Stevenson.
From the cover of the book:
Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo.Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her.
Through their parallel experience of love - and its threatened loss - the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.
***********
Sense and Sensibility is Austen's first published novel. Appearing in 1811, it was based on an earlier draft in epistolary form entitled Elinor and Marianne. The story follows the fortunes of three sisters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret Dashwood, and their widowed mother, who are forced to leave their home, the palatial Norland Park estate in Sussex, when it passes to the girls' older half-brother, John. John gives his father a deathbed vow to ensure his half-sisters are well provided for, but reneges on his promise under the influence of his awful wife Fanny, leaving them rather worse off than they hoped.
Fanny's usurping of Mrs Dashwood's position at Norland quickly becomes unbearable, but then Fanny's unassuming brother Edward Ferrars arrives. He is as different from his cold sister as possible, and a romance kindles between him and sensible Elinor, causing much indignation on the part of Fanny who hopes (along with their domineering mother) for him to establish himself in a profession of importance and marry an heiress (he much prefers the church).
The Dashwoods eventually escape Fanny's snide remarks in favour of a cottage on the estate of a distant relation, Sir John Middleton of Barton Park. With a sore heart, Elinor (who she hopes will see Edward again), her mother, and her sisters settle into life in Devon, and the attentions of the Middleton family - in whose company Elinor has a confidence foisted upon her that threatens her happiness. Marianne loses her heart too, when dashing John Willoughby (literally) sweeps her off her feet. Willoughby's open and expressive nature matches her own, and all around them pronounce them a love match. Meanwhile, the older friend of Sir John, Colonel Brandon, who knows things Willoughby would not like made public, looks on with little hope of attracting Marianne's heart...
There are many fateful twists and turns focusing on the romantic journeys of Elinor and Marianne, particularly when it comes to the differences in their temperaments - level headed, circumspect Elinor representing the 'Sense' part of the equation, and impulsive, demonstrative Marianne the overblown 'Sensibility' side. Threads about secrets, seduction, selfishness, misguided prejudice, youthful foolishness, indulging your emotions, and coping with heartache lead to hard lessons for the sisters - but happy endings do roll around for them, and I like to think they ultimately meet in the middle of the Sense-Sensibility scale.
This is one of my favourite Austen's, and Elinor is one of her most likeable heroines (after Anne Elliot and Lizzie Bennet). Her innermost thoughts about the shenanigans that play out are so relatable, and her love story with Edward is enchanting. There is also something very lovely about the superiority of steady, sincere male suitors over the more flashy, inconstant ones in this story (hello, gentle Edward, and swoon-worthy Colonel Brandon).
Austen fills this with great characters all round, be they loud and vacuous, smarmily conniving, blindly prejudiced, comically buffoonish, or heart-warming gems. It takes a while for some of them to show their true colours, which adds greatly to the fun, unlike Austen's delicious satirical wit which is in evidence from the very beginning to poke fun at different aspects of Regency society.
Austen being Austen, there are also much deeper themes at play in this story. There are interesting reflections on inheritance laws that work against women, as well as about money, morality, and the faces we show to the outside world.
It was a joy to revisit this story for #JaneAusten250 through the voice talents of Juliet Stevenson via audio book - her narrations are always excellent.
Where to next...? Northanger Abbey, I think!
Sense and Sensibility is available to buy now is multiple formats.
About the author:
Jane Austen, the daughter of a clergyman, was born in Hampshire in 1775, and later lived in Bath and the village of Chawton. As a child and teenager, she wrote brilliantly witty stories for her family's amusement, as well as a novella, Lady Susan.
Her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, which appeared in 1811 and was soon followed by Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma.
Austen died in 1817, and Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously in 1818.
No comments:
Post a Comment