Sense and Sensibility

Jane Austen

Description

Abeloved classic, Austen's first published novel explores the question of what drives your life: your heart or your head? The Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne, are as different as sisters can be. Serious Elinor lives by reason and thoughtfulness while her younger sister, Marianne, only follows her passions. But in questions of love, they learn neither the heart nor head alone will lead them to happiness. Filled with romance, Austen's brilliant wit, and rich characterization, this is a celebration of sisterly love and the need for family--no matter how different they might be from us.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441212481
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Insight Edition Foreword copyright © 2010 Julie Klassen Notes and Annotations copyright © 2010 Bethany House Publishers
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Notes prepared by: Carra Carr, Ellen Chalifoux, Amanda Hall, Julie Klassen, David Long, Sarah Long, Charlene Patterson, Carly Rygwalski, Raela Schoenherr, Karen Schurrer, and Sarah Young.
Ebook edition created 2010
Ebook corrections 03.10.2016, 02.28.2017, 2.14.2020
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4412-1248-1
Cover design by Dan Thornberg, Design Source Creative Services
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Foreword
Editors’ Note
Quick Guide to Notes
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Questions for Conversation
About the Author
Books by Jane Austen
Back Ad
Back Cover
Foreword
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, or so the saying goes. And so Jane Austen, were she alive, would be flattered indeed (not to mention shocked and diffident) to see all the imitators of her work: the fan fiction and sequels, the movies and miniseries, the bus tours and gift shops, and even the Jane Austen action figure, complete with book and quill, which peers at me inscrutably as I write.
Jane Austen is more popular now than during her lifetime nearly two hundred years ago. And, in a modern high-tech world always eager for the newest thing, Sense and Sensibility , published in 1811, enjoys ongoing appeal. Is it any wonder other writers long to emulate Jane Austen?
I, too, must own my share of imitation. While I dreamed of being a writer from a young age, I did not get serious about it until my love affair with all-things-Austen began. All too soon, I had watched every Austen adaptation big screen and small, had listened to audio recordings (and had never so enjoyed my lengthy commute), and had read the books themselves. My Austen collection exhausted, I turned to writing my own novels set in “Jane Austen-era England.” I so enjoyed the world of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma , and Persuasion , that I wished to return there again and again.
Jane Austen’s books were published primarily in the Regency period, a relatively brief span of years from about 1811–1820. Why are readers like you and I so drawn to this period? In the pages of Austen, it was a romantic, idyllic time, at least if one had money. Gowns and hats, balls and grand parties, chivalry and carriage rides. (Is it any wonder so many great cities still offer romantic carriage rides today?) And who can resist a handsome gentleman in those tall Hessian boots?
On a deeper level, it was a time when being a true “lady” or “gentleman” was something people aspired to. A time when many in society followed polite rules of conduct and a high moral code. Things not always as evident in our world today.
In Sense and Sensibility , we meet two ladies: Sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While young Marianne is emotional and given to excessive romantic sensibilities, Elinor is sensible and good-tempered, thinks before she speaks, and selflessly values the happiness of others above her own. Qualities Jane Austen herself exhibited, according to her brother Henry. Qualities we might all do well to imitate. If we did, Jane Austen might be truly flattered.
Happy reading!
Julie Klassen Author of Lady of Milkweed Manor, The Apothecary’s Daughter, and The Silent Governess
Editors’ Note
Since our annotation of Pride and Prejudice was published, a bright spotlight has shone on Jane Austen’s world and her novels. Anne Hathaway portrayed her on the big screen, new interpretations of her novels were shown on PBS and the BBC, and her most beloved characters were attacked by zombies and giant lobsters.
We do not have the living dead to offer in our annotated look at Sense and Sensibility . Nor do we threaten her with dull, scholarly analysis. Rather, we leave Jane’s classic story untouched and focus on providing notes, facts, and thoughts in the margins that we hope will help you understand the story a little better, see the characters in a new light, or simply make you smile.
No PhD Austen scholars have joined our editorial team since the last edition. Through our research, we feel we know her life and work better, but we’re still just devoted fans. We reread her works, enjoy the same spinoff books you do, and argue over the same filmed versions. And because we work at Bethany House, we enjoy highlighting the quiet notes of faith that shine in her characters’ actions and words.
Our goal has not changed since our edition of P&P : We want you to enjoy yourself. Sense and Sensibility offers a rich number of characters who change and evolve throughout the novel. It offers a wonderful juxtaposition of a life of passion next to a measured life of composure. It explores the bonds of sisterhood, which sometimes unite and sometimes choke. It offers unlikely heroes stepping forward to become men. It is filled with wit and frustration and anguish and heart-melting moments of true love.
Now off to meet Elinor and Marianne at Norland!
The Editors
Quick Guide to Notes
— Historical and cultural details and definitions from England in the early 1800s. — Facts and tidbits from Austen’s life that parallel or illuminate the novel. — References to S&S in today’s culture, particularly in film. — Unscientific ranking of the novel’s most frustrating characters. — Themes of faith drawn from the novel or Austen’s life. — Comments and asides on the book’s characters and plot. — The parts of the novel that just make us smile.
[1] Sussex, a county of rolling hillsides and ancient woodlands, occupies the southeast corner of England.
The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. [1] Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman’s days were comfortably spent. His attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added a relish to his existence.
[2] Technically his stepmother and half-sisters, though they didn’t use that language.
By a former marriage, Mr. Henry Dashwood had one son: by his present lady, three daughters. The son, a steady respectable young man, was amply provided for by the fortune of his mother, which had been large, and half of which devolved on him on his coming of age. By his own marriage, likewise, which happened soon afterwards, he added to his wealth. To him therefore the succession to the Norland estate was not so really important as to his sisters; [2] for their fortune, independent of what might arise to them from their father’s inheriting that property, could be but small. Their mother had nothing, and their father only seven thousand pounds in his own disposal; for the remaining moiety of his first wife’s fortune was also secured to her child, and he had only a life-interest in it.
The old gentleman died: his will was read, and like almost every other will, gave as much disappointment as pleasure. He was neither so unjust, nor so ungrateful, as to leave his estate from his nephew—but he left it to him on such terms as destroyed half the value of the bequest. Mr. Dashwood had wished for it more for the sake of his wife and daughters than for himself or his son;—but to his son, and his son’s son, a child of four years old, it was secured, in such a way, as to leave to himself no power of providing for those who were most dear to him, and who most needed a provision by any charge on the estate, or by any sale of its valuable woods. The whole was tied up for the benefit of this child, who, in occasional visits with his father and mother at Norland, had so far gained on the affections of his uncle, by such attractions as are by no means unusual in children of two or three years old; an imperfect articulation, an earnest desire of having his own way, many cunning tricks, and a great deal of noise, as to outweigh all the value of all the attention which, for years, he had received from his niece and her daughters. He meant not to be unkind, however, and, as a mark of his affection for the three girls, he left them a thousand pounds a-piece.
Mr. Dashwood’s disappointment was, at first, severe; but his temper was cheerful and sanguine; and he might reasonably hope to live many years, and by living economically, lay by a considerable sum fr