Sense and SensibilityJane Austen’s first published novel, Sense and Sensibility, is a witty satire of the sentimental novel, a popular genre in Britain throughout the 1790s and the Regency. When it first appeared in 1811, the words in its title carried significant cultural weight beyond the confines of the novel, and into both popular and learned discourse. Through her dual heroines, Austen addresses, and satirizes, notions of sense and sensibility, and engages with the issues of inheritance, marriage, and love. The story concerns two sisters: the level-headed Elinor and the passionate and impulsive Marianne. When their father dies, his son by a previous marriage assumes possession of the family home. Marianne and Elinor, left to the care of their mercenary brother John and his wife Fanny, must remove to a cottage with their mother. Each sister meets a man in whom she is interested, and as with other Austen novels, requited love does not come easily. This newly annotated edition offers a thorough and perceptive introduction and a wide range of carefully selected contextual materials that further explore the term “sensibility.” |
Contents
Acknowledgements | 6 |
Introduction | 7 |
A Brief Chronology | 34 |
A Note on the Text | 37 |
Sense and Sensibility | 39 |
CHAPTER 1 | 41 |
CHAPTER 2 | 46 |
CHAPTER 3 | 52 |
CHAPTER 9 | 221 |
CHAPTER 10 | 231 |
CHAPTER 11 | 238 |
CHAPTER 12 | 246 |
CHAPTER 13 | 254 |
CHAPTER 14 | 261 |
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY | 269 |
CHAPTER 1 | 271 |
This circumstance was a growing attachment between her eldest girl and the brother of Mrs John Dashwood a gentlemanlike and pleasing young man... | 53 |
CHAPTER 4 | 57 |
CHAPTER 5 | 62 |
CHAPTER 6 | 65 |
CHAPTER 7 | 69 |
CHAPTER 8 | 73 |
CHAPTER 9 | 77 |
CHAPTER 10 | 82 |
CHAPTER 11 | 88 |
CHAPTER 12 | 92 |
CHAPTER 13 | 97 |
CHAPTER 14 | 104 |
CHAPTER 15 | 108 |
CHAPTER 16 | 115 |
CHAPTER 17 | 121 |
CHAPTER 18 | 126 |
CHAPTER 19 | 131 |
CHAPTER 20 | 139 |
CHAPTER 21 | 146 |
CHAPTER 22 | 154 |
SENSE AND SENSIBILITY | 163 |
CHAPTER 1 | 165 |
CHAPTER 2 | 172 |
CHAPTER 3 | 178 |
CHAPTER 4 | 184 |
CHAPTER 5 | 191 |
CHAPTER 6 | 198 |
CHAPTER 7 | 202 |
CHAPTER 8 | 213 |
CHAPTER 2 | 283 |
CHAPTER 3 | 291 |
CHAPTER 4 | 297 |
CHAPTER 5 | 304 |
CHAPTER 6 | 311 |
CHAPTER 7 | 316 |
CHAPTER 8 | 325 |
CHAPTER 9 | 339 |
CHAPTER 10 | 345 |
CHAPTER 11 | 353 |
CHAPTER 12 | 360 |
CHAPTER 13 | 364 |
CHAPTER 14 | 375 |
Reviews of Sense and Sensibility | 383 |
2 British Critic May 1812 | 384 |
Sensibility | 386 |
2 Henry Mackenzie The Lounger June 1785 | 389 |
3 Henry Mackenzie The Lounger July 1786 | 394 |
4 Letter from Barbara Heartless The Lounger October 1786 | 398 |
5 Vicesimus Knox Winter Evenings 1795 | 403 |
The Picturesque | 407 |
Map of London | 411 |
Modes of Travel | 413 |
2 A Plain PostChaise | 414 |
Marianne Dashwoods Reading | 415 |
2 James Thomson Autumn | 418 |
3 William Cowper The Task | 420 |
| 423 | |