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Money and destructive passion overshadow romance in this darkly humorous novel of sexual manoeuvring and greed. Appearing anonymously in 1811 under the attribution 'By A Lady', Sense and Sensibility is Jane Austen's first published work. Uniquely among her novels it has two heroines: stoical Elinor, the sensitive consciousness of the book, representative of 'sense', and flamboyant, self-indulgent Marianne, whose emotional adventures deliver energy and zest, representative of 'sensibility'. The novel is an edgy contrapuntal tale of different personalities and experiences, revealing much about the constraints and difficulties of a woman's life. In addition, the book offers a remarkable window onto the material culture of Austen's time; it includes some memorable bric-a-brac such as an ornamented toothpick case and some fine breakfast china quarrelled over by rich and poor relatives. Prefaces and explanatory endnotes supplied by Janet Todd illuminate cultural, historical and literary context, bringing Jane Austen's world to life.
List of contents
Preface; Sense and Sensibility; General Notes.
About the author
Janet Todd is a critic, editor, novelist and biographer of Aphra Behn, Mary Wollstonecraft, her daughters, and Irish pupils. Her latest novel is Jane Austen and Shelley in the Garden (2021). Todd taught at Rutgers, UEA, Glasgow and Aberdeen. A former President of Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, she is now an Honorary Fellow of Newnham College.
Summary
Appearing anonymously in 1811, Jane Austen's first published novel is an edgy, contrapuntal tale. Money and destructive passion overshadow romance in a darkly humorous work that depicts sex and greed with breath-taking sharpness. Explanatory endnotes illuminate cultural, historical and literary context, bringing Jane Austen's world to life.
Foreword
Austen's first published novel, Sense and Sensibility is an uneasy tale of money and the destructive power of sexual passion.
