Sense and Sensibility (New Riverside Editions)

Binding: Paperback
EAN: 9780618084838
Edition: 1
ISBN: 0618084835
Item Dimensions:20390138
Label: Wadsworth Publishing
Languages:EnglishUnknownEnglishOriginal LanguageEnglishPublished
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Publishing
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 386
Publication Date: September 17, 2001
Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing
Studio: Wadsworth Publishing

---

Related Items:

• JANE EYRE
• Persuasion (Norton Critical Editions)
• Northanger Abbey
• Pride and Prejudice (Dover Thrift Editions)
• Mansfield Park (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
• see more

Alternate Versions: Click to Display

Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display

---

Editorial Review:

Product Description:
Accompanying the complete text of Sense and Sensibility are a variety of supporting materials, including selected literary works in the sentimental tradition; the text of Love and Freindship (sic), Austen's youthful burlesque of the sentimental literature of the time; and an excerpt from Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. In addition, a selection of Romantic poems demonstrates parallels between Austen's novel and the works of her male contemporaries.

Amazon.com Review:
Though not the first novel she wrote, Sense and Sensibility was the first Jane Austen published. Though she initially called it Elinor and Marianne, Austen jettisoned both the title and the epistolary mode in which it was originally written, but kept the essential theme: the necessity of finding a workable middle ground between passion and reason. The story revolves around the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Whereas the former is a sensible, rational creature, her younger sister is wildly romantic--a characteristic that offers Austen plenty of scope for both satire and compassion. Commenting on Edward Ferrars, a potential suitor for Elinor's hand, Marianne admits that while she "loves him tenderly," she finds him disappointing as a possible lover for her sister:

Oh! Mama, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister most severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!

Soon however, Marianne meets a man who measures up to her ideal: Mr. Willoughby, a new neighbor. So swept away by passion is Marianne that her behavior begins to border on the scandalous. Then Willoughby abandons her; meanwhile, Elinor's growing affection for Edward suffers a check when he admits he is secretly engaged to a childhood sweetheart. How each of the sisters reacts to their romantic misfortunes, and the lessons they draw before coming finally to the requisite happy ending forms the heart of the novel. Though Marianne's disregard for social conventions and willingness to consider the world well-lost for love may appeal to modern readers, it is Elinor whom Austen herself most evidently admired; a truly happy marriage, she shows us, exists only where sense and sensibility meet and mix in proper measure. --Alix Wilber

---

Books

Kindle Fire, Full Color 7" Multi-touch Display, Wi-Fi In association with amazon.com Product price accurate as of 02/23/2012 04:51 EST and is subject to change. $199.00