Sense and Sensibility
Unabridged Original Classic Edition
by Jane Austen
This complete and unabridged edition has been formatted and edited by human editors, based on the classic original edition, and is printed on heavyweight bright white paper with a fully laminated cover. A generous 6×9 page size and 11-point print make this edition easier on the eyes than many “standard” paperbacks.
Published anonymously in three volumes in 1811, Sense and Sensibility was Jane Austen’s first published novel. She began writing it about 1795, titled “Elinor and Marianne,” and worked on it sporadically until she extensively revised it in 1809 and began seriously pursuing its publication. Ultimately it was published under its well-known title after Jane’s family financed the initial costs of producing the book.
The satirical, comic work provides a vivid depiction of early 19th-century life and follows the romantic involvements of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, left destitute upon the death of their father, who leaves his estate to their half-brother, John. Instructed to take care of his sisters, John instead allows himself to be convinced that he cannot afford to help his mother and sisters by his greedy wife, Fanny.
Elinor and Marianne are the personification of sense (common sense) and sensibility (emotional sensitivity), and the novel follows their romantic relationships through a series of complications, misperceptions and societal pressures and obstacles.
Readers and literary commentors have long debated whether Austen favored one quality over the other—sense or sensibility—or believed that a balanced mix yielded the best chance for finding happiness in life.
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Hampshire, England into a family at the lowest tier of the English landed gentry.
With the exception of a short period at a boarding school and visits to a brother who was, for a time, a London banker, Austen lived her entire life within a close-knit family group very much like the gentry who make up the characters of her novels, mainly located in the countryside very much like the settings of her novels. In a cruelly ironic twist, Austen’s family would suffer the fate feared by Mrs. Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice” when her father died, unexpectedly in 1805, leaving his wife and unmarried daughters destitute and dependent upon her brothers for support.
In her 30s, Jane began anonymously publishing her work. Between 1811-16, she published Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice (a work she referred to as her “darling child,”), Mansfield Park and Emma. Authorship was attributed to “A Woman”.
She found modest critical and financial success in her lifetime, but by 1830 her books had been out of print for a decade when the copyrights were purchased and new illustrated editions included in Richard Bentley’s popular “Standard Novels” series. With wider exposure they gained popularity and stature and sold steadily if not spectacularly. Throughout the 19th century Austen’s work had an admiring following among Britain’s self-proclaimed “literary elite,” but it was really not until the early twentieth century that her novels became the object of academic studies as “great literature”.
Austen’s work was part of the transition to realism in 19th century British literature, and her romantic fiction, set for the most part among the gentry of the English countryside was marked by dry wit, satire, and sharp social commentary, often directed at the unfairness of the British legal and cultural systems that left women virtually entirely dependent upon marriage and family for social standing and economic security.
In 1816, at the age of 41, Jane’s health began to deteriorate. She made efforts to continue working, editing older works and starting a new novel called The Brothers, unfinished but published after her death as Sanditon. She died on July 18, 1817, in Winchester, Hampshire, England.
Product details
Publisher: S. M. Holden, Independently published (June 22, 2024)
Language: English
Paperback: 313 pages
ISBN: 979-8329001600
Item Weight: 1.19 pounds
Dimensions: 6 x 0.71 x 9 inches
List Price: $12.97
