30 October: Sense and Sensibility

On this date in 1811 Sense and Sensibility: A Novel was published. 10 things you might not know about it:

1. It was Jane Austen's first novel and she paid to have it published by Thomas Egerton on a commission basis. The first edition made Jane a profit of £140.
2. The novel is set in South West England, London, and Sussex, between 1792 and 1797.
3. In those days, women of Jane's social class didn't work, and women writing novels was frowned upon, so the author didn't use her own name. The book was simply attributed to "A Lady" and her subsequent books were attributed to "The Author of Sense and Sensibility".
4. The first draft was written at least 15 years before it was published. Jane's sister, Cassandra, told of Jane reading it to her family 15 years before publication. Jane would therefore have been about 19 years old when she wrote it.
5. The book changed a little from that first draft. The first draft was written in a different style and had a different title. It was written in the form of letters and was called Elinor and Marianne.
6. The title it ended up with, Sense and Sensibility, relates to the contrasting personalities of the sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Elinor is "Sense": practicality and common sense, while Marianne is "Sensibility" which means a more romantic, emotional outlook on life.
7. The plot (spoiler alert): Elinor and Marianne Dashwood's father dies and the estate they lived on, Norland Park, passed to their elder half-brother, John. At first, John allows the sisters and their mother to stay at Norland Park but his wife Fanny isn't so keen and they eventually are forced to move out. A relative provides them with a cottage in Devon. Here, Marianne meets Colonel Brandon, who is 20 years older than she is. He likes her but she rebuffs him because she sees him as too old and staid. She falls in love with a younger, more attractive man called John Willoughby, but he turns out to be a cad and a gold digger and jilts Marianne in favour of someone with money. Elinor, meanwhile, is rather fond of Edward Ferrars, Fanny’s brother, but he is secretly engaged to Lucy Steele, and is determined to honour his commitment. However, when his family find out about his secret engagement, they disown him and Lucy marries his brother instead, because he is now the one with the money. Edward, now a clergyman, proposes to Elinor and she accepts while Marianne marries the sensible Colonel Brandon.
8. It seems likely that Jane set out to write what is known as a didactic novel, in which two opposing viewpoints, in this case sense and sensibility, are pitted against each other with one emerging in the end as right while the other is wrong. It was often the case in such stories that the holder of the "wrong" viewpoint had to die. Jane seemed to favour sense over sensibility, but she didn't kill off Marianne, allowing her to recover from the chill she caught from "staying out to mope in the rain" and have her marry the sensible option, a man she had earlier dismissed as staid, and comment to Elinor that she wished she was more like her. Modern critics have questioned whether Jane Austen actually preferred "sense" over "sensibility" or actually believed a balanced person needed an equal dose of both.
9. As well as the comparison of sense and sensibility the novel's themes include the role of women in 18th/19th century society, and the importance of wealth in a woman's choice of partner. It is notable that, although most young women at the time would have decisions made for them by their fathers, there are virtually no father figures in the book as they are all either dead or absent, and it is the mothers who are in charge of the young women's lives.
10. The book has been adapted many times. It was the first of Jane Austen's novels to be re-published after she died, and the first to be published with illustrations. It was translated into French by Madame Isabelle de Montoliue, but since her grasp of English was fairly basic, and followed the original plot only loosely. It was adapted for film and TV with the most notable adaptation being the 1995 movie directed by Ang Lee. The screenplay was written by Emma Thompson who also starred as Elinor. Emma is the only person to win an Oscar for both screenwriting and acting.

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