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FROM THE PUBLISHER

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen¿¿¿s first published novel, is a wonderfully entertaining tale of flirtation and folly that revolves around two starkly different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. While Elinor is thoughtful, considerate, and calm, her younger sister is emotional and wildly romantic. Both are looking for a husband, but neither Elinor¿¿¿s reason nor Marianne¿¿¿s passion can lead them to perfect happiness.¿¿¿ As Marianne falls for John Willoughby, an unscrupulous rascal, Elinor becomes attached to Edward Ferrars, a man who¿¿¿s already engaged. Startling secrets, unexpected twists, and heartless betrayals interrupt the marriage games that follow, as Austen explores the notion that "Seven years would be insufficient to make some people acquainted with each other, and seven days are more than enough for others."¿¿¿

Begun when Austen was only twenty and originally titled "Elinor and Marianne," Sense and Sensibility has enshrined for generations of readers the lovable and complimentary Sisters Dashwood, who collectively appeal both to the fire of impetuous youth and the constancy of staid maturity. Filled with satiric wit and subtle characterizations, Sense and Sensibility teaches us that true love requires a balance of reason and emotion.¿¿¿


Introduction and Notes by Laura Engel
Having received her B.A. from Bryn Mawr College and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University, Laura Engel is now Assistant Professor in the English Department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, where she specializes in eighteenth-century British literature and drama. Her previous publications include essays on the novelists A. S. Byatt and Edna O¿¿¿Brien. Her forthcoming book explores the connections between women and celebrity in eighteenth-century culture.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, the seventh of eight children, in the Parsonage House of Steventon, Hampshire. An avid reader from earliest childhood, she began writing at age twelve. Her first two extended narratives, "Elinor and Marianne" and "First Impressions," were later reworked into Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, respectively. All of Austen¿¿¿s novels were published anonymously, including Mansfield Park, Emma, and the posthumous Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. Jane Austen died on July 18, 1817, and is buried in Winchester Cathedral.


"Reading Sense and Sensibility, one is tempted to point out that the story is, in fact, all about "the human heart" and what conspires against it. Austen explores the layers subtly covering Bront&eulm;¿¿¿s notion of what ¿¿¿throbs fast and full¿¿¿: the inarticulate, intangible disquiet that haunts drawing rooms and country houses; the terrifying reality of not being loved and ending up alone, the frustration of being misread and misunderstood."¿¿¿from the Introduction by Laura Engel