Sense and Sensibility

Sense and Sensibility

• Genre: Fiction; romance
• Originally Published: 1811
• Reading Level/Interest: College/adult
• Structure/Length: 50 chapters; approx. 368 pages; approx. 11 hours, 25 minutes on audio
• Protagonist/Central Conflict: Nineteen-year-old Elinor Dashwood moves with her widowed mother and two sisters from their estate, Norland Park, to small Barton Cottage, where they are reliant on distant relatives for their survival. Here they experience romance and heartache and learn to handle the emotionally reckless men in their lives, as well as how to navigate society when status and money, two things they do not have, govern the rules of love.
• Potential Sensitivity Issues: Depression; racism; sexism; classism; infidelity; grief; abandonment; death of a parent        

Jane Austen, Author

• Bio: 1775-1817; raised in Hampshire, England, with seven siblings; never married; a keen observer of her brothers’ careers and family relationships, which influenced her work; moved to Bath in 1801 with her parents after her father’s retirement; moved to Southampton in 1806 with her mother and sister after her father’s death; published six novels, the first four anonymously; work not attributed until the posthumous publication of her last two novels; stories collectively provide perspective on relationships and societal roles of the period; works recognized as strong examples of the “novel of manners” subgenre, which depicts the values and customs representative of a society of a particular era and setting
• Other Works: Pride and Prejudice (1813); Mansfield Park (1814); Emma (1815); Persuasion (published posthumously; 1817); Northanger Abbey (published posthumously; 1817)