Sense and sensibility

　　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 --this text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. 　　作者简介： 　　though the domain of jane austen’s novels was as circumscribed as her life, her caustic wit and keen observation made her the equal of the greatest novelists in any language. born the seventh child of the rector of steventon, hampshire, on december 16, 1775, she was educated mainly at home. at an early age she began writing sketches and satires of popular novels for her family’s entertainment. as a clergyman’s daughter from a well-connected family, she had an ample opportunity to study the habits of the middle class, the gentry, and the aristocracy. at twenty-one, she began a novel called “the first impressions” an early version of pride and prejudice. in 1801, on her father’s retirement, the family moved to the fashionable resort of bath. two years later she sold the first version of northanger abby to a london publisher, but the first of her novels to appear was sense and sensibility, published at her own expense in 1811. it was followed by pride and prejudice (1813), mansfield park (1814), and emma (1815).