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Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jane Austen. Show all posts

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility - classic fiction

Where misfortune and romance intertwine to produce popular emotional appeal



About this book: 

Sense and Sensibility is a novel by Jane Austen, and was her first published work when it appeared in 1811 under the pseudonym "A Lady". A work of romantic fiction, Sense and Sensibility is set in southwest England between 1792 and 1797, and portrays the life and loves of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. The novel follows the young ladies to their new home, a meagre cottage on a distant relative's property, where they experience love, romance and heartbreak. The philosophical resolution of the novel is ambiguous: the reader must decide whether sense and sensibility have truly merged.

When Mr. Dashwood dies, his estate, Norland Park, passes directly to his only son John, the child of his first wife. His second wife, Mrs. Dashwood, and their daughters, Elinor, Marianne and Margaret, are left only a small income. On his deathbed, Mr. Dashwood extracts a promise from his son, that he will take care of his half-sisters; however, John's selfish and greedy wife, Fanny, soon persuades him to renege. John and Fanny immediately take up their place as the new owners of Norland, while the Dashwood women are reduced to the position of unwelcome guests. Mrs. Dashwood begins looking for somewhere else to live.

In the meantime, Fanny's brother, Edward Ferrars, a pleasant, unassuming, intelligent but reserved young man, visits Norland and soon forms an attachment with Elinor. Fanny disapproves the match and offends Mrs. Dashwood with the implication that Elinor is motivated by money rather than love. Mrs. Dashwood indignantly speeds her search for a new home.

Mrs. Dashwood moves her family to Barton Cottage in Devonshire, near the home of her cousin, Sir John Middleton. Their new home lacks many of the conveniences that they have been used to, however they are warmly received by Sir John, and welcomed into the local society, meeting his wife, Lady Middleton, his mother-in-law, Mrs. Jennings and his friend, the grave, quiet and gentlemanly Colonel Brandon. It soon becomes apparent that Colonel Brandon is attracted to Marianne, and Mrs. Jennings teases them about it. Marianne is not pleased as she considers Colonel Brandon, at thirty-five, to be an old bachelor incapable of falling in love, or inspiring love in anyone else.

Marianne, out for a walk, gets caught in the rain, slips and sprains her ankle. The dashing, handsome John Willoughby sees the accident and assists her. Marianne quickly comes to admire his good looks and outspoken views on poetry, music, art and love. Mr. Willoughby's attentions are so overt that Elinor and Mrs. Dashwood begin to suspect that the couple are secretly engaged... (source: Wikipedia)

About the author:

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. (source: Wikipedia)


About the Midwest Journal Writers' Club: 

This was created by popular request to enable any beginning or established author to improve their skills by studying quality editions of classic bestselling fiction. Join at http://midwestjournalpress.com

Related Sites

werewolf » Zombie Love: Chewing on the Entrails of Genre - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is Austen spiced with a zombie sub-plot which seems to directly offset a specific aspect of Austen's writing: decorum and class; conversely Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters would, ...
'Circuits of sense and sensibility' | Harvard Gazette - Harvard biologist traces neural circuits involved in worm learning | A Harvard biologist succeeds in mapping a neural network for learned olfactory behavior, using a roundworm model to trace the dislike of a particular smell to ...
Close Reading of Sense and Sensibility | General Incivility - For this post, I will analyze the conversation Marianne and Elinor have about Edward in Chapter 4 (Volume I). After Marianne implies that Edward and Elinor will soon be engaged, Elinor immediately gives Marianne a lengthy ...
Leah Price explains how immortalizing Caroline Bingley on a bank ... - Reading different volumes of the same novel gives Miss Bingley and Darcy something in common, just as anyone reading Sense and Sensibility can guess Marianne Dashwood's fate once she reflects that “Our own library is ...
Downton Abbey & Jane Austen; Or, in Praise of Lady Mary | Journal ... - For example, in both Downton Abbey and Sense and Sensibility, actor Dan Stevens plays characters who are trying to honor promises that are absolutely essential to women's livelihoods.[1] In the second season of Downton, ...
Class, Money, and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice | BritLit - Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is one of the most loved novels ever written. It continues to be near the top of lists of 'most loved.
The Weight of the Albatross: Coleridge's - Blogs @ Baylor University - The Weight of the Albatross Coleridge, unbeknownst to most people, struggled for a large portion of his life with an.
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Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice - now a Writers' Club classic fiction

Practical Common Sense might be missing, except in her humor-filled books.



About this book:

Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.

Though the story is set at the turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of "most loved books" such as The Big Read. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature and receives considerable attention from literary scholars.
The novel centers on Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the five daughters of a country gentleman. Mr Bennet is a bookish man, and somewhat neglectful of his responsibilities. Mrs Bennet is a woman lacking in social graces and primarily concerned with finding suitable husbands for her five daughters. Jane Bennet, the eldest daughter, is distinguished by the kindness of her attitudes; Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter, shares her father's keen wit and occasionally sarcastic outlook; Mary is studious, devout and aspires to be musical; Kitty, the fourth sister follows where her younger sister leads, while Lydia is flirtatious and unrestrained.

The narrative opens with news in the Bennet family that Mr Bingley, a wealthy, charismatic and social young bachelor, is moving into Netherfield Park in the neighbourhood. Mr Bingley is soon well received, while his friend Mr Darcy makes a less favorable first impression by appearing proud and condescending at a ball that they attend (he detests dancing and is not much for light conversation). Mr Bingley singles out Jane for particular attention, and it soon becomes apparent that they have formed an attachment to each other, though Jane does not alter her conduct for him, confessing her great happiness only to Lizzie. By contrast, Darcy slights Elizabeth, who overhears and jokes about it despite feeling a budding resentment.
(source: Wikipedia)

About the author:

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer.
(source: Wikipedia)

About the Midwest Journal Writers' Club:

This was created by popular request to enable any beginning or established author to improve their skills by studying quality editions of classic bestselling fiction. Join at http://midwestjournalpress.com

Related Sites

werewolf » Zombie Love: Chewing on the Entrails of Genre - In that context, I'm particularly intrigued by the mash-up novel Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Graeme-Smith. Jacob Murphy has written an article on the novel for the journal Alluvium comparing it, ...
Jane Austen, Crazy Ants and Tricky Fish « Know - Last month, Janine Barchas, professor of English, and a team from the Liberal Arts Development Studio launched "What Jane Saw," an online exhibit, on the 200th anniversary of "Pride and Prejudice." The exhibit "will allow ...
Downton Abbey & Jane Austen; Or, in Praise of Lady Mary | Journal ... - With only three daughters, the Earl of Grantham lives a worry-free existence compared to Mr. Bennet of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Austen's gentleman (whose estate is also entailed away from his female offspring) ...
Pride and Prejudice named favourite book among English teachers ... - Pride and Prejudice has come out on top in a survey of UK English teachers' top 100 books for children - but only because the subject is dominated by female.
Class, Money, and Marriage in Pride and Prejudice | BritLit - Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, is one of the most loved novels ever written. It continues to be near the top of lists of 'most loved.
Virtual gallery reconstructs art exhibit attended by novelist jane austen - The website takes advantage of the current digital toolkit to help transport visitors back to a specific event in 1813, the same year when Austen published "Pride and Prejudice." Today, the paintings that took part in that exhibit ...
Author event: Celebrating Pride and Prejudice - Wednesday 1 May ... - On January 28, 1813, Jane Austen received her copy of the book that she called her "darling child". Getting Pride and Prejudice into print had not been an easy task - though it would make Austen her fame, if not her fortune.
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Jane Austen's Persuasion - another classic fiction bestseller

The discussion of classic novels continues with Jane Austen's "missing" punctuation.



About this book:

Persuasion is Jane Austen's last completed novel. She began it soon after she had finished Emma, completing it in August 1816. She died, aged 41, in 1817; Persuasion was published in December that year (but dated 1818).

Persuasion is linked to Northanger Abbey not only by the fact that the two books were originally bound up in one volume and published together, but also because both stories are set partly in Bath, a fashionable city with which Austen was well acquainted, having lived there from 1801 to 1805.
More than eight years before the novel opens, Anne Elliot, then a lovely, thoughtful, warm-hearted 19 year old, accepted a proposal of marriage from the handsome young naval officer Frederick Wentworth. He was clever, confident, and ambitious, but poor and with no particular family connections to recommend him. Sir Walter, Anne's fatuous, snobbish father and her equally self-involved older sister Elizabeth were dissatisfied with her choice, maintaining that he was no match for an Elliot of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Her older friend and mentor, Lady Russell, acting in place of Anne's late mother, persuaded her to break the engagement.

Now 27 and still unmarried, Anne re-encounters her former love when his sister and brother-in-law, the Crofts, take out a lease on Kellynch. Wentworth is now a captain and wealthy from maritime victories in the Napoleonic wars. However, he has not forgiven Anne for rejecting him. While publicly declaring that he is ready to marry any suitable young woman who catches his fancy, he privately resolves that he is ready to become attached to any appealing young woman except for Anne Elliot.
(source: Wikipedia)

About the author:

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism, biting irony and social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics.
Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer.
(source: Wikipedia)

About the Midwest Journal Writers' Club:


This was created by popular request to enable any beginning or established author to improve their skills by studying quality editions of classic bestselling fiction. Join at http://midwestjournalpress.com
Enhanced by Zemanta

Related Sites

Jane Austen's Persuasion ~ 1960s Style | Jane Austen in Vermont - This is one of my favorites, along with the book synopsis inside the front cover - with such a cover and description, one wonders if this is Jane Austen's Persuasion at all! Are we in a time-warp here? - whatever is the Captain ...
Students Persuaded by "Persuasion" - Better Living through Beowulf - Recently I've been marveling at the many different approaches my students take to Jane Austen's Persuasion, which is proving to be the most popular book in my first-year Austen seminar. (We've read all the major novels ...
Sold! On the Block: Brock's Illustrations for 'Persuasion' | Jane ... - A series of fine ink and watercolour drawings for Jane Austen's Persuasion, 1909. 14 pen and ink and watercolour drawings including one for the title-page (most c.280 x 180mm) on paper (390 x 270mm), and later mounted ...
Enough already with the "Jane Austen needed a man" to rescue her ... - Jane Austen can't spell, sucked at grammar and punctuation, and needed a man to complete her! So says Oxford scholar Kathryn Sutherland! Hominy grits! I was going to coldly ignore this folly and nonsense; deignfully not ...
LIT363: The Nineteenth-Century British Novel | Harriet Hustis - ... or use the e-texts available from the TCNJ Library at [http://libguides.tcnj.edu/LIT363NineteenthCenturyBritishNovel]. ISBN #s are given for your convenience.) Jane Austen, Persuasion, Oxford, ISBN-13: 978-0199535552
An Austen Romance for Dems and GOP? - It so happens that I was able to connect the election to Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon and Jane Austen's Persuasion fairly easily. To link Obama with Song of Solomon in my 20th-century survey of English-language ...

Jane Austen's Emma - New Classic Fiction For Study

Yet another Midwest Journal Writers' Club Selection  now available.


About this book:

Emma, by Jane Austen, is a novel about youthful hubris and the perils of misconstrued romance. The novel was first published in December 1815. As in her other novels, Austen explores the concerns and difficulties of genteel women living in Georgian-Regency England; she also creates a lively comedy of manners among her characters.

Before she began the novel, Austen wrote, "I am going to take a heroine whom no one but myself will much like." In the very first sentence she introduces the title character as "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich." Emma, however, is also rather spoiled, headstrong, and self-satisfied; she greatly overestimates her own matchmaking abilities; she is blind to the dangers of meddling in other people's lives; and her imagination and perceptions often lead her astray.