R and I are doing something fun. We are trying to read all the Jane Austen novels together. It was actually R's idea! He'd only read Pride and Prejudice, but for some reason (I think the netflix capabilities of our new TV) we binged watched a couple of BBC productions and one of them was Sense and Sensibility.
I realize that I wrote a review of the last time I 'read' S&S (I actually listened to it on audio), so I am going to link to that review from back in 2012.
This time reading it, two things stood out to me:
1) How it really is an exploration of Stoicism. Elinor is a bit too stoical while Marianne is the opposite. Both sisters move toward the golden mean as a result of the trials and tribulations their love lives go through.
Thinking about stoicism, I googled to see if anyone has ever written on Austen and it. Apparently someone did for their thesis. They connected the 'bluestocking' scholarship of Elizabeth Carter, who translated the great Stoic philosopher's Epictetus into English. Apparently, Jane Austen read Carter's work. Pretty cool!
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| Elizabeth Carter |
2) It struck me that a major meme for British literature is the idea of two sisters or two almost sisters and how they each deal with romance and heartache. S&S is the first that I know of, but Anthony Trollope follows this exact theme in his novel, The Small House at Allington (which I am currently listening to), E. M. Forster in Howard's End also treats of this theme. And there is an absolutely wonderful in depth essay on Georgette Heyer's novel, A Civil Contract, which compares it to Sense and Sensibility.
Two thumbs up for this classic! Brava Jane Austen! For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
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