Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

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Introduction to Sense and Sensibility Sense and Sensibility is a novel as well as the first published work of Jane Austen when it appeared in 1811 under the pseudonym "A Lady". A work of romantic fiction, better known as a comedy of manners, Sense and Sensibility chronicles two sisters' experiences through romance, misunderstandings and heartbreak. Elinor Dashwood with her good sense and well-developed sense of justice forms a foil to her romantic, headstrong sister Marianne. Economics and social standing also play important parts in one of Austen's most endearing stories. Jane Austen wrote the first draft of the novel in the form of a novel-in-letters (epistolary form) sometime around 1795 when she was about 19 years old, and gave it the title Elinor and Marianne. She later changed the form to a narrative and the title to Sense and Sensibility. By changing the title, Austen added philosophical depth" to what began as a sketch of two characters. The title of the book, and that of her next published novel, Pride and Prejudice (1813), may be suggestive of political conflicts of the 1790s. The philosophical resolution of the novel is ambiguous: the reader must decide whether sense and sensibility have truly emerged. About this 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 and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics. Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as
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