Introducing Sense and Sensibility
&nbsp;
There are roughly 700,000 hours in the average human life, and considering family, school, work, romance, recreation, friends, hobbies, and all the other responsibilities and concatenations of living we might (and often, do) face, the question persists: Why read Jane Austen? What makes readers return to her six great novels, year after year, a full two centuries after her death? What is it about her literary imagination—which largely centers on the world of the British gentry at the end of the 18th-century—that makes our long hours with Austen’s writing feel short, and makes our emotional life while reading her feel heightened, a little more splendid and bittersweet? What is it about the world Austen allows us to inhabit which can wrest us from the humdrum, tawdry, day-to-day thumb-twirling and social media scrolling, and plunk us into an atmosphere more spiritually rarefied, aesthetically unique, psychologically nuanced, and representative of larger human forces? After all, for those happy few 21st century humans who consider themselves deep readers—free to explore IMAX films, virtual reality, high definition livestream gaming, and on-demand streaming—the notion of sitting with a comedy of manners set in the late 18th century may not, at first anyway, feel outright tempting. Yet even in a world of relentless scrolling and fast-paced exchanges of information, we cannot seem to put Austen’s novels down. 
&nbsp;
Surely we go to Austen’s books for the historical value and influence she wielded among the Romantic and Victorian authors which followed her, but what is it about her works in and of themselves that produces enduring literary value and interest? What about her books compels her readers into an atmosphere of deep understanding and confiding humor over the folly of human society? In part, one has to point to Austen’s lucid and winking narration, which guides readers through the vicissitudes of strife and irony, especially related to the settling of societies affairs. But perhaps the true answer is more tidily summed by the ancient Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, when he said: “Character is destiny.”  
&nbsp;
Sense and Sensibility, Austen’s first major novel, has ensorceled English teachers and Hollywood alike. Written in 1811 and anonymously published in three volumes, the name of the work promises demure drama and pedantic lessons on etiquette, while giving us a sensuous, alliterative title that winks at readers across the centuries. The premise proves appealing, as well, a moment of transition in the conveyance of a great estate, a narrative device rife with opportunity for social disarray, interpersonal confusion, family avarice, and perhaps, alas, even romantic love. Austen began work on Sense and Sensibility in 1795 and eventually paid to have it published. Alas, as a wise person once said, so often in life, the dots are only connected in reverse, while looking backwards. In this single step, Austen joined a rank of revolutionary women writers: pathways to publication were largely restricted from women writers in the regency period of the early 19th century, and Jane Austen, not only due to her permanent and memorable writing, but through her innovation and gumption, set a precedent that would change the course of literary history. 
&nbsp;
Sense and Sensibility soon revealed what would become Austen’s trademark: a sharp sense of humor and commentary on the whimsies of British country life. This is a milieu that would influence countless other authors, from George Eliot to Henry James, from P.G. Wodehouse to Helen Fielding and Alexander McCall Smith. Following the life of Marianne and Elionor upon the death of their father, Austen’s first novel captures the intimate relationship between sisters, suitors, and nosy neighbors. Austens’ characters were as unusual as she was for the time — there was a depth to them that was not typically reserved for heroines of the era. The Dashwood sisters were not merely pretty faces vying for the best husbands in the county. Sense and Sensibility reserved space for a rich dynamic between sisters, and the romantic relationships pursued by Marianne and Elinor were not merely means of climbing the social ladder of Regency England, they were expressions of individual agency, humor, and…sensibility.
&nbsp;
Come for the romance — Austen is a master, there is no doubt — but stay for the laughter and the dazzling revelations on human nature. Since 1813, Sense and Sensibility has never been out of print.
&nbsp;
-Taisia Crowley