S02E05 Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 21 to 25

In this episode, we read Chapters 21to 25 of Sense and Sensibility. We talk about Jane Austen’s use of compound sentences, Lady Middleton’s concern with gentility, the verbal fencing match between Elinor and Lucy, Elinor’s emotions, and Mrs Jennings’ invitation to Elinor and Marianne.

We discuss Lucy and Anne Steele, and then Ellen talks about childhood in the time of Jane Austen. Harriet talks about adaptations, and two of the modernisations.

At the end of the episode, we respond to some listener feedback about the book Jane Austen, the Secret Radical. As an extension of this, you can read our analysis of the timeline around the birth of Eliza Williams.

Things we mention:

 References: 

•  Edward Copeland [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility (2006)
• Sheila Kaye-Smith and G.B. Stern, Talking of Jane Austen (1943) and More Talk of Jane Austen (1950) 
• Peter Laslett, The World We Have Lost (1965) 
• Philippe Ariès, Centuries of Childhood: A Social History of Family Life (1960)
• Mary Martha Sherwood, The Fairchild Family (1818)
• Thomas Day, The History of Sandford and Merton (1783) 
• Honora Edgeworth and Richard Lovell Edgeworth, Practical Education (1780)
• Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (1847)
• Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016)
  • See also our discussion of Kelly’s arguments about Brandon’s story. 
  •  Since recording the episode, we've come across this review by Lona Manning which mentions several points (and more) that we talked about but had to cut due to time.
• Robert Rodi, Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps (2011)

 Adaptations of the book: 

• BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1971) – starring Joanna David and Ciaran Madden (4 episodes)
• BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1981) – starring Irene Richard and Tracey Childs (7 episodes)
• Columbia Pictures, Sense and Sensibility (1995) – starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet
• BBC, Sense and Sensibility (2008) – starring Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield (3 episodes)

 Modernisations of the book: 

• Joanna Trollope, Sense