Over the past decade-plus, as Jane Austen’s novels reached their publication bicentennials, writer and scholar Sarah Emsley invited comment from an array of Austen readers, hosting eclectic and entertaining blog series that offered a wealth of new and varied perspectives on familiar texts.
But because Sarah launched her project in 2013, with the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice, she missed out Sense and Sensibility, whose bicentennial came two years earlier. Now Sarah is remedying that omission with a blog series she’s calling “A Summer Party for Sense and Sensibility.”
The series began last Thursday—the first day of summer, natch—and will run until season’s end, with a couple of posts each week. So far, published posts have looked at the centrality of the sisterly bond, at the often-overlooked character of Margaret Dashwood, and at the way the novel changes for us as we reach different life stages.
My contribution, “The Darkness of Sense and Sensibility,” will be published tomorrow. It’s about the bleakness of the novel’s vision of social life, which (I argue) Austen portrays as a space of disconnection, concealment, and artifice.
I hope you’ll take a look at my post, and then continue visiting Sarah’s blog for the rest of the series. I’m looking forward to learning more about this compelling, sometimes disturbing book.
This looks really cool. I look forward to your post! Does your Jane Austen (and Jane Austen related) reading leave you time for other authors & books? If so, which?