The Book Depository The Annotated Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
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Price: £16.99
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Description: The Annotated Sense and Sensibility : Paperback : Random House USA Inc : 9780307390769 : 0307390764 : 03 May 2011 : From the editor of the popular Annotated Pride and Prejudice comes an annotated edition of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, complete with more than 2,000 annotations that include definitions and clarifications, multiple maps, historical context, and more. The Book Depository The Annotated Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen - shop the best deal online on thebookbug.co.uk
Category: Books
Merchant: The Book Depository
Product ID: 9780307390769
MPN: 0307390764
GTIN: 9780307390769
Author: SusannahB
Rating: 5
Review: The Dashwood sisters: calm, sensible Elinor, and impetuous and passionate Marianne, are forced to leave their home, Norland Park, after the death of their father when the family estate is left to their half-brother John, whose grasping wife, Fanny, makes obvious her feelings of dislike towards the the girls and their widowed mother. Elinor is especially reluctant to leave Norland, as she has become close to Edward Ferrars, the very pleasant but rather diffident young brother of Fanny, and when Fanny notices their attachment, she is even more keen for the Dashwood women to leave Norland Park. With their mother and younger sister, Margaret, Elinor and Marianne move into a large cottage in the grounds of Barton Park, the home of a kind and generous distant relative, where they meet retired officer and gentleman, the gallant Colonel Brandon, and the dashing, handsome, but unreliable Mr Willoughby. Later, Elinor is introduced to the seemingly affable Lucy Steele, who does her utmost to ingratiate herself with the Dashwood girls, especially Elinor - however, Lucy has a secret that when revealed is particularly injurious to Elinor, and when Marianne also has her heart broken, Elinor struggles to keep a calm head and cope with the onslaught of emotions that suddenly befall her. A real pleasure to read, this is a beautifully written, sensitive, yet witty and very entertaining novel, complete with a cast of manipulative and grasping supporting characters, who contrast well with the sensitive and sensible Elinor and her intimates. I have been reading and re-reading Jane Austen's novels for many years and I cannot remember how many times I have read and enjoyed this story - but one of the main purposes of this review is to mention this particular edition which has been annotated by David Shapard and which has the notes printed on the facing page of each page of text, along with pictures and diagrams of people and objects from the early 19th century. Of course if you are familiar with language and traditions from this period, you will not need this particular edition, but I bought a set of these annotated Jane Austen novels for a young teenaged relative of mine who has not been brought up in England and needed more explanation than is available in most editions. She is finding this edition particularly helpful and it has helped her to enjoy the story much more than she otherwise would have done. 5 Stars.
Author: Brian
Rating: 3
Review: The editor and annotator, Shapard, clearly knows his historical context. All of his historical information is useful to a better understanding of the novel. (Although I think a strong argument against this kind of heavy annotation could be made: SO MANY interruptions from the narrative to dwell at such length on context is not necessarily conducive to a good literary experience.) HOWEVER, when he is trying to be a literary interpreter, or, especially, when he is evaluating literary merit, he is often, I think, WAY out of his element. He has entirely failed to understand Elinor as a character. Several times he dismisses Elinor's behavior as "unrealistic," that is, as a literary failure on Austen's part. I think it is a good general rule that, if you are ever tempted to accuse Jane Austen of a failure of realism (in regards to human behavior), you should first ask whether you yourself might be blind to some aspect of human behavior. Shapard evidently has no familiarity with family dynamics, and moreover has not read the book he is annotating closely enough: Austen clearly tells us, on more than one occasion, that Elinor's ability to "govern" her feelings arises in reaction to the total inability of the rest of her family to do so. That is, her stoicism is, in large part, her attempt to manage the reactions of her emotionally volatile sister and mother. Anyone who has any familiarity with emotionally volatile families will instantly recognize Elinor as perfectly realistic.
