ELINOR AND MARIANNE TAKE BARTON

"Elinor and Marianne Take Barton" is an updated online adaption of "Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen, produced, filmed and created by students at the University of Warwick (England). Enjoy!

ENJOYING SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

Here you  can download and read the eBook of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility; you can listen to the full audio-book and watch an interesting review on the novel as well. 

Click here to download a useful guide which offers ideas  and tips on how to teach the works of Jane Austen.      

   

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MISS AUSTEN!

Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775. Today would have been her 238th birthday, but no doubt she is timeless! We still learn a lot about family, love, friendship, and what it means to be a woman from reading her enchanting novels of manners. We still enjoy the plots, characterisations, and settings as well as the polished and elegant style of her novels  which  are deservedly considered literary classics, proposing a balance between reason and feelings, bridging the gap between romance and realism. 

What better way to celebrate her birthday than to listen to Sense and Sensibility and Emma audio books? A very special treat for these freezing autumn evenings!

And don't forget to read this article  about Jane Austen's  attention to women’s issues!

SENSE AND SENSIBILITY

“Sense and Sensibility”,  written in the late 1790s but much revised before publication in 1811,   is a novel by Jane Austen, her first published novel under the pseudonym, "A Lady."                                                                       

This is the story of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, sisters who respectively represent the "sense" and "sensibility" of the title. With their mother, their sister Margaret, and their stepbrother John, they make up the Dashwood family. 
Henry Dashwood, their father, has just died. Norland Park, his estate, is inherited by John; on his deathbed, he urges John to provide for them and John promises that he will do so. He is already wealthy because he has a fortune from his mother and is also married to the rich Fanny Ferrars.  Immediately after Henry's burial, the insensitive Fanny moves into Norland Park and cleverly persuades John not to make any provision for his stepmother and stepsisters. Mrs. Dashwood, disliking Fanny, wants to leave Norland Park at once, but Elinor prudently restrains her until they can find a house within their means. Edward Ferrars, Fanny's brother, comes to stay and is attracted to Elinor. Mrs. Dashwood and Marianne expect an engagement, but Elinor is not so sure; she knows that Mrs. Ferrars and Fanny will object to Edward's interest in her. 
Mrs. Dashwood is so offended by Fanny’s rudeness that she is delighted to receive a letter from a distant relative, Sir John Middleton, offering at a reasonable rent a house called Barton Cottage on his estate in Devonshire. Mrs. Dashwood immediately accepts the offer.  
In the country,  Marianne, the more romantically inclined of the two sisters, meets the handsome but penniless and unscrupulous John Willoughby, with whom she falls desperately in love, and who seems to fully reciprocate her feelings.