Sense and Sensibility Week

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Two hundred years ago, plus a week, Sense and Sensibility was published, and now Miss Georgiana Darcy is hosting a blog event to commemorate the occasion. She posted a great list of resources and is planning activities and excitement all week.  If you love Jane Austen, come join in the fun!

Here’s yesterday’s list of questions:

1: When did you first read Sense and Sensibility? Have you reread it since? About a quarter century ago, give or take a few years.  Now I`m inspired to reread it, with my mind full of pictures from the film adaptations.

  
2: When did you first watch Sense and Sensibility? Which adaptation was it?  Last year we watched the 1995 version and last month we watched the 2008 version.

3: If you have watched/heard of more than one adaptation which one was your favorite? I loved the 2008 one, but I’ve really forgotten a lot about the 1995 production although I enjoyed it too.  I can’t say I have a favorite.  The beginning of the 2008 version was not suitable for our family, so we skipped that part, but I don’t think we really missed anything.

  
4: Which three S&S characters drive you crazy? Fanny Dashwood and Lucy Steele are both astonishingly manipulative, self-centered, and cruel.  Willoughby is bad, too, but not as calculating all the time.  Mrs. Dashwood, the mother, is also a very foolish woman and makes me cringe. Since I have to limit it to three, I’ll drop Willoughby.  After all, he just makes me angry, but the other three drive me crazy.  (Mind you, so does Marianne, at times.)

5: Which heroine are you most like: Elinor or Marianne?  Elinor, absolutely. 

6: Who would be most enjoyable: (or bearable) Mr. Palmer or Mrs. Palmer? I cannot remember either one of them well enough to decide, since I have not yet reread the book far enough.

7: What would be your reaction if you saw a re-write of Sense and Sensibility where it was Elinor who married Colonel Brandon?  She certainly deserves him, but her heart was lost to Edward.  So if she married Colonel Brandon, I would think she was marrying for money…and then her ‘prudence’ would seem too mercenary for words.

8: Where does Sense and Sensibility rank in your list of favorite Austen novels? Right after Pride and Prejudice.

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As I’ve said, I’m rereading Sense and Sensibility.  I’ve also enjoyed the analysis in A Jane Austen Education, and plan to find out what Peter Leithart says in Miniatures and Morals, his wonderful Austen study guide.