A small encouragement to read ‘Sense and Sensibility’ next month.

16th December 2025 is Jane Austen’s 250th anniversary. I’ll be celebrating the anniversary by reading her six novels, in the order that she wrote them, in the six weeks leading up to the anniversary. You can find the Binge Read schedule HERE. I’m hoping that some of you will join me in reading one or more of Austen’s books.

‘Sense and Sensibilty’ is in the Binge Read schedule for 10th November.This post is by way of a teaser to encourage you to read or re-read the book.

This will be my first read of ‘Sense and Sensibility’ (1811) so all I have to go on is Emma Thompson’s 1995 movie adaptation and what I can pick up from site like The Jane Austen Society and JASNA (the Jane Austen Society of North America – I wonder what Jane Austen would have made of the existence of that organisation?).

Jane Austen was a self-published author?

I was surprised to find that Jane Austen’s debut novel, ‘Sense and Sensibiiity‘ was , in a nineteenth century way, self-published using a profit share deal. It was also published anonymously. Here’s what JASNA says about how the novel came to be publshed by Thomas Edgerton.

Jane Austen took a financial risk and published the novel on a commission basis. In this arrangement, she paid for the production and advertising of Sense and Sensibilit, gave Egerton a commission for distributing and selling the book, and kept the remaining profit from the sales. Austen chose to remain anonymous because at that time it was not entirely acceptable for a woman of her status to publish for profit. The title page of the novel says simply, “By a Lady.”

Making sense of Sensibility

The title of the book needs a little explanation. The Jane Austen Society characterises ‘Sense and Sensiblity’ as:

“…a reaction to Jane Austen’s youthful reading. The cult of sensibility, which was prevalent in the literature of that time, argued that to have overpowering feelings was a sign of superior character. It followed that it was as wrong as it was hopeless to try to control or hide such feelings, whatever inconvenience or suffering they may cause their owner or anybody else. Jane Austen had two quarrels with the cult of sensibility. The first was that people might exaggerate and falsify their feelings in order to be thought superior. The other was that even when feelings were deeply held and true, they did not excuse their owner from observing the common decencies of social behaviour.”

My raised-in-the-second-half-of-the-twentieth-century mind, struggles with the idea of what my generation would have labelled as mawkish over-the-top emotions being seen as a sign of moral superiority is a little hard to get my head around. As it’s a central concept in the book, I went looking for more detail on the Cult of Sensibilty and found this BB C Radio 4 podcast

Click on the audio link below to listen to the podcast or go the BBC HERE

Film and TV adaptations

‘Sense and Sensibilty‘ has been adapted for the screen at least six times since 1971, (not counting the so-adapted-they’re-hard-to-recognise versions like ‘Scents and Sensibility‘ in 2011).

I recommend the 1995 version. Emma Thompson won an Oscar for the screenplay. The cast is crammed with top talent: Emma Thomson, Kate Winslet, Hugh Grant, Robert Hardy, Hugh Laurie, Imelda Stauton, Imogen Stubbs and Gemma Jones.

Click on the Youtube link below to see the trailer,

If you’re curious about the other adaptations, the Youtube link below will walk you through them with clips from each.

Read of listen?

I’m going to listen to the 2018 audiobook version narrated by Rosamund Pike. If you have an Audible subscription, this version is probably available to you free as part of your membership.