Your online source for Jane Austen and her legacy
We are very fortunate to have one of the nation’s premiere small theater companies right in our own backyard. For the last 20 years the Book-It Repertory Theater of Seattle has been exclusively adapting written work for the stage. Among the sixty plus world premier adaptations they have presented are stage productions of three Jane... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: How appropriate that The Annotated Sense and Sensibility is being published during the bicentenary year of Jane Austen’s first published novel. This new book includes the complete text of Jane Austen’s classic with annotations by Dr. David M. Shapard, an expert in eighteenth-century European History who also brought... Continue Reading →
Mags at AustenBlog shares news on a new beta website, Classroom Salon for Sense and Sensibility, by Carnegie Mellon University. The first lucky 50 Janeites to sign up get to participate, so make haste if you are interested in this innovative way to learn, share insights and discuss one of Jane Austen's novels. Cheers, Laurel... Continue Reading →
On this day in 1811, an advertisement for the novel Sense and Sensibility “By A Lady” appeared in the London newspaper The Star no. 7690. This was Jane Austen’s first published work and her entre into literary history. Published by Thomas Egerton of the Military Library publishing house in London, it was priced at 15s... Continue Reading →
Mrs. Jennings was a widow, with an ample jointure. She had only two daughters, both of whom she had lived to see respectably married, and she had now therefore nothing to do but marry all the rest of the world. In the promotion of this object, she was zealously active, as far as her ability... Continue Reading →
Vanity was the beginning and the end of Sir Walter Elliot's character; vanity of person and of situation. He had been remarkably handsome in his youth; and, at fifty-four, was still a very fine man. Few women could think more of their personal appearance than he did; nor could the valet of any new made... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: "Pray be composed," cried Elinor," and do not betray what you feel to every body present. Perhaps he has not observed you yet." Elinor Dashwood to her sister Marianne, Sense and Sensibility, Chapter 28 Sense and Sensibility can get lost in the limelight of Jane Austen's other "darling child,"... Continue Reading →
 "Be satisfied," said he, "I will not raise any outcry. I will keep my ill-humour to myself. I have a very sincere interest in Emma. Isabella does not seem more my sister; has never excited a greater interest; perhaps hardly so great. There is an anxiety, a curiosity in what one feels for Emma. I... Continue Reading →
"Four years you have been engaged?" said she with a firm voice. "Yes; and Heaven knows how much longer we may have to wait. Poor Edward! It puts him quite out of heart." Then taking a small miniature from her pocket, she added, "To prevent the possibility of mistake, be so good as to look... Continue Reading →
From the desk of Laurel Ann Nattress: 18th and 19th century primogeniture and marriage laws in England were very complicated, even for those who lived in the era. Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility is fueled by legal issues that are puzzling to our 21st-century sensibilities. It was a serious business however, impacting many lives. When... Continue Reading →
"You are mistaken, Elinor," said she warmly, "in supposing I know very little of Willoughby. I have not known him long indeed, but I am much better acquainted with him, than I am with any other creature in the world, except yourself and mama. It is not time or opportunity that is to determine intimacy:... Continue Reading →
INJUNCTION As soon as they entered the house, Marianne with a kiss of gratitude, and these two words just articulate through her tears, "Tell mama," withdrew from her sister and walked slowly up stairs. Elinor would not attempt to disturb a solitude so reasonable as what she now sought; and with a mind anxiously pre-arranging... Continue Reading →
