Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

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Jane Austen's second completed novel and first to be published,

Sense and Sensibility

, was based on an earlier work,

Elinor and Marianne

, first drafted as a novel in letters in 1795 and now lost, but re-written as

Sense and Sensibility

in 1797-98 and then revised again in 1810. By the time Austen wrote the final version, she had settled with her mother and sister Casssandra at Chawton Cottage in Hampshire, which afforded her the peace and concentration for sustained work. In 1809 Austen had sold her first completed novel,

Susan

(to be published posthumously as

Northanger Abbey

in 1818), to a publisher, and was consequently beginning to entertain hopes of authorship. Although

Susan

was shelved,

Sense and Sensibility

was accepted for publication in the winter of 1810 and printed the next…

3059 words

Citation: Schneider, Ana-Karina. "Sense and Sensibility". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2122, accessed 19 March 2024.]

2122 Sense and Sensibility 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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