In this episode, we read Chapters 37 to 41 of Sense and Sensibility (which was where Volume 3 started in the original publication). We talk about how the news of Edward and Lucy is spread, the picture we get of Lucy and Anne’s relationship, the resurgence of the ‘cautionary tale’, and how this is the second time Colonel Brandon asks Elinor to deliver a message for him.
We discuss the character of Edward, including our disagreement with Helena Kelly’s view in Jane Austen: the Secret Radical (and see also our extended argument against her claim that there is symbolic meaning behind Edward cutting up a scissors sheath). Ellen talks about the clergy in Jane Austen’s day, and Harriet reviews the popular culture versions, particularly looking at how the adaptations treat the scene between Edward and Elinor, and what the modernisations do with the Edward-Lucy-Elinor plot.
Things we mention:
References:
- Edward Copeland [Editor], The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility (2006)
- Robert Rodi, Bitch In a Bonnet: Reclaiming Jane Austen From the Stiffs, the Snobs, the Simps and the Saps (2011)
- Helena Kelly, Jane Austen, the Secret Radical (2016)
- See also our argument against her claims of symbolic meaning behind Edward Ferrars cutting up a scissors sheath
- Lona Manning, ‘Jane Austen: the Secret Radical by Helena Kelly, a review in three parts’ (2017)
Adaptations of the book:
- BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1971) – starring Joanna David and Ciaran Madden (4 episodes)
- BBC, Sense and Sensibility (1981) – starring Irene Richard and Tracey Childs (7 episodes)
- Columbia Pictures, Sense and Sensibility (1995) – starring Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet
- BBC, Sense and Sensibility (2008) – starring Hattie Morahan and Charity Wakefield (3 episodes)
Modernisations of the book:
- Sri Surya Films, Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) – starring Tabu and Aishwarya Rai
- MWM Studios, From Prada to Nada (2011) – starring Camilla Belle and Alexa PenaVega
- Silver Peak Productions, Scents and Sensibility (2011) – starring Ashley Williams and Marla Sokoloff
- Joanna Trollope, Sense & Sensibility (The Austen Project #1) (2013)
- YouTube, Elinor and Marianne Take Barton (2014) – starring Abi Davies and Bonita Trigg