To Have Sense or Sensibility?

photo by Cara Mac Neil :)

Seeing as this blog needed a little updating I thought I would come back to it even as a graduate :) Over the summer Sigma Tau Delta-ers and Non-Sigma Tau Delta-ers alike have joined forces in agreeing to read and discuss Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. My friend Katie and I were the driving force behind this because we both realized that while we loved the ever-popular Pride and Prejudice we hadn't touched some of the other books.

A lot of people who consider themselves Jane Austen fans came out of the woodwork to say "I too haven't really read much besides P&P " or "I've read everything except Sense and Sensibility" and I'm wondering why exactly that seems to be the case. Surely Jane Austen is not a One Hit Wonder among female Victorian writers so it seems strange to me that she is known primarily for one novel. People assume that if they like P&P that they will love the rest of her books because she has developed a reputation for being formulaic: a Happy Endings type of writer.

I wonder if this is true, if this is false or if it is simply her genius.

Being about halfway through the book I cannot wait to have someone to talk about it with and am so excited that the society of English Majors seems to be a bond that lasts even after the college years become officially behind me.

Sometime in August (date TBA) we are all meeting to discuss this book and professors are even getting in on the deal! It really is amazing to feel like part of a literary community and it makes the reading experience sweeter knowing that I will absolutely get to dissect the nature of Mrs Jennings and other strange but loveables in this book.

It seems to me that we English Majors are full of sense..... and a bit of sensibility :)


-- Cara