tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post4548853213068724345..comments2022-03-04T17:48:40.060-05:00Comments on Attic Salt: A Literary Blog: Sense and Sensibility, Chapters 1-13Amy Cavanaughhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-50840760558225618422010-03-10T16:04:55.429-05:002010-03-10T16:04:55.429-05:00Yeah, Austen is incredibly snarky, isn't she? ...Yeah, Austen is incredibly snarky, isn't she? It's not something that I expected to find here, but I'm glad I did.<br /><br />I like your point that "Austen is much less interested in the love stories of this novel than she is in the Dashwoods' differing approaches to life." So far it just seems that their love stories exist to illustrate the sisters' differences. We have the relationship you mentioned between Edward and Elinor that we don't know what it's based on, and we have a clearly superficial relationship between Marianne and Willoughby — she's taken with him because "is name was good, his residence was in their favorite village, and she soon found out that of all the manly dresses a shooting-jacket was most becoming."<br /><br />Though Marianne and Willoughby's relationship seems like puppy love, the above quote is more of a reason than Austen gives us for Elinor's affection for Edward. I'm interested to see how the relationship plays out between the two going forward.Amy Cavanaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-16397934348028194412010-03-10T16:04:10.286-05:002010-03-10T16:04:10.286-05:00This comment has been removed by the author.Amy Cavanaughhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16472980425269161491noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1221433808285580112.post-19935181558589318482010-03-08T21:08:40.665-05:002010-03-08T21:08:40.665-05:00So I read this book about ten years ago, and I rem...So I read this book about ten years ago, and I remember noticing this then, but even so I'm surprised all over again at how much telling and how little showing there is in this novel. Edward in particular just shows up and Austen tells us that an attachment forms between him and Elinor, but I couldn't tell you why or how. The dialogue we *do* get is all among the Dashwood family, and it seems like Austen is much less interested in the love stories of this novel than she is in the Dashwoods' differing approaches to life.<br /><br />I also forgot completely about Lady Middleton...partly because (cough) she isn't in the Emma Thompson movie. I can see why she's left out--she's such a lackluster character--but it's kind of amazing how thoroughly Austen portrays her boring-ness. I liked this line in particular, when Marianne is singing: "Lady Middleton frequently called him [her husband] to order, wondered how anyone's attention could be diverted from music for a moment, and asked Marianne to sing a particular song which Marianne had just finished." <br /><br />That's one example of the sheer snark in this novel--I have difficulty coming up with a more appropriate word for it. There are some really choice samples, like when Willoughby brings Marianne home and then leaves "to make himself still more interesting in the midst of a heavy rain." Or when the excursion to Whitwell can't take place in chapter 13, and they all decide that "although happiness could only be enjoyed at Whitwell, they might procure a tolerable composure of mind by driving about the country." (Something about this passage really drives home for me the rather purposeless character of life in this class and era.)<br /><br />Marianne deals out the snark herself when talking about Colonel Brandon...Elinor says he's interesting to talk to and has been abroad, and Marianne replies, "That is to say, he has told you that in the East Indies the climate is hot and the mosquitoes are troublesome." Elinor is calm but does not yield to this: "He <i>would</i> have told me so, I doubt not, had I made any such inquiries, but they happened to be points on which I had been previously informed."<br /><br />One detail that I found telling: "He had been to several families that morning in hopes of procuring some addition to their number, but it was moonlight and everybody was full of engagements." I had never thought of moonlight having this effect on social life, but it makes sense if you're going driving about at night in an age without electricity.Marjorienoreply@blogger.com