Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (dark academia books to read .txt) ๐
Description
When her husband dies and leaves his estate to his son from a former marriage, Mrs. Dashwood and her three daughters are offered a cottage on the estate of a distant relative. The two oldest daughters fall in love, only to find that the objects of their affection have secrets that throw their lives into an uproar. The reserved oldest daughter and impetuous, fiery middle daughter will take very different journeys to discovering the true worth of their respective beaus.
Published in 1811, Sense and Sensibility, was largely written fifteen years earlier, when Austen was approximately the same age as her older protagonist Elinor. It was published anonymously (โBy A Ladyโ), possibly due to propriety, or perhaps because she wanted to avoid any negative publicity if the book was not well-received. She neednโt have worried; it sold out its first printing of a modest 750 copies. She used well-defined characters, humor, and satire to paint a vivid picture of life in the England of George III, with all of its manners, class issues, and unwritten rules of behavior. That itโs still being read over two hundred years later is a testimony to her brilliance.
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- Author: Jane Austen
Read book online ยซSense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (dark academia books to read .txt) ๐ยป. Author - Jane Austen
โHe would certainly have done more justice to simple and elegant prose. I thought so at the time; but you would give him Cowper.โ
โNay, Mama, if he is not to be animated by Cowper!โ โbut we must allow for difference of taste. Elinor has not my feelings, and therefore she may overlook it, and be happy with him. But it would have broke my heart, had I loved him, to hear him read with so little sensibility. Mama, the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! He must have all Edwardโs virtues, and his person and manners must ornament his goodness with every possible charm.โ
โRemember, my love, that you are not seventeen. It is yet too early in life to despair of such a happiness. Why should you be less fortunate than your mother? In one circumstance only, my Marianne, may your destiny be different from hers!โ
IVโWhat a pity it is, Elinor,โ said Marianne, โthat Edward should have no taste for drawing.โ
โNo taste for drawing!โ replied Elinor, โwhy should you think so? He does not draw himself, indeed, but he has great pleasure in seeing the performances of other people, and I assure you he is by no means deficient in natural taste, though he has not had opportunities of improving it. Had he ever been in the way of learning, I think he would have drawn very well. He distrusts his own judgment in such matters so much, that he is always unwilling to give his opinion on any picture; but he has an innate propriety and simplicity of taste, which in general direct him perfectly right.โ
Marianne was afraid of offending, and said no more on the subject; but the kind of approbation which Elinor described as excited in him by the drawings of other people, was very far from that rapturous delight, which, in her opinion, could alone be called taste. Yet, though smiling within herself at the mistake, she honoured her sister for that blind partiality to Edward which produced it.
โI hope, Marianne,โ continued Elinor, โyou do not consider him as deficient in general taste. Indeed, I think I may say that you cannot, for your behaviour to him is perfectly cordial, and if that were your opinion, I am sure you could never be civil to him.โ
Marianne hardly knew what to say. She would not wound the feelings of her sister on any account, and yet to say what she did not believe was impossible. At length she replied:
โDo not be offended, Elinor, if my praise of him is not in everything equal to your sense of his merits. I have not had so many opportunities of estimating the minuter propensities of his mind, his inclinations and tastes, as you have; but I have the highest opinion in the world of his goodness and sense. I think him everything that is worthy and amiable.โ
โI am sure,โ replied Elinor, with a smile, โthat his dearest friends could not be dissatisfied with such commendation as that. I do not perceive how you could express yourself more warmly.โ
Marianne was rejoiced to find her sister so easily pleased.
โOf his sense and his goodness,โ continued Elinor, โno one can, I think, be in doubt, who has seen him often enough to engage him in unreserved conversation. The excellence of his understanding and his principles can be concealed only by that shyness which too often keeps him silent. You know enough of him to do justice to his solid worth. But of his minuter propensities, as you call them you have from peculiar circumstances been kept more ignorant than myself. He and I have been at times thrown a good deal together, while you have been wholly engrossed on the most affectionate principle by my mother. I have seen a great deal of him, have studied his sentiments and heard his opinion on subjects of literature and taste; and, upon the whole, I venture to pronounce that his mind is well-informed, enjoyment of books exceedingly great, his imagination lively, his observation just and correct, and his taste delicate and pure. His abilities in every respect improve as much upon acquaintance as his manners and person. At first sight, his address is certainly not striking; and his person can hardly be called handsome, till the expression of his eyes, which are uncommonly good, and the general sweetness of his countenance, is perceived. At present, I know him so well, that I think him really handsome; or at least, almost so. What say you, Marianne?โ
โI shall very soon think him handsome, Elinor, if I do not now. When you tell me to love him as a brother, I shall no more see imperfection in his face, than I now do in his heart.โ
Elinor started at this declaration, and was sorry for the warmth she had been betrayed into, in speaking of him. She felt that Edward stood very high in her opinion. She believed the regard to be mutual; but she required greater certainty of it to make Marianneโs conviction of their attachment agreeable to her. She knew that what Marianne and her mother conjectured one moment, they believed the nextโ โthat with them, to wish was to hope, and to hope was to expect. She tried to explain the real state of the case to her sister.
โI do not attempt to deny,โ said she, โthat I think very highly of himโ โthat I greatly esteem, that I like him.โ
Marianne here burst forth with indignationโ โ
โEsteem him! Like him! Cold-hearted Elinor! Oh! worse than cold-hearted! Ashamed
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