Sense and Sensibility, Volume the Third, Chapters Thirteen and Fourteen

In which Elinor and Edward are happy, the conduct of Lucy and Robert is explained, the Ferrars are all reconciled, Marianne gives in to the inevitable and falls for Colonel Brandon, and all live happily ever after.



Sorry this is going up a day late! I had the recording ready to go yesterday and the post half-finished, but then I decided to go out to the movies all day with my wife, and I stand by that decision.

And, at last, we find our two heroines settled and happy, with Edward honorably released from his engagement to Lucy, and Marianne getting everyone to shut up about Colonel Brandon but just marrying him already (although, all right, they gave it a couple of years for her to actually fall for him.)

Two quick notes in this last installment, both while talking about Elinor and Edward's new house in Delaford: at 26:50, while talking about improvements they will be making, we hear that they plan on "invent[ing] a sweep," where a "sweep" is a long, winding driveway. Then, John Dashwood talks about how fine the timber is in Delaford Hanger (presumably with dollar signs -- pound signs? -- in his eyes.) A "hanger" here is a wooded area growing on the side of a steep hill or embankment (hanging on the side of it, you see.)

27:45 - "Everything in such respectable condition."

And, with a note about the extraordinariness of two sisters living so closely by without fighting or setting their husbands against one another, we conclude Sense and Sensibility. Thank you for listening, and stay tuned for the next short story interlude!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!

Sense and Sensibility, Volume the Third, Chapter One

In which the secret engagement of Edward Ferrars and Lucy Steele is revealed to the great consternation of his mother and sister, we see that Mrs. Jennings may be a ridiculous old busybody but she is still a good sort, and Elinor can now finally come clean to Marianne about her feeeeelings, mainly about how she has them.



All right, we've entered the final third of the novel now, and all secret engagements have now been revealed! OR HAVE THEY? They probably have. Only a single chapter, but three illustrations to go with it, and one note: round abouts 2:50, Mrs. Jennings declares that her new grandchild has "the red gum," which a footnote in my edition of the book helpfully explains means "teething rash," a fact that I share in the recording before digressing into wondering how teething would cause pimples, and ending in a Btterfly McQueen impression for some reason. Well, as it turns out I was right to doubt my baby-knowledge, as teething rash is indeed a skin rash caused by skin irritation from excessive drooling due to teething. And now you know!

3:04 - In a whisper.

16:15 - "You have heard, I suppose."

22:24 - Talking over the business.

If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!

Sense and Sensibility, Volume the Second, Chapter Nine

In which much is revealed by Colonel Eeyore, chiefly pertaining to his personal history, and we discover the enormity of Willoughby's perfidy; and in which the narrator insists that yes, he's using those words correctly.



Wow, well THAT was a shocker of a chapter, wasn't it? With the forced marriages, the infidelity, the multiple illegitimate children, the wasting death, etcetera? Dang, no wonder Colonel Brandon's so Droopy-Dog all the time.

Some short notes: at 13:43, Colonel Brandon says that he randomly found his lost love in a "spunging house," spelled more modernly as "sponging house." It wasn't exactly debtor's prison, but it wasn't exactly not debtor's prison either. Basically, it was a debtor's last chance to pay up -- squeezed out like a sponge, get it? -- while being confined to the house of, usually, so government official who took a cut. A charming place, by the sound of it.

Next, at 21:51, the good Colonel states that, after finding out what had occurred between him and Brandon's ward, he met Willoughby by appointment. As might be inferred from the text, he means that they met for a duel, at which they are both apparently terrible as no one is even wounded. BORING.

Sadly, no illustrations for this turning-point chapter, of the spunging house or otherwise, so here's another fun cover. For... certain values of "fun."

I mean, my but this is a cheerless cover. It's from a 2001 edition published by Broadview Press, an independent academic publisher, that actually sounds kinda cool and included some neat-sounding stuff in this edition (well, neat-sounding to people like me, I guess.) It's just... I mean, kudos for standing out from the seething crowd of other covers featuring two young women in pretty, vaguely-Regency-era-if-you-don't-know-much-about-fashion-history-which-I-don't-so-maybe-it-is-actually-accurate dresses, but it sure makes this book look somber. Jane Austen does tackle some heavy themes, and does some incredibly trenchant social satire, but her books are really anything but dour, especially this one. I guess maybe they don't want anything intended for an academic setting to look too... well, fun.

Aesthetics aside, I wonder about the image's source. It's not listed on the website that I saw, but it certainly appears to be a vintage 1800s photograph of some kind. Now, it obviously can't be from the time Austen was writing as that predated photography, but it's always possible they were in period costume (you know, 1870's ladies dressed in 1811's clothes, or something.) Maybe someone who actually knows something about fashion history can enlighten me: is this even remotely the right time period for the story?

These are the sorts of things that intrigue and bother me.


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!

Sense and Sensibility, Volume the Second, Chapters Seven and Eight

In which a scum-filled letter is received from Willoughby, Marianne reveals that she was maybe not quite as engaged as all that, Mrs. Jennings is well-intentioned, and pretty much everyone is sad.



Another short entry, with but one illustration and a couple of quick notes: at 28:33, when Mrs. Jennings is tactfully going on about how wonderful Colonel Brandon's property is and how happy Marianne will be there when she of course marries him now that she's no longer tangled up with Willoughby, she mentions its dovecote (a shelter for doves) and stewponds (fish ponds, hilariously).

30:12 - "How fond he was of it!"

I love how they worked in an illustration that's basically a flashback to how Mrs. Jennings's late husband used to like to get drunk, using his gout as an excuse. Cheers!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!

Sense and Sensibility, Volume the First, Chapter Twenty-Two

In which Miss Steele reveals something that explains a great deal about Edward Ferrars's behavior and attitudes, and Elinor is not amused; and in which our narrator did not, in fact, keep it up the rest of last week.



We've got a short installment up tonight, as this brings us to the close of Volume the First. Never fear, though, we'll be starting right in on Volume the Second next time!

Since we've only got one chapter this go around, though, there aren't any notes and is only but one illustration:

4:59 - Amiably bashful.

Thus, I will keep this short and get right on to recording the next installment. See you next time!


If you would like to read along, the text can be found at Project Gutenberg, and high-res copies of the Thompson illustrations can be found in the British Library's Flickr stream. No reading ahead, though!