Gevoel en verstand (World Classics)

by Jane Austen, Gonne Van Uildriks (translator)

Met Gevoel en verstand debuteerde de beroemde Britse schrijfster Jane Austen in 1811. het boek verscheen anoniem. Het werd een enorm succes en lanceerde de carrière van Austen, die hierna nog vijf zeer belangrijke romans zou schrijven.

Het verhaal speelt zich af in de Britse bovenklasse van de late achttiende eeuw. De familie Dashwood woont op een groot landgoed. Na zijn dood laat hij alles na aan zijn zoon uit een eerder huwelijk, waardoor zijn weduwe en zijn drie dochters in de problemen komen.

In de kern draait het verhaal vooral om twee van de drie zussen, Elinor en Marianne. Zij vertegenwoordigen het gevoel en verstand uit de Marianne vertrouwt op haar gevoel, terwijl Elinor uitgaat van haar verstand.

Het boek is twee keer bewerkt tot serie, maar het bekendst is de bekroonde verfilming uit 1995.

449 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 26, 2018

About the author

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment upon the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage for the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Her works are an implicit critique of the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her deft use of social commentary, realism and biting irony have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars.

The anonymously published Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), were a modest success but brought her little fame in her lifetime. She wrote two other novels—Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1817—and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and the unfinished novel The Watsons.
Since her death Austen's novels have rarely been out of print. A significant transition in her reputation occurred in 1833, when they were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series (illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering and sold as a set). They gradually gained wide acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience. Her work has inspired a large number of critical essays and has been included in many literary anthologies. Her novels have also inspired many films, including 1940's Pride and Prejudice, 1995's Sense and Sensibility and 2016's Love & Friendship.