Sense and Sensibility

The novels of English writer Jane Austen (1775–1817) are considered classics of British literature. They are completely different from the detached sentimental works that existed in European literature before, which young ladies like Pushkin's Tatiana Larina could indulge in at the end of the 18th century. Even Jane's early works were a blatant parody of the love novels of that time. Jane's father, the well-educated parish priest George Austen, instilled a critical perspective on literature in his future writer daughter. Jane's most famous work is the novel «Pride and Prejudice», published in 1813. The subsequent novels «Sense and Sensibility», «Mansfield Park» and «Emma» put an end to works in which characters did not resemble real people. Austen always truthfully, and sometimes with a considerable dose of humor, described real life. It is no coincidence that the writer became a harbinger of realism in English literature. The subtle English humor gave her texts a special charm. All of these characteristics are present in her novel «Sense and Sensibility», which was first published in 1811. The plot of the novel revolves around the love stories of two sisters: the sensible and restrained Elinor and the romantic and impulsive Marianne. Hand in hand, they go through various life trials, relying on each other and their family. In contrast to her heroines, the writer's personal life did not turn out well. Literary fame came to her only posthumously.

The wonderful and detailed illustrations by two English artists, brothers Charles and Henry Brock, allow us to vividly visualize the characters of the novel and the setting in which the events occur. Each of them could have become a character of the writer, although both lived and created about a hundred years later – at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. Charles Edmund Brock was born in 1870. He began illustrating books at the age of twenty, creatively developing the style of Hugh Thomson, who is considered one of the best British masters of book illustration in the second half of the 19th century. Charles Brock achieved great success in this field: in addition to Austen's novels, he worked on line drawings for the works of Swift, Thackeray, and Eliot. Henry Matthew Brock was five years younger than Charles. He studied at the Cambridge School of Arts, also began to engage in illustration, and became a member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours.