E
UR
A
MERICA
Vol. 46, No. 3
(
September 2016
)
,
305-336
©
Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica
Indifference in
Sense and Sensibility
*
Yih-Dau Wu
Department of English, National Chengchi University
No. 64, Sec. 2, ZhiNan Rd., Taipei 11605, Taiwan
E-mail:
Abstract
Charlotte Brontë famously criticizes Jane Austen as
a cold lady writer indifferent to passions and unin-
terested in feelings. Modern Austen scholars have
successfully refuted Brontë’s arguments and confirmed
Austen’s familiarity with the business of the heart. This
critical debate gives rise to two misconceptions about
indifference: that it is irrelevant to Austen’s art, and that
it is irreconcilable with feeling. This essay seeks to
redress both misunderstandings. I first define indiffe-
rence as unconcern and reserve, before analyzing the
formative role they play in the characters, plot, and
sentences of
Sense and Sensibility
. Next, I discuss the
affective core of indifference. I show that, throughout
the novel, Austen frequently collapses the otherwise
rigid boundaries between powerful emotions and the
appearance of indifference. Just as the latter can conceal
TP
Received March 30, 2015; accepted December 22, 2015; last revised
January 9, 2016
Proofreaders: Yu-hsien Liao, Alex Cheeloun Chang, Kuei-feng Hu
*
The author would like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their
careful reading and constructive comments.
