美国著名评论家埃德蒙．威尔逊曾这样简．奥斯丁："英国文学史上出现过几次趣味革命，文学口味的翻新几乎影响了所有作家的声誉，唯独莎士比亚和简．奥斯丁经久不衰。"《理智与情感》简．奥斯丁最富幽默情趣的作品之一，主要讲述的是生活在英国乡绅家庭中的艾利洛和梅莉爱两姐妹曲折复杂的恋爱结婚的故事。姐姐艾利洛善于用理智控制感情，妹妹梅莉爱对爱情充满幻想，也因此两人面对爱情的时候，做出了截然不同的反应......小说通过这种"理智与情感"的幽默对比，提出了道德与行为的规范问题，引人深思。《理智与情感》与作者的另一名作《傲慢与偏见》堪称姐妹篇，曾多次被搬上大银幕。由华人导演李安根据该部小说执导的同名电影获得了极高的评价，荣获了包括奥斯卡最佳影片提名，柏林电影节金熊奖，金球奖最佳影片、最佳编剧等多个奖项，足见这部小说的影响力之广。("Revolutions of interest have occurred for several times in the history of British literature, and the changes in literary taste have influenced the reputation of almost all writers, except for the long-standing fame of Shakespeare and Jane Austen."Edmund Wilson, a famous American critic, once appraised Jane Austenin this way. Sense and Sensibility is one of her works with the most sense of humor.The novel portrays the complicated love and marriage stories ofElinor and Marianne, sisters in a country gentlemen family. The elder sister Elinoris good at controlling emotion by senses while the younger Marianne is romantically inclined to love. Hence, they react in opposite ways in front of love...By virtue of this humorouscomparison between sense and sensibility, the novel raises the thought-provokingissue of moral and behavioral regulation. This book,which has been brought to big screen for times, is a sister novel of Austen's another book, Pride and Prejudice. A film directed by Ang Lee, a famous Taiwanese-born American film director,duplicated the originalnoveland won great reputation and awards, including nominated as Oscar Best Picture, won the Golden Bear at the Berlin InternationalFilm Festival, Best Drama and Best Screenplay of Golden Globe, showing the widespread influence of this novel.)