Sense and Sensibility: gen Z will relate to the Dashwoods’ complicated relationship with romance and property

By Katie MacLean, PhD candidate in literature and languages, University of Stirling

As Jane Austen drafted Sense and Sensibility in the late 1790s, Britain was experiencing a huge financial crisis. Despite its publication nearly 215 years ago, the novel’s most recent screen adaptation highlights the surprising relatability for a gen Z audience of the heroines’ economic and romantic struggles.

The novel follows sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood (played here by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles) after the death of their father. When their elder half-brother, John Dashwood, inherits…

Read complete article

~	Register to vote for the winner of the Vitae Three Minute Thesis competition 2026 – supported by The Conversation

~	More land, better life? South African farming study asks if that’s the road to rural development

~	Child malnutrition is one of Africa’s biggest health challenges: food aid is only part of the solution

~	Senegal’s Youth Olympics legacy: who pays after the Games?

~	“I lost a friend following an unsafe abortion in Malawi”

~	Millions of adults in England have high blood pressure without knowing it – so why are free pharmacy checks not solving the problem?

~	Brain stimulation could reshape how you learn new skills

~	Pollen season: new map of South Africa’s allergy hotspots gives you time to prepare

~	After five years of war, how do Ukrainian small businesses survive?

~	The joy of song: where songbirds came from and why we should listen to them