Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monster is a parody novel by Ben H. Winters published in 2009. Winters’ is parodying Jane Austen’s novel Sense and Sensibility. In an Article he wrote for Slate.com titled, “This Scene Could Really Use a Man-Eating Jellyfish
How I wrote Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.” He states that the publishers told him that 60% of the novel had to be Austen, while 40% could be him. He said that this was a major relief because finding time for balls and social events is a little hard while being chased by monsters of the deep.
If 60% of the novel stays true to the original S&S one might wonder what changes. To start off, much of the novel's locations are shifted to be much closer to the ocean, or rather, the ocean is shifted to be nearer to them. London itself is an underwater utopia for survivors of “The Alteration” An event in which sea monsters suddenly become aggressive towards humans and the sea levels of England rise. Some of the characters of S&S go through more dramatic changes in S&S&SM. The two most notable are Colonel Brandon and Sir John.
In this adaptation Sir John is a madman living on an island full castaway style. While Colonel Brandon is subject to experiments that leave him with a squid beard. However, the overall story of S&S&SM stays true to Austen’s original. Moments of conflict from S&S are usually kept in but interrupted by ravenous narwhals or genocidal dolphins in Winters’ version. While it may not be the most necessary adaptation, S&S&SM is able to once again capture the crisis that’s felt in the original work for modern audiences. I’d give it a solid 6.5 on the adaptation scale.