Pride and Prejudice Published by Bantam Classic by Jane Austen
on January 28, 1813
Genres: Fiction, Classics, Romance, Historical
Pages: 334
Source: Purchased
Format: Paperback
Find the Author: Website, Goodreads
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 0553213105
Rating:
Another cover edition for this ISBN
Since its immediate success in 1813, Pride and Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen called this brilliant work "her own darling child" and its vivacious heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print." The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and her proud beau, Mr. Darcy, is a splendid performance of civilized sparring. And Jane Austen's radiant wit sparkles as her characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, making this book the most superb comedy of manners of Regency England.
So, Elizabeth Bennet is probably one of the most foreward-thinking characters in any book that I’ve read from this time-period. Seriously, this girl is a rock star! I’ve never been so impressed with the in-your-face, but simultaneously, oh-so-subtle wit of a lady from this century. Even when you’d think she’d be going in a corner and crying her eyes out, she keeps her chin–and her attitude–up with finesse and a startling contemporary grasp on humor.
Then, there’s Darcy. I’m pretty sure all modern-day “bad boys” are modeled after Mr. Darcy. No? Oh, well, then they should be. It’s not even that he’s necessarily BAD. But, he sure is a man with a tough outer-shell that just needs the right girl to break through. (Enter Elizabeth.)
The slow-building romance, that seems more akin to that of a train wreck at times, is beautifully done. You have two characters with so many opinions between the two of them, that you are thrown into a world where the odds seem against them, but how could they NOT end up together?!
Plus, there’s humor, drama, and more love-story goodness with Jane and Mr. Bingley. Plus, Elizabeth’s family is going to keep you guessing as to what ridiculously embarrassing things they will do next.
If you are a reader and you haven’t read PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, just do me a favor and put whatever book you’re reading down, right now, and grab a copy of this book. Keep in mind that you can find it for free. Yup.
About Jane Austen
Austen lived her entire life as part of a close-knit family located on the lower fringes of the English landed gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to her development as a professional writer. Her artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about 35 years old. During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it.
Austen's works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century realism. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Her work brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews during her lifetime, but the publication in 1869 of her nephew's A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider public, and by the 1940s she had become widely accepted in academia as a great English writer. The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture.
