I was an English and political science double major in college.
(Yeah, I've heard all the jokes about liberal arts degrees, including the fact that any future line of work I chose would probably include the line "do you want fries with that?")
As an English major, I was often forced to read "the classics" and dissect them to within an inch of their lives. Some were tolerable, some were painful, and some I vowed never to lay eyes on again.
Ever.
During and after college, I rebelled for several years, reading dishy romance novels, long-winded fantasy series, and People magazine – lots of lovely, really taxing reading.
Somehow, though, in the last couple of years, the pendulum as swung back in my reading habits, and I have a greater appreciation for all things "novel-y and famous" than I used to. I think this is partly because it is no longer required reading, partly because as a librarian, it’s my job to read books far and wide and to discuss them at the drop of a hat, and partly because I have matured to the point of appreciating more than the bodice-rippers I took for high-minded literature when I was but a teenager…
Among these works of respected literature is what I now count as a favorite novel: Pride and Prejudice.
Sure, Colin Firth in a wet, white shirt (from the 1995 BBC production) initially helped the cause, but I have actually read the novel by Jane Austen in addition to staring transfixed by Colin's sideburns or the beautiful grounds of Pemberley in the film. While the Keira Knightley movie version was very nice, I am more loyal to the BBC version, as it more closely follows the book.
Which, frankly, is lovely.
Austen's vivacity and wit as a woman of the Regency era still comes across on the page, even almost two hundred years later. Elizabeth Bennett is the kind of woman every reader wants as a best friend and confidant - intelligent, funny, sharp, and willing to admit her wrongs and her vulnerabilities when she has to.
Elizabeth is the strong-willed, stubborn second-born of Mr. and Mrs. Bennett, a long-married, long-suffering couple who have five feisty daughters, none of whom are married. As Mr. Bennett has no male heir to carry on the family name, and more importantly, the money and assets he has a tenuous hold on, the girls alone must make "profitable matches" in a husband in order to concrete the financial security of her sisters. Elizabeth Bennett finds the very rich, very eligible Mr. Darcy a proud, haughty man and they continually clash when they meet up, but throughout the book, her perception of him changes as events unfold around her family, both happy and unhappy.
In addition to the relationship between Darcy and Elizabeth, there are balls and parties for the reader to attend, another budding relationship between older sister Jane and Mr. Bingley to watch, as well as following the antics of younger sisters Lydia, Kitty and Mary. Throw in a rather unseemly male cousin, a snotty noblewoman, and a best friend with an unfortunate marriage and you have the makings for a true Regency novel packed with a comedy of manners, romanticism, verbal sparring and, of course, happy endings.
No matter how many times I read or see Pride and Prejudice, I still hold my breath, unsure if Elizabeth and Darcy are going to make it to happily ever after, nor whether Elizabeth's elder sister Jane will have a love match of her own.
Austen's characters are rich and layered, from shallow and weepy Mrs. Bennett to youngest daughter Lydia, full of visions of handsome officers and pretty bonnets, to the haughty Mr. Darcy who, despite appearances, has a tender heart after all...
I know Pride and Prejudice was written more than two hundred years ago. I know it carries the sometimes deadly moniker of “classic”. I know that English teachers have foisted it on unsuspecting students and forced them to write papers about it for years and years.
But truly, it’s a very readable, enjoyable, still-relevant book for today. The prose is wonderful, and it's really an easy read once you catch the cadence of the words.
If you haven't read Pride and Prejudice, do.
Even if you decide to watch Colin Firth in a waistcoat first…
Pride and Prejudice was Jane Austen’s second published novel, and is arguably her most famous. She also wrote Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey before her untimely death at age 41 (two novels were published posthumously). All of her novels have been made again and again into both television miniseries and motion pictures with varying degrees of success.
Despite writing so many romantic comedies, which always have a happy ending, Austen herself was never married, though she is rumored to have had a relationship with Tom Lefroy. This relationship was the basis for the recent fictionalized movie of Austen’s life, Becoming Jane, starring Anne Hathaway. In addition, many believe that Lefroy was who Austen had in mind when she invented the character of Fitzwilliam Darcy.
If you enjoy the novels of Jane Austen, you might also enjoy the writings of Charlotte Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, Edith Wharton, or Georgette Heyer.
Looking to ask the Loud Librarian a question, or comment on one of her reviews? Email her at marissa.priddis@crucialpop.com.
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