Pride and Prejudice

"The more I see of the world, the more am I dissatisfied with it; and every day confirms my belief of the inconsistency of all human characters, and of the little dependence that can be placed on the appearance of either merit or sense."

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, 1813

first words

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

the premise

Two young people of England's early 19th century landed gentry must overcome their own pride, false first impressions, and scandal to secure true love in a society driven by materialism and superficiality.

my thoughts

How my soul thrilled to this love story when I was a teenager!  I read it multiple times, once I finally got into the language of the period.  But then life got busy, and it sat on my bookshelf gathering dust.  So imagine my delight when I found I could still thrill to it as an adult, that there were whole passages I wanted to read over and over again, savoring them.  What's more, I could appreciate Austen's keen sense of humor and wry observation of human nature in a way I certainly wasn't able to as a teenager.  When I opened this book for the first time in more than a decade, I did not expect to be laughing out loud quite so often.  I didn't expect Mr. Bennett to emerge as my favorite character. 

And I found it a little astonishing that an entire class of people could have as their chief occupation in life visiting each other for weeks on end, reading, going for walks, attending balls and generally entertaining themselves.  Of course this wasn't so astonishing to my teenage self, since that was my main occupation as well.  But the adult me must confess to envying the Bennetts, Bingleys and Darcys their servants.  Oh to simply decide in the morning what's for dinner and have it show up on the well-appointed table at the appointed hour without lifting a finger! 

others' thoughts

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