Product Description

For over 150 years, Pride And Prejudice has remained one of the most popular novels in the English language. Jane Austen herself called this brilliant work her "own darling child." Pride And Prejudice, the story of Mrs. Bennet's attempts to marry off her five daughters is one of the best-loved and most enduring classics in English literature. Excitement fizzes through the Bennet household at Longbourn in Hertfordshire when young, eligible Mr. Charles Bingley rents the fine house nearby. He may have sisters, but he also has male friends, and one of these—the haughty, and even wealthier, Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy—irks the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet, the second of the Bennet girls. She annoys him. Which is how we know they must one day marry. The romantic clash between the opinionated Elizabeth and Darcy is a splendid rendition of civilized sparring. As the characters dance a delicate quadrille of flirtation and intrigue, Jane Austen's radiantly caustic wit and keen observation sparkle.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4808 in Books
• Published on: 1983-12-01
• Released on: 1983-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
Elizabeth Bennet is the perfect Austen heroine: intelligent, generous, sensible, incapable of jealousy or any other major sin. That makes her sound like an insufferable goody-goody, but the truth is she's a completely hip character, who if provoked is not above skewering her antagonist with a piece of her exceptionally sharp -- but always polite -- 18th century wit. The point is, you spend the whole book absolutely fixated on the critical question: will Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy hook up?

From Library Journal
Austen is the hot property of the entertainment world with new feature film versions of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility on the silver screen and Pride and Prejudice hitting the TV airwaves on PBS. Such high visibility will inevitably draw renewed interest in the original source materials. These new Modern Library editions offer quality hardcovers at affordable prices.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste."
--Virginia Woolf


From the Trade Paperback edition. -- Review

Customer Reviews

Beautiful Classic
This book is a timeless and beloved classic. It's a beautiful story of class in Jane Austen's time that appeals to us today because it is so well-wrtitten. It's scrupulously clean morally, and I would recommend it to anyone who appreciates the time when love stories were wholesome and pure and touching. All the characters have an appeal that's makes you appreciate the way they fit into the story.

Worth paying for on the Kindle
Kindle owners hopefully are aware of the wealth of free editions of the classics which are available through Feedbooks and other sources.

I obtained a copy of P&P from feedbooks originally and while it was easy to get and the price was right, the overall quality of the text is not great. I've found several typos, presumably the result of OCR errors and it's somewhat distracting.

Since P&P is one of my wife's favorite books, I was delighted to see
Penguin had released an electronic edition for $0.50 complete with the usual footnotes, essays and maps that one's used to
finding in textbook editions of the classics.

The table of contents is pretty minimal. The headings include the editor's material, and the three volume headings.

What a Year for the Bennets
As much as this book revolves around three of the four daughters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, all of those characters revolve around Mr. Darcy - whose personality and character matures and unfolds before you.

Neither poor nor rich, the Bennets cannot establish great wealth and comforts for their children - and Mrs. Bennet's hard opinionated character further deprives the lovely lasses of possibilities for advancement. But, through the character weakness(es) will come happiness in all levels - where some smile and others are more joyous and laugh. And, thee events happen quickly, all within one year's time.

Darcy, who adores his 10-years-younger sister Georgiana, is the proper gentleman who has never raised his voice during his 28 years. Elizabeth, her father's favorite and mother's least, befriends Mr. Darcy and soon aggravates his senses and challenges him to make it to 29 without harsh verbal exchange or raised voice.

After some embarrassingly wrong misconceptions of his character, and equally wrong characterizations about a person whose life has plagued Darcy's, Elizabeth watches the young man blossom as he singlehandedly controls her family's pitfalls, confronts those who attempt to deliver her family to near disasters and financially saves the family from other possible misfortunes. In such actions, Darcy has to befriend an enemy, deliver embezzled money, negotiate with creditors of his enemy, and more. And, all for love - and who ever said love would be easy?

Pride is swallowed not only by Darcy, but by so many others in this novel. "Pride. . . is a very common failing. . . Human nature is quite proud of some quality or other, real or imaginary." We learn, "Vanity and pride are different things." "Pride rises from a good opinion of ourselves; vanity from what we would have others think of us."

We are wrongly told ". . . almost all his [Darcy's] actions may be traced to pride, and pride has often been his best friend." In the end, we learn Darcy ". . . has no improper pride."

Interestingly, prejudice is not a word defined, used or explained like its title counterpart. But, prejudice is a concept belying each page, each acquaintance, each personal affront, and somehow is easily overcome by youthful passion. Prejudice helplessly loses amidst the betrothing of the three daughters full of young passion.

In the end, a Cinderella-like conclusion befits the young hearts' defiance to prejudice through passion. And, in the persuasive methods of young Elizabeth, the originally perceived overbearing pride of Darcy evolves into what she describes to be proper pride.

If there is one thing this reader enjoys in this Austen book it is the dialogue. Whether it be the hindered ire of Darcy in civilly responding to Elizabeth's overzealous impertinence, or Elizabeth's steadfast refusal to succumb to Lady Catherine's requests that she never wed her nobleman nephew, the calm and polite retorts are deliciously phrased and eloquently presented. Few plays can match such work.