Product Description

Pride and Prejudice has delighted generations of readers with its unforgettable cast of characters, carefully choreographed plot, and a hugely entertaining view of the world and its absurdities. With the arrival of eligible young men in their neighborhood, the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and upside down. Pride encounters prejudice, upward-mobility confronts social disdain, and quick-wittedness challenges sagacity, as misconceptions and hasty judgements lead to heartache and scandal, but eventually to true understanding, self-knowledge, and love. In this supremely satisfying story, Jane Austen balances comedy with seriousness, and witty observation with profound insight. This new edition includes a new introduction, updated notes, and new appendices onsocial rank and dancing in 19th-century England.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10172 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 382 pages

About the Author

Fiona Stafford is the author of The Last of the Race: The Growth of a Myth from Milton to Darwin (Clarendon Press, 1994), Starting Lines in Scottish, Irish and English Poetry: From Burns to Heaney (OUP, 2000) and the editor of Lodore in the Complete Works of Mary Shelley. She is the editor of Austen's Emma in Penguin Classics.

Customer Reviews

A Classic novel worthy of high praise
Any reader of the novel Pride and Prejudice, be it novice or veteran, has certain expectations and apprehensions based on its incredible popularity and renown. The same can be said for the media, whose recent over-use of its famous opening line, `It is a truth universally acknowledged...' can be found repeated in the opening of many a news, magazine or blog article announcing some creditable or dubious connection to Jane Austen's characters or plot. Interestingly, it has become the meme of the day passed along and re-used by those who want to appear in the know, but are sadly missing the point. It is debatable if Pride and Prejudice's profound truths can be reduced to just universally acknowledged one-liners. If the novel was that easy to figure out we would not care two figs about it, and after nearly two hundred years, it would have been lost to obscurity! What one can expect though is so much more; an engaging plot that keeps you thinking and re-evaluating characters every step along the way, witty, sharp and humorous dialogue that others wish to emulate but never quite achieve, and a love story which just might reign supreme for all eternity. With all of these expectations before us, who could not be a little intimidated?

The Oxford World's Classics new edition of Pride and Prejudice might just meet your need to read and explore Jane Austen's classic novel. This edition presents the reader with a wide variety of supplementary material to help you along in your discovery of the universal truths in Pride ad Prejudice. Like many editions, it supplies us with an unabridged text that has been carefully edited by prominent scholars since it was first published in 1813. `Carefully' is the operative word here, since the debate is on about what has been changed or removed from the text. I will again defer to my learned co-reviewer Prof. Moody to delve into that arena. In addition to the brief biography of Jane Austen, select bibliography, chronology of her life, and two appendixes on dancing and social status that are repeated in each of the six editions in this series, (and previously mentioned in our first review), this volume includes a twenty-six page introduction by Fiona Stafford, notes on the text including a publishing history, textural notes and explanatory notes unique to this edition filled with insights and facts neatly organized and easy to find.

Writing an introduction to one of the most beloved and highly scrutinized novels in English literature is a daunting task indeed. My sympathies went out to Fiona Stafford even before I had read one word. Pride and Prejudice is so many things to different people, and not everyone's pet project could be addressed within the limit of space. I just hoped that she might enlighten me in some small way about a truth or insight that I had previously missed. She did not. But like one of the main themes in Pride and Prejudice, accounts by different people of the same events can have different truths. We all judge by our own unique agenda, so what I saw as lacking, another reader might find diverting. She did however, hit upon some interesting points; how the strength of our convictions can cloud our belief and disbeliefs, the divergence and attraction of different personalities, and how truth or the misconception of it can alter our judgment and future happiness.

The truth may be uncertain in Pride and Prejudice, but on this fact I am convinced. I had difficultly writing about this introduction even after taking copious notes. This can be a telling sign to its clarity and content. I did however find one point of amusement when the author mentioned that characters can be distinguished by their speech patterns and gave examples; "Lydia's use of `Oh Lord', Miss Bingley's `Abominable', Mr. Collins' `Lady Catherine de Bourgh', and Mary Bennet's lengthy, but largely content-free sentences distinguish her from her vivacious sisters." This is definitely true of Austen's unique characterizations, but this introductions `content-free sentences' certainly distinguished it from any other vivacious introduction that this writer has the pleasure to read.

Besides my disappointment in the introduction, the remainder of the supplemental material including the very helpful explanatory notes and the extensive chronology were a delight. For the new student the additional material is a must to understand the full context of the novel; - and for those Janeites who are ready to start your annual re-reading of Pride and Prejudice, pick up this edition. It is a perfect size to stash in your handbag or brief case, and whip out when the next debate ensues about whether Mr. Darcy was too proud, or just shy.