Product Description

No novel in English has given more pleasure than Pride and Prejudice. Because it is one of the great works in our literature, critics in every generation reexamine and reinterpret it. But the rest of us simply fall in love with it—and with its wonderfully charming and intelligent heroine, Elizabeth Bennet.

We are captivated not only by the novel’s romantic suspense but also by the fascinations of the world we visit in its pages. The life of the English country gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century is made as real to us as our own, not only by Jane Austen’s wit and feeling but by her subtle observation of the way people behave in society and how we are true or treacherous to each other and ourselves.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #88671 in Books
• Published on: 2007-09-04
• Released on: 2007-09-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

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

Next to the exhortation at the beginning of Moby-Dick, "Call me Ishmael," the first sentence of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice must be among the most quoted in literature. And certainly what Melville did for whaling Austen does for marriage--tracing the intricacies (not to mention the economics) of 19th-century British mating rituals with a sure hand and an unblinking eye. As usual, Austen trains her sights on a country village and a few families--in this case, the Bennets, the Philips, and the Lucases. Into their midst comes Mr. Bingley, a single man of good fortune, and his friend, Mr. Darcy, who is even richer. Mrs. Bennet, who married above her station, sees their arrival as an opportunity to marry off at least one of her five daughters. Bingley is complaisant and easily charmed by the eldest Bennet girl, Jane; Darcy, however, is harder to please. Put off by Mrs. Bennet's vulgarity and the untoward behavior of the three younger daughters, he is unable to see the true worth of the older girls, Jane and Elizabeth. His excessive pride offends Lizzy, who is more than willing to believe the worst that other people have to say of him; when George Wickham, a soldier stationed in the village, does indeed have a discreditable tale to tell, his words fall on fertile ground.

Having set up the central misunderstanding of the novel, Austen then brings in her cast of fascinating secondary characters: Mr. Collins, the sycophantic clergyman who aspires to Lizzy's hand but settles for her best friend, Charlotte, instead; Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mr. Darcy's insufferably snobbish aunt; and the Gardiners, Jane and Elizabeth's low-born but noble-hearted aunt and uncle. Some of Austen's best comedy comes from mixing and matching these representatives of different classes and economic strata, demonstrating the hypocrisy at the heart of so many social interactions. And though the novel is rife with romantic misunderstandings, rejected proposals, disastrous elopements, and a requisite happy ending for those who deserve one, Austen never gets so carried away with the romance that she loses sight of the hard economic realities of 19th-century matrimonial maneuvering. Good marriages for penniless girls such as the Bennets are hard to come by, and even Lizzy, who comes to sincerely value Mr. Darcy, remarks when asked when she first began to love him: "It has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began. But I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley." She may be joking, but there's more than a little truth to her sentiment, as well. Jane Austen considered Elizabeth Bennet "as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print". Readers of Pride and Prejudice would be hard-pressed to disagree. --Alix Wilber

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.

From AudioFile
Jane Lapotaire, known to American audiences from her many PBS appearances, is a perfect choice to read Jane Austen's comedy of manners. Her rich and varied intonations capture just the right blend of artifice and empathy to recreate not only the lively and playfully witty Elizabeth Bennett and the handsome, albeit conceited, Mr. Darcy, but also the entire gamut of Bennett family members, friends and foes. Amazingly, Lapotaire even manages to conjure memories of the screen's Mr. D', Lawrence Olivier. This is an exquisite audio abridgment of the classic English satire. L.(H.)B. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Customer Reviews

Everyman's Library version is GREAT...
I loved this book and Jane Austen's style, but this is not a literary review -- this review is on the Everyman's Library Edition.

This printing is wonderful and I absolutely love the everyman's library books. If the book wasn't spotless, I would almost think it was an antique edition. The cover is lovely, the binding is solid, the paper is thick and matte, and the font is legible.

This book is to be read, loved and proudly shelved for display. Don't waste your money on some tiny, stiff, mass-market paperback.

EVERYMAN'S LIBRARY EDITION -- TOTALLY RECOMMENDED!

Even better the sixth time around
I recently finished reading Pride and Prejudice for the sixth time and can honestly say it was better than it ever has been before. The first reading, in high school, was a little rough. Since then, this book has grown on me each time (silly to say, since it is my FAVORITE book and the only one I have re-read as often). The humor is fantastic, the characters are both wonderful and suited so well to the time period, and Mr. Darcy is a classic "leading man". Who doesn't want to find the modern day version of Mr. Darcy?

Beautiful new version
The edition of "Pride and Prejudice" that has a painting of Darcy & Elizabeth kissing on the cover (ISBN 1438242816) is entirely redesigned on the inside, too. It's large (6"x9") and printed on high-quality paper, unlike most of the other versions. A great bargain at this low price!