Product Description

'his perfect indifference, and your pointed dislike, make it so delightfully absurd!' 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 neighbourhood, the lives of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and menide 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. If Elizabeth Bennet returns again and again to her letter from Mr Darcy, readers of the novel are drawn even more irresistibly by its captivating wisdom.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #154821 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 382 pages

Amazon.co.uk 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, yet always polite, 18th-century wit. The real point of the book though, the critical question which will keep you fixated throughout, is: will Elizabeth and Mr Darcy hook up? Read this genuine all-time classic and discover the answer while enjoying a story that has charmed generation after generation.

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

The freshness and perfection of form are astonishing.
It is almost 200 years since "Pride and Prejudice" was first published. It ought to be the equivalent in literature of those faded, dried flowers that used to be found pressed between the pages of the old family bible. Instead it is redolent of freshly cut flowers still carrying a sprinkling of morning dew.

The freshness and the perfection of form are certainly astonishing. Jane Austin is as good as story teller as ever picked up a pen, knowing exactly how to construct plots, and what incidents and dialogues to detail in full and what to briefly summarize. Her "world" is small but intricately constructed. Every characteristic, quality and idea has a precise and fixed value, all being ranked strictly and sternly according to decorum, logic and morality.

Despite its architectural perfection, however, a recent re-reading reveals one or two construction features that are questionable. How could it be, for example that Fitzwilliam Darcy could have such a dragon for an aunt? I also wonder about the friendship between Darcy and Bingley. How did it begin? It is obviously important to each, but we are given nothing of its history.

Jane Austen lived long enough to see this book published and enjoyed amongst her own family and a small readership. Her mother entertained family members with it, reading it, in Jane Austen's estimation, a little too quickly. Distinguished British actress Lindsay Duncan reads it with perfect timing and inflexion in this highly recommended audio tape format, which presents the novel in an unabridged version of just over twelve hours.

If you want a good husband
I read Pride and Prejudice when I was a pupil. Jane Austen's description is very exquisite and attactive.I was used to compare it with another book-Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. I prefer to the latter,because it's more Platonic.At that time,I could not understand why they were so realistic.You could frequently read this word 'match' in Jane Austen's books.If Darcy was a poor miner, would they be in love? Just because they are in the same class, and can meet in the tearoom or ballroom.
Nevertheless I change my mind now. As a young woman waiting for another half, now I can absolutely understand why my mum always asks me learning from Elizabeth.Yes. She is so beautiful, innocent, wise and decorous. Real word is real. you can not live as egocentric & romantic Carmen. Now I know that the elopement of Elizabeth's sister was not romantic but silly and irresponsible.
If you want a Mr. Right, you have to be the right one. So I pick up this classic book again. Hope you can enjoy the Pride and Prejudice .(sorry for my poor English and unlicked review, hope u can understand it^^)

Simply a must read as a great literary classic
Jane Austin brings you to the world of 1800s society. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." In those days a womens aim was to get married to secure her future. Therefore it was advantageous to be well accomplished and high in society in order to make a good match. Our main character Elizabeth will only marry for love and so were her affectionate sister Jane..but will it be the ones they expect? There's Mrs Bennet's obsession of getting her daughters married off..and the sarcasm of her husband. The pride and snobbery of the rich Mr Darcy (who i can always picture as Colin Firth thanks to the BBC).Mr Collins, the solemn Clergyman who is absurd with his polite flatteries. A wonderful story of unwanted attentions, embarassing proposals, disgraces, wit, passion and enduring love.