Day 31: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Ok, I’m sure there’s many smarter people than me who have had loads to say about P&P, but I’m going to say stuff anyway.
1. Why didn’t anyone tell me that Pride and Prejudice was funny? Laugh out loud funny, even.
2. I got a bit annoyed with Lizzie being attracted to Wickham. He seemed like an asshat from his first appearance. (Never trust anyone who badmouths people as their first activity.) Having him end up with the annoying Lydia was a nice touch.
3. I liked that both Lizzie and Darcy were both kind of jerks at the beginning and had to grow up a bit before they could find each other. (I particularly loved the hilarious first proposal seen where Darcy was like “You aren’t nearly good enough for me. Marry me?”)
4. When Lydia runs away with Wickham, that’s some hella stakes with some amazing tension. The whole world is crumbling. Proof that a story about marriage can be as riveting as any “large stage” story.
5. I was particularly interested in the commentary on marriage, especially how love being the primary consideration was the exception, not the rule. It’s so easy to forget that marriage was an economic institution at its heart.
365 Days of Women Writers 
The fact that Austen is funny is one of those things that creep up on you. I read her novels in my teens and liked most of them, but it wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I realized how funny they all were. Mansfield Park is, if possible, even funnier than P&P.
Abigail
October 18, 2010 at 7:15 pm
I will have to give that one a go – the only other Austen I’ve read is Persuasion and I don’t recall that as being particularly humorous, but now does seem a good time for me to remedy my Austen deficiency.
Chance
October 19, 2010 at 11:53 am
Oh, Persuasion is definitely her most sombre novel – I have a pet theory that she wrote herself into the main character so maybe felt her pain a little too keenly, plus she was already ill when she wrote it.
Abigail
October 19, 2010 at 6:44 pm