The Annotated Pride and Prejudice

Pride And Prejudice is a difficult novel for me to review because, although this was my first reading of Austen's work, I have already encountered its essential storyline in televised adaptations and numerous other novels so I felt as though I was revisiting the book rather than coming to it fresh. I enjoyed the humour, especially Austen's partly-veiled observations on the predicament of women rendered useless without a husband and, of course, her wonderful characters. Austen had such a talent for observation and for just exaggerating foibles enough to make people such as Mrs Bennet and Lady Catherine ridiculous, but not unbelievable. Personally I wasn't convinced by Darcy's complete change of behaviour mid-book, but both he and Elizabeth have wonderfully sparkling conversations and spats with the great energy fairly leaping from the page. The repression of their social situation contrasts brilliantly with the obvious strength of their emotional attraction to each other.

I was interested to learn from Ian Littlewood's introduction that Pride And Prejudice was pretty much an overnight success upon its publication, but that it took some sixteen years and at least one drastic rewrite to get to that stage. The book was refused on its first submission in the late 1700s, even though Austen would have paid for the printing herself! An example to authors everywhere of the importance of not giving up!

Etter et litt uheldig møte med Thomas Hardy på videregående og tilsvarende med Camilla Collett på universitetet, bestemte jeg meg for å ikke haste av gårde med å få lest noe av Jane Austen. Til tross for at de to bøkene ikke har noe å gjøre med henne eller denne boka. Jaja. Det ordna seg til slutt: jeg har nå lest Pride and Prejudice, og storkost meg med den. Jeg prøvde ei nettside som sender et kapittel på e-post hver dag (selvvalgt tidspunkt), og leste litt hver dag i flere uker. Men så havna jeg bakpå, og da tok det ei stund før jeg kasta meg på igjen. Jeg likte egentlig den måten å lese på, siden det da kommer litt ved siden av alt annet. Det krever bare at kapitla ikke er for lange.

(Jeg har ikke stort å si om selve boka. Elizabeth var morsom. Mr. Bennet også. Jeg gleda meg til hvert nye kapittel, og var oppriktig nysgjerrig på hvem hun kom til å ende opp med.)