Retrospective Read: Pride and Prejudice

I first read this book as part of year 11 literature. My grandmother was very disappointed in me as I hated it. I kept sloping around the house reading it and throwing it on the ground in disgust.

"Why are all these women obsessed with marriage?" I asked. "It's just all about marriage! How boring!"

Later, of course, I became familiar with a little thing called irony, of which Ms. Austen was a massive fan. And, predictably, I became a huge fan of hers. I say predictably because I very much fit the mould of the kind of person that would be a Jane Austen fan: early-twenties, secret romantic, literary woman who aspires to be a "woman writer" and loves the fact that Austen had to write her genius novels in secret.

So, Pride and Prejudice. Lizzy Bennet has charmed readers for dozens of decades. She's probably one of the most loved characters of all time and definitely a woman who was ahead of her time. Her love story with the adominably proud Mr Darcy has been homaged, consciously and unconsciously in hundreds of books and movies that followed*. Mr Darcy is the dark and mysterious man we love to hate, but then grow to love for his quiet strength and unwavering passion for the delectable Lizzy.

I have also read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is amazing and a great adaptation. The Bennet sisters are even greater when they're Japanese-trained zombies slayers. It's Victorian-era post-feminism!

So: Everyone should read Pride and Prejudice. Because it's brilliant, a classic.


Note: This is embarrassing. In my last post I wondered why Harry Potter isn't in the cloud and it totally is. I also considered reading 100 Years of Solitude in Spanish, but it isn't in the cloud! Love in the Time of Cholera is.

*Eg. Bridget Jones' Diary. Bridget Jones makes a pathetic substitute for Lizzy.