Pride & Prejudice

Will I read Pride and Prejudice again? Yes, a thousand times, yes!

Near perfection! P & P is one of those rare gems that weds character, plot and language all in one harmonious marriage.

Austen's plotting is so very precise here. It's an absolute pleasure to behold. The timing is impeccable and there is very little, if any, fat in the prose to slow it down. Finding new clues to future plot twists and turns with each reread has reached the level of a sport for me now!

They say, write what you know. Austen knew the life of the upper class (more precisely, the lower ranks of the upper class). She knew all about sitting around in parlors waiting to one day possibly be wed. She knew the rules of engagement that her class and gender imposed upon her. And so she wrote about those things and wrote well, weaving complex love triangles in a realistic, down-to-earth style.

Some readers, often American, complain that Austen's work is tedious and unimpassioned. They are annoyed by characters that do not speak out or act when action would resolve the problems that arise in the social situations that make up the basis of Austen's stories. They lose sight of the fact that the early 19th century is not early 21st. Heck, it's not even the same country. To some living 200 years after Austen published, these sensibilities do not readily make sense. You must understand that the basis of Austen's writing is founded upon the mores of her time.

What makes P & P so exciting and intriguing is that our protagonist does push back, she does speak out. She does all those things we modern day readers wish she'd do. You just have to read very carefully to see it all happening. It's occasionally quite subtle, but it's there. A familiarity with early 19th century England, its language and customs will help unveil this novel's beauty and brilliance.

While I would not have wanted to be a woman living then, essentially tied down and utterly reliant on a wealthy man's whim for my happiness or even salvation, I try to at least enjoy the spectacle of something absolutely foreign to the way I live. Watching these people in the midst of arguing or courting is much like watching the controlled chaos of a boxing match. The principle parties are dueling like fighters looking to beat the crap out of one another, yet under strict rules by which they are bound. Break the rules and you may be disqualified. The constraints these people put themselves under in the name of civility may seem fanciful to us outsiders, but for a woman whose very livelihood depended on winning this bizarre game, it was very real.



(Reviews of film and television adaptations to come!)

18 chapters in... I want that to sink in for a moment... ok. 18 chapters in and NOTHING has happened. I am enjoying her writing style very much, but I also enjoy the back of an occasional cereal box so that may not mean much. We will see.
I am sitting here eating a tootsie roll, a Halloween left over, and I can't help notice the similarities between it and the novel Pride and Prejudice. First off, like P and P, the tootsie roll wasn't one of those dinky ones that you can almost swallow in a single bite so you know that I've been at this for a while and now that I finally got it down, I have to wonder why I put it into mouth to begin with. Secondly, tootsie rolls are a throwback to another age, there are far better candies out there and the 36 wrappers littering the floor will attest to this. You have to really like tootsie rolls to appreciate them. I don't.
Pride and Prejudice is the dullest most wonderfully written book that I have ever read. I read it simply to get a feel for the author's fantastic ability at arranging words, and really I mean it when I say, oh what wonderful blather.
I give the book one star.
After 62 chapters, there is nothing that happens. There is barely a story to the story, at least not one that could be remotely interesting...even to people who like romance. In the age of bodices, there is nary a one that is ripped open, let alone one that is undone with the gentle exploring fingers of a lover.
And then there is the hubbub over the book...Satirical? A witty comedy of manners? Sure, I smiled a few times at the only funny character in the book, Mr. Bennett, but overall, I read, studied the sentence structure, noticed the wall paper and waited patiently as the paint dried. Even the dramatic ending where Lizzy gets the guy, is a letdown and dull. Just to let you know, I was joking about it being in any way dramatic. Which brings me to the characters. Other than Lizzy, they are all stereotypical and lack even the most remote concept of depth. Jane is pretty and sweet from the first page to the last. The mom is overbearing, the dad aloof. Other than Darcy, no one grows or changes in a book that spans a few years and endless pages.
Normally, I use one star for books that I just can't finish and if I wasn't an aspiring author, I wouldn't have bothered to get through half the book, but since I did... and when I compare it to yawner like A Tale of Two Cities, I had to bump this one up a notch.
PS, Don't read Moby Dick either, if you know what's good for you.

I hope Jane Austen is somewhere up there and that, even in death, she knows that Elizabeth Bennett is still That Bitch in 2019.

n  

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

n

Pride and Prejudice is one of those books that comes with the "everyone who has a literature degree should have read this" stamps and I am, in fact, doing a literature degree. The sheer amount of times this has been referenced in the course of my degree definitely made me think I should read it. The good news is, everyone seems to love this book. Even people who don't really like classics. And guess what? The hype was right because I kinda love it too

Pride and Prejudice is an excellent social commentary delving into the tenuous economic positions women in the 19th century held. Mrs Bennett's desperate scramble to marry off her daughters, particularly Jane and Elizabeth, as soon as the eligible bachelors Mr Bingley and Mr Darcy wander into town provides for an entertaining and often hilarious tale but it's also dire in that throughout the novel you are well aware that the sisters face potential poverty and homelessness should they not find good marriages sometime before their fathers death. And for me, one of the real strengths of this book is how well it balances out the romance and the satirical humour of the situation with the real reality of the situation. While this book did make me laugh, I really have to sympathise with Mrs Bennett and what she's trying to do here. It's also really interesting when you consider that there is an element of Jane Austen's own life reflected in the situation the girls find themselves in.

n  

“We are all fools in love”

n

I think what I loved about this is the pure drama of it all, but it's all so serious in it's frivolity. Even though we're talking about getting sick to hang out at your mans house longer, and buying ugly bonnets and running off with your new soldier boyfriend, the drama is compelling. I think that a real strength of this book is that it is so insightful. All the drama is perfectly positioned to make a Point, and all of it is deadly serious. Even though it's kind of funny Mrs Bennett is going to force her daughter to catch a cold just so she can (maybe) hang out with Bingley a bit longer, there is also a element of understanding and truth that rings in it - these girls really DO need to go to all lengths to get married. The satire is so well placed, and the story is so thoughtful.

Elizabeth Bennett is also such a compelling and fun main character. She IS that bitch!! I loved how rebellious and independent she was, and her relationship with Jane was so beautiful. I really loved the focus on the girls strong bond and the prioritisation of the girls relationships with eachother over anything else. Elizabeth is also ICONIC. The bit when she verbally beat the shit out of Mr Darcy? I truly have decided to stan forever.

Speaking of Mr Darcy - I have to say he's not in it as much I expected?? Everyone RAVES ABOUT HIM and I get it because, yeah there is something really appealing about him being The Hot Rich Bachelor Who is Really Into You But He's Too Awkward To Show It but he honestly doesn't feel like he appears that much? For me it felt like the Bennett sisters and Elizabeth's struggle to reconcile her situation and her happiness were much more interesting and pertinent themes and relationships than the romance. THAT SAID, I do still love the romance. God, the slow burn, angsty beauty of it all. Are we talking about That Scene in Permberly? I'm talking about it. When he comes across the fields and they catch awkward eyes and it's like okay they're in love PHEW love that. Also, when Elizabeth is at dinner half hoping half dreading he will turn up. SISTER why is that so relatable when this is a 200 year old book ??

n  

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”

n

There is something remarkable to me that in all the time since the publication of this book, so much of it stays relevant and loveable. I genuinely thought reading this it reads in some ways like a modern book. I loved that about reading this - even though it is obviously a classic it was so easy to read and get really invested in. It makes the reading experience so much better, since classics can be so hit and miss sometimes. Austen is funny and frank and insightful and thoughtful, and her characters are well developed and compelling. That Pride and Prejudice is so far from our everyday, and yet remains so relatable, and so beautiful, and that romance still stands is truly powerful in itself, and goes to show just what a GOOD book this is.

I really really enjoyed this, and I plan on working through Austen's other works in the future. (Sense & Sensibility is most likely next). I will say this, literature world - I get the hype.

I loved this so much more than I thought I would! Can’t believe it’s taken me this long to finally get to it, but now that I have it’s time to watch alllll the adaptations mwahaha

Ενα βιβλίο που γράφτηκε το 1797 με τον τίτλο
« Πρώτες Εντυπώσεις», αναμφίβολα αντιπροσωπευτικός, διότι και οι δυο πρωταγωνιστικοί χαρακτήρες εντυπωσιάζονται λανθασμένα ο ένας για τον άλλον και χάνουν πολύτιμες στιγμές ανάμεσα τους ορμώμενοι απο φαινομενικά μειονεκτήματα και παρεξηγήσεις.
Όταν εκδίδεται το 1813 το βιβλίο τούτο έχει τον ακόμη πιο εύστοχο τίτλο « Περηφάνεια και Προκατάληψη ».
Δυο βασικά χαρακτηριστικά των πρωταγωνιστών μας αναμειγνύονται με το πάθος και τη λογική και αποτελούν ανασταλτικούς παράγοντες για την μοιραία σχέση τους.

Μέσα από μια πολυεπίπεδη ανάλυση και βαθιά περιγραφή των χαρακτήρων η ευφυΐα της Όστεν παρουσιάζει με θάρρος, πάθος, σάτιρα και οξυμένο κριτικό πνεύμα την κοινωνία της Αγγλίας τον 18ο αιώνα.

Είναι περισσότερο μια ψυχολογική ανάλυση της μικροαστικής αντίληψης των ανθρώπων της εποχής για τον έρωτα, το γάμο, τα ήθη, τις ταξικές διαφορές, τις περιουσίες που κρίνουν τα πάντα και τις αρετές που πρέπει να υπάρχουν ή απλά να φαίνονται στην ανθρώπινη φύση.
Φυσικά, το έργο διαπνέεται ελλειπτικά απο ποικίλα προσωπικά συναισθήματα των χαρακτήρων και μπορεί άνετα να καταχωριστεί στην ρομαντική κλασική λογοτεχνία.

Έχουμε μια ιστορία αγάπης που γεννιέται και προσπαθεί να μείνει αναλλοίωτη μέσα σε μια ανδροκρατούμενη κοινωνία με πολλές κοινωνικές συμβάσεις και προκαταλήψεις.
Η Ελίζαμπεθ, πανέξυπνη, ετοιμόλογη, διορατική, τρυφερή, θαραλλέα και πρωτοπόρα παλεύει να χρωματίσει με πάθος και αξιοπρέπεια τη θέση της στην κοινωνία.
Ο κ. Ντάρσυ, με την μεγάλη περιουσία και την ακόμη μεγαλύτερη αλαζονεία, γίνεται εξ αρχής το πρότυπο του δυναμικού άνδρα που μιλάει ελάχιστα μα σκέφτεται πολύ, που περιφρονεί και κατακρίνει, που αδιαφορεί για τα πάντα και εκφράζεται με απόλυτη καυστική ειλικρίνεια. Ειναι ο σνομπ ερωτεύσιμος άνδρας που προκαλεί δέος και αντιπάθεια, φαινομενικά.
Στην ουσία όμως ακολουθεί την καρδιά του, αγαπάει βαθιά, απόλυτα και αληθινά.

Κοινωνική σάτιρα, κοινή και καυστική κριτική εποχής, αγάπη, ανταλλαγές απόψεων, ιδεών και συμπεριφορών δημιουργούν και προωθούν την πλοκή της ιστορίας.

Κάπου μακριά και έμμεσα ο αναγνώστης αντιλαμβάνεται έντονα τα συναισθήματα των ηρώων καθώς δεν εκφράζονται άμεσα, απλώς αναλογούν σε αντίστοιχες οξυμένα πνευματικές και ευαίσθητα ψυχολογικές επάρκειες για τον κάθε χαρακτήρα.

Ύφος απλό και λιτό. Ελάχιστες περιγραφές. Πολλοί διάλογοι που οικοδομούν τους χαρακτήρες με ρεαλισμό και αποδίδουν άρτια μηνύματα και συμπεράσματα σχετικά με την αποδοχή λαθών που θα γίνονται πάντα στην ανθρώπινη φύση μα και την ευτυχία που αξίζει να απολαμβάνουμε κάθε στιγμή της ζωής μας.


Καλή ανάγνωση
Πολλούς ασπασμούς.

I can't believe my professor read this 25 times. I am dead inside.

i bought it and now i guess it's time to reread it, lol

n  my spotify playlistn

n  “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”n

i want a mr. darcy, but this world is full with wickhams and collins, ugh.

Hace un tiempo atrás tuve la suerte de ser uno de los cinco ganadores de un concurso organizado por Penguin Clásicos en Facebook en el que los lectores teníamos que decir cuál había sido el primer libro clásico que habíamos leído.
El premio era un lote de los cinco libros más votados y un mes después recibí en mi casa "Don Quijote de la Mancha" de Miguel de Cervantes, "Cumbres borrascosas" de Emily Brontë, "La isla del tesoro" de Robert Louis Stevenson, "Crimen y Castigo" de Fiódor Dostoievski y éste de Jane Austen que curiosamente Penguin nunca publicó en Argentina.
Como soy un lector de clásicos es lógico que me debía una lectura de "Orgullo y prejuicio" dado que era el único de los cinco que no había leído.
Los admiradores de Jane Austen se enojarán conmigo, pero realmente, la lectura se me hizo más pesada que las mil páginas de "La montaña mágica" (libro que realmente disfruté) y me dio la impresión que este libro es una enorme redundancia de quinientas páginas y lo que más me sorprendió era que la temática queda siempre clavada en los acercamientos y desengaños amorosos de dos de las cinco hijas del señor y la señora Bennet, agravado por las pacatas costumbres de la sociedad victoriana que mantenía férreamente atada las pasiones de las damas de esa época.
Todo gira siempre en lo mismo: en una carrera entre las chicas solteras de distintas clases sociales por ganarse el amor de un apuesto joven que oh casualidad, es millonario y está a la caza de una dote que le asegure futuro y posición social.
Los diálogos me resultaron anodinos y redundantes y responden a los caprichos y vanidades de jovencitas virginales que idealizan el amor pero que no lo consiguen. Los hombres no se quedan atrás y Austen los dota de frivolidad y machismo para vapulear a las damas a su antojo.
De las cinco hermanas Bennet son Elizabeth y Jane las que acaparan más páginas, dejando atrás a Mary, Kitty y Lydia.
Tal vez ya no estoy para leer este tipo de novelas y en ciertos momentos me pregunté si era necesario perder el tiempo leyéndola habiendo tantos autores interesantes, pero, a sabiendas de que era un regalo, un premio, hice el esfuerzo.
Y naturalmente, me fue imposible no comparar "Orgullo y prejuicio" con verdaderas novelas románticas de peso como "Cumbres borrascosas" o "Jane Eyre" e incluso con "Agnes Grey". Siento que Jane Austen no consigue plasmar en sus personajes lo que las hermanas Brontë lograban con creces en los suyos.
Para ser sincero: Elizabeth Bennet no es Jane Eyre y El Sr. Darcy dista mucho de acercarse al Sr. Rochester, mientras que el malvado Sr. Wickham se encuentra a años luz de un personaje tan fuerte como Heathcliff en "Cumbres borrascosas".
Los forcejeos amorosos de Elizabeth Bennet con el Sr. Darcy o la relación de Jane con Charles Bingley se tornan redundantes y cuando a Austen se le agotan, utiliza el plan B de la huida de la pequeña Lydia con el Sr. Wickham. Me da la sensación que a este libro le sobran al menos ciento cincuenta páginas.
De todos modos, debo reconocer que el personaje de Elizabeth Bennet está muy bien logrado por Austen, aunque no tenga ni el temple de Jane Eyre ni la tenacidad de Agnes Grey y esto es innegable para mí.
Como anticipé, lamento esto que escribo que pueda generar rechazo en los lectores más entusiastas de Jane Eyre pero me gusta decir la verdad. Algo similar me pasó con "Nueve cuentos" de J.D. Salinger al que considero muy flojo así también como no pienso leer "Lolita" de Vladimir Nabokov, escritor que detesto por renegar de uno de sus padres literarios más importantes como Fiódor Dostoievski, que forma parte de aquellos de los que aprendió a escribir.
Pero volviendo a "Orgullo y prejuicio", considero que está bien escrito, pero no es ni brillante ni alcanza niveles sublimes más allá de algunas frases inteligentes que me encontré por ahí. De todas maneras, dista mucho de la soberbia técnica narrativa utilizada por de cualquiera de las hermanas Brontë.
Hace mucho, cuando leí "Cumbres borrascosas" dejé bien en claro que elegiría ese libro antes que cualquiera de los de Jane Austen y ahora lo confirmo.
Más aún: Charlotte Brontë dijo una vez sobre "Orgullo y prejuicio":"¿Por qué le gusta tantísimo la señora Austen? Eso me tenía desconcertada... No había leído Orgullo y prejuicio hasta que leí esa frase suya: entonces lo hice. ¿Y qué descubrí? El daguerrotipo preciso de un rostro corriente; un jardín bien cercado y bien cuidado, pero ninguna mirada de una fisonomía brillante y viva, ni campo abierto ni aire fresco, ni colina azul ni hermoso arroyo. No me gustaría vivir con sus damas y caballeros, en sus casas elegantes pero cerradas".
Por alguna razón, la descripción de la sociedad inglesa que utiliza Jane Austen desprestigia de alguna manera a las mujeres de su época, que con excepción de Elizabeth o Jane son tontas, frívolas y demasiado inocentes. y por esta razón concuerdo con Charlotte Brontë.
Mark Twain fue mucho más lapidario todavía, afirmando sin piedad ni contemplación:"Cada vez que leo Orgullo y prejuicio de Jane Austen, me entran ganas de desenterrarla y golpearle el cráneo con su propia tibia".
Tal vez esta última frase sea demasiado cruel para una de las escritoras más importantes de la literatura inglesa, aunque proviniendo de la ironía de Mark Twain puede ser considerada hasta graciosa.
No siempre se pueden adular libros por más que se los considere "clásicos".
Una una sola estrella es mi puntuación para un libro cuyo único momento de interés es el enardecido contrapunto entre Elizabeth y Lady Catherine de Bourg y aunque pido mis disculpas a quienes admiran a Jane Austen, dejo bien sentada mi posición sobre "Orgullo y prejuicio".