20 Comments

I could talk for days about this book, although my first foray into anything Austen was in fact the 1940s movie which is very different in many respects but retains the delightful verbal combat between Darcy and Elizabeth. (When I first read P&P I was confused when it turned out Lady Catherine was in fact just a terrible person and not giving Elizabeth a Secret Test Of Character.)

Re: the Church of England filter, they basically had no filter. Becoming a clergyman was one of the few "gentleman" occupations available and it became more of a holding place for younger sons vs. anything resembling a calling. (Something Austen touches on in Mansfield Park.)

I advise you immediately go and read all the rest. Sense and Sensibility also has some "spit your tea out" lines.

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I’m definitely eyeing Sense and Sensibilty.

Re talking for days about the book: I get that. I’ve found that people who have read the book are nearly always super fans. There are those who (a) haven’t read it and (b) love it madly, and there aren’t that many people in between.

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Well done sir. I sent this to Karen Swallow Prior and told her how much she would enjoy reading you... and she told me you were her editor on a prior book! So, I'm late to that party! Great review Joel.

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Yes! I got to work with her on Fierce Convictions, her biography of Hannah More. That was almost ten years ago now!

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My favorite novel of all time. I've re-read it so many times and always come away with a smile or chuckle. Like Wodehouse she is a master of the mot juste. Austen's "Emma" is another good one, but can't quite equal P and P (at least for me). Of all her novels I think that "Northanger Abbey" and "Manfield Park" don't have quite the humor and the characters are not quite as well drawn--or perhaps, are less likeable. (At least for me.) I'm so glad you got around to P and P and enjoyed it so very much.

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Yes, so many lines in the book land exactly right. And (at least at first reading) they’re often unexpected. Where did she come up with that stuff? It’s like that letter to her sister—her sense of humor was a deep (and slightly impish) well.

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Loved your take on Austen. She is hysterical. I remember that’s what surprised me most about her when I first read Emma. The way she develops characters and uses humor to point out the ridiculous social expectations of the time is so insightful and clever. I’m so glad you enjoyed this one!

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Picked up the annotated version earlier this year because, gasp, I’ve never read any Austin and this post has encouraged me to get started!

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Lizzie Bennett is one of the great characters in all of literature. What a book.

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I found her enjoyable from her first utterance. She’s funny, frank, and self-critical. I wish I was more like that.

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Yes! I always hoped that I would grow up to be Lizzie... still hoping.

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I love Pride and Prejudice so much that I dedicated my very first proper post on Substack to it! 🤞Fingers crossed the next generation is as enamored with it as I have been.

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I’m behind on my classics goal. Good reminder!

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No worries. There are no goal police. Just catch up as you can. What are you reading this month?

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I have Treasure Island in my sights ... but I haven't started yet.

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Oh, Treasure Island is a rich and wonderful story. Stevenson’s genius for original storytelling is fully on display in this seafaring tale, with unforgettable characters like Long John Silver remaining in our imaginations long after we’ve finished the book.

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I love your review. While P&P is not my favorite Austen novel, I do enjoy it. I also love when I can read a review that doesn't classify the novel as a "romance." I recently watched a YouTuber who read it for the first time and called it a romance novel. I yelled out that "It isn't a romance. It is so much more than a romance..." But, alas, she couldn't hear me.

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Reading Pride and Prejudice as a teenager inspired me to become a writer. On my Substack, I write comedic essays about my personal foibles (after realizing I couldn't write about others' foibles and still be invited to Christmas). Looking forward to more of your writing!

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"I believe I must date it from my first seeing his beautiful grounds at Pemberley"

*clears throat*

But it's true. We know that on that date, she met Mr. Darcy behaving much more considerately, indeed letting him introduce her to her uncle in trade, and conversing with them.

The joke lies in the implication that the grounds inspired her change of mind, which of course Jane sees through at once.

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Dear Joel

Your commentary is a treat, thank you. I am sorry only to have discovered it today!

I cottoned on to Pride and Prejudice at the end of your current review of Middlemarch which I imagine you will read even more times than I - and I am somewhere around 8. It is so lovely in its timeless narrative, never failing to uncover more insights into human nature.

I long ago forswore modern fiction. Stanley Kunitz once said: ‘I return always to the literary masters because they infect me with human possibility’. Good enough for me! And remember, between the first reading of a book and the second, there is change - in the reader. The same statements can have very different impacts a few years later.

Your review here of P and P (12 times at least) puts Mr Bennett firmly in his place, not something I had been aware of before. Having recently read Emma, Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility, I am disappointed in Ms Austen’s work here. Frivolous and tedious comedies of manners, and not very funny. Whereas P and P will stand always for contemporary notes on love, relationships and misunderstandings in communication. One of my best.

Final point - please review Anna Karenina in the new year. Reminds me of Faulkner’s answer to the best three novels ever written: Anna Karenina, Anna Karenina, and Anna Karenina his definitive response.

Keep up the insightful analysis and beautifully phrased writing.

Ian Widdop

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