Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

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Description

Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romantic novel of manner written by Jane Austen. the novel follows the character development of Elizabeth Bennet, the dynamic protagonist of the book who learns about the repercussion of hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between superficial goodness and actual goodness. Its humor lies in its honest depiction of manners, education, marriage, and money during the Regency era in Great Britain.  

This novel follows Elizabeth Bennet and her four unmarried sisters as they enter adulthood. The novel focuses on issues of manners, morality, and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of the British Regency. Mr. Bennet of Longbbourn estate has five daughters, but his property is entailed and can only be passed to a male heir. His wife also lacks an inheritance, so his family will be destitute upon his death. Thus, it is imperative that at least one of the girls marry well to support the others, which is a motivation that drives the plot. The novel revolves around the importance of marrying for love rather than money or social prestige, despite the communal pressure to make a wealthy match.

'Pride and Prejudice' has consistently appeared near the top of lists of 'most-loved books' among literary scholars and the reading public. It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature, with over 20 million copies sold, and has inspired many derivatives in modern literature. For more than a century, dramatic adaptations, reprints, unofficial sequels, films, and TV versions of Pride and Prejudice have portrayed the memorable characters and themes of the novel, reaching mass audiences. On 28 January 2013, people around the world celebrated the 200th anniversary of Pride and Prejudice by media networks.

An illustration from Pride and Prejudice

Adaptation

'Pride and Prejudice' has inspired many works of writings and the entertainment world in an indirect way. 

Literature

It has been adopted many times by authors to create another magic in the literature world. And those books are:

• Mr. Darcy's Daughters and The Exploits and Adventures of Miss Alethea Darcy by Elizabeth Aston
• Darcy's Story (a best seller) and Dialogue with Darcy by Janet Aylmer
• Pemberley: Or Pride and Prejudice Continued and An Unequal Marriage: Or Pride and Prejudice Twenty Years Later by Emma Tennant
• The Book of Ruth by Helen Baker
• Jane Austen Ruined My Life and Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart by Beth Pattillo
• Precipitation – A Continuation of Miss Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice by Helen Baker
• Searching for Pemberley by Mary Simonsen
• Mr. Darcy Takes a Wife and its sequel Darcy & Elizabeth: Nights and Days at Pemberley by Linda Berdoll

Film, Television, Theatre

The novel has engendered numerous film versions including the 1940 Academy Award-winning film 'Pride and Prejudice' starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier (based in part on Helen Jerome's 1936 stage adaptation) and a 2005 film starring Keira Knightley (an Oscar-nominated performance) and Matthew Macfadyen.

Notable Television versions include two by the BBC: a 1980 version starring Elizabeth Garvie and David Rintoul and the popular 1995 version starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. This also includes Bride and Prejudice and Trishna (1985 Hindi TV Series).

A 1936 stage version was created by Helen Jerome played at the St James's Theatre in London. First Impression was a 1959 Broadway musical version. In 1995, a musical concept album was written by Bernard J. Taylor. A new stage production, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, The New Musical was presented in concert on 21 October 2008 in Rochester, New York. The Swedish composer Daniel Nelson based his 2011 opera Stolthet och fördom on Pride and Prejudice. 

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries which premiered on a dedicated YouTube Channel on April 9, 2012 and concluded on March 28, 2013 - is an Emmy award-winning web-series which recounts the story via vlogs recorded primarily by the Bennet sisters. It was created by Hank Green and Bernie Su.

About the Author

Jane Austen, born on 16 December 1775 in Hampshire, England, was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels. Her narrations interpret, critique, and comment upon the British 'landed gentry’ at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favorable social standing and economic security. Her writings critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and transition to 19th-century literary realism. Her use of caustic irony along with her realism, humor, and social commentary, has earned her acclaim among critics, scholars, and popular audiences alike.

Jane's list of works includes seventeen novels, three volumes of Juvenilia, two unfinished fictions, prayer, letter, poem, and plays. She achieved success as a published writer after her first four popular novels - Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816). Two additional novels - Northanger Abbey and Persuasion both were published posthumously in 1818, and the last one, at the time of her illness, eventually titled Sanditon, but she died on 18 July 1817 before she could finish it.

She left a few more unfinished work behind such as a short epistolary novel Lady Susan and The Watsons.

Jane Austen is on the £10 note which was introduced in 2017, replacing Charles Darwin.

The signature of Jane Austen

Link to buy more books on amazon : 

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Rating: 4.6/5

Reading Level: 8 and up

Author: Jane Austen

Publisher: Benediction Classics

Publishing Date: January 1, 2017

Edition Language: English

Genre: Victorian Historical Romance, Classic Literature & Fiction

ISBN-10: 1781397740

ISBN-13: 978-1781397749

Pages: 262 (Hardcover)