【英语小说NO.98】Pride and Prejudice

By:Jane Austen

Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which 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 favourable social standing and economic security. 

Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism.Her use of biting irony, along with her realism, humour, and social commentary, have long earned her acclaim among critics, scholars, and popular audiences alike.

Summary：

Pride and Prejudice is an 1813 romantic novel by Jane Austen. It charts the emotional development of the protagonist Elizabeth Bennet, who learns the error of making hasty judgments and comes to appreciate the difference between the superficial and the essential. 

The comedy of the writing lies in the depiction of manners, education, marriage and money during the Regency era in Britain.

Mr. Bennet of the Longbourn estate has five daughters but his property is entailed, meaning that none of the girls can inherit it. His wife has no fortune, so it is imperative that at least one of the girls marry well to support the others upon his death. 

Jane Austen's opening line, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife", is a sentence filled with irony and playfulness. The novel revolves around the importance of marrying for love, not simply for money, despite the social pressures to make a good (i.e., wealthy) match.

Reviews:

经典小说，又翻出来看了一遍，每次看，总会在脑海中浮现那个时代的画面。

再读一次还会有新的感悟，以前总会看些情情爱爱，再认真读的时候，只觉得讽刺又好笑。其实细想，与现下中国大龄青年被催婚潮有异曲同工之妙。

当然，长多大看多次依然喜欢达西和伊丽莎白。