Pride and Prejudice

Front Cover
Wordsworth Editions, 1992 - Fiction - 376 pages
CLASSIC FICTION (PRE C 1945). It's hard to believe that jane austen wrote the sophisticated and acerbic pride and prejudice when she was only 21 years old, in 1797. Originally entitled first impressions, the novel was rejected, revised, retitled, and finally published--anonymously--in 1813, only four years before austen's untimely death. In pride and prejudice, austen calls on her sharp observations of vanity, venality, pomposity, and downright nuttiness in a story about a respectable but far from wealthy family full of daughters--girls who desperately need to find husbands if they are to have any kind of economic security. The eldest of the bennett family, elizabeth, is a bright, opinionated, and complacent young woman whose reaction to an offer of marriage from her wealthy but impossibly arrogant suitor, fitzwilliam darcy, is revulsion.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Section 1
3
Section 2
5
Section 3
7
Section 4
24
Section 5
32
Section 6
42
Section 7
46
Section 8
52
Section 16
128
Section 17
151
Section 18
163
Section 19
178
Section 20
182
Section 21
188
Section 22
201
Section 23
206

Section 9
59
Section 10
62
Section 11
80
Section 12
88
Section 13
106
Section 14
117
Section 15
124
Section 24
221
Section 25
227
Section 26
242
Section 27
256
Section 28
Section 29
Copyright

Common terms and phrases

acquaintance admiration affection agreeable amiable answer asked assure astonishment attention behaviour believe Bingley's Brighton brother certainly Charlotte Charlotte Lucas civility Collins Collins's Colonel Fitzwilliam Colonel Forster compliment conversation cousin cried Elizabeth dance Darcy's dare say daughter dear dear Jane delight Derbyshire Elizabeth Bennet Elizabeth hoped endeavour engaged enquiries expected expressed father feelings felt fortune Gardiner gentlemen girls give Gracechurch Street happy hear heard Hertfordshire honour hope Hunsford Hurst Jane Austen Jane's Kitty Lady Catherine ladyship letter Lizzy London Longbourn looked Lydia manner marriage married Meryton Miss Bennet Miss Bingley Miss Darcy Miss de Bourgh Miss Elizabeth Miss Lucas morning mother Netherfield never opinion Pemberley pleasure pride Pride and Prejudice received recollected silence Sir William sister smile soon speak suppose sure surprise talked tell thought told uncle and aunt walk Wickham wish woman young ladies

References to this book

About the author (1992)

Jane Austen's life is striking for the contrast between the great works she wrote in secret and the outward appearance of being quite dull and ordinary. Austen was born in the small English town of Steventon in Hampshire, and educated at home by her clergyman father. She was deeply devoted to her family. For a short time, the Austens lived in the resort city of Bath, but when her father died, they returned to Steventon, where Austen lived until her death at the age of 41. Austen was drawn to literature early, she began writing novels that satirized both the writers and the manners of the 1790's. Her sharp sense of humor and keen eye for the ridiculous in human behavior gave her works lasting appeal. She is at her best in such books as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), in which she examines and often ridicules the behavior of small groups of middle-class characters. Austen relies heavily on conversations among her characters to reveal their personalities, and at times her novels read almost like plays. Several of them have, in fact, been made into films. She is considered to be one of the most beloved British authors.

Bibliographic information

TitlePride and Prejudice
Classics Library
Penguin reader
Wadsworth Collection
Wordsworth classics
AuthorJane Austen
EditorIan Littlewood
ContributorIan Littlewood
Editionillustrated, reprint
PublisherWordsworth Editions, 1992
ISBN1853260002, 9781853260001
Length376 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Fiction / Classics
Fiction / Family Life / Siblings
Fiction / Literary
  
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