Pride & Prejudice : 200 years and counting

Its been a long time since I have posted and there hasn't been a good time to write something new, to be honest. But there was no way in hell I wasn't coming back to commemorate the 200th anniversary of one of my most beloved books.

Pride and Prejudice by good, ole Jane Austen was first published in 1813. That's a LOT of time ago. The title refers to the way in which the protagonists, the vivacious Elizabeth Bennet and the refined Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy see each other in the beginning. The story is all about how they let go off their first impressions and ultimately fall in love.



Now, I don't want to spoil the story for anyone who hasn't read it yet ( or those who live under a rock). But like every fangirl out there, whenever I think of Mr. Darcy now, a part of me wants to squeal like a little girl. :D I used to rather detest him, but he's kinda grown on me.

The beauty of P&P to me is, you can perceive it in so many different ways. Its very women-centric and can give us an idea of the women of Victorian era and their problems. It can be read with rose-tinted glasses and seen as a story of a wonderful love between a lively young girl and a  rich man from upper-class. Another way to view it as a comedy - the book gives such commentaries on the society at the time and mocks it in the most subtle and genteel way, but more than enough to tickle one's funny bone. The comic characters are drawn in an absolutely brilliant way.

The movies based on P&P are perhaps one of the few movie-adaptations that I enjoy as much as the book itself. Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy... how can you not fall in love with him? :D


Pride and Prejudice is the most successful work of Jane Austen and the most loved book ever (according to BBC). And its not difficult to believe that. It holds on to you or rather, makes you hold onto it right from the very first and albeit famous line.

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

The opening itself was enough to take me into the era where this thought prevailed. That Austen lady sure had a way with words.


There have been fads in the literary scene for some time. And people love to read stories about the love life of a talent-less young Indian fellow and his equally unremarkable career. Now I don't have anything against these books or their fan base. But I have a problem when such people become literature snobs and insult the classics. The truth is you may read as many of these new-age 'quick-lits' but what you get from them is incomparable to what you get from the classics.

And a  word to these new-age nerds: why don't you pick up a Bronte or an Austen for once? Then we'll talk.