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Pride and Prejudice

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Overview

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."So begins Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen's perfect comedy of manners--one of the most popular novels of all time--that features splendidly civilized sparring between the proud Mr. Darcy and the prejudiced Elizabeth Bennet as they play out their spirited courtship in a series of eighteenth-century drawing-room intrigues. "Pride and Prejudice seems as vital today as ever," writes Anna Quindlen in her introduction to this Modern Library edition. "It is a pure joy to read." Eudora Welty agrees: "The gaiety is unextinguished, the irony has kept its bite, the reasoning is still sweet, the sparkle undiminished. [It is] irresistible and as nearly flawless as any fiction could be.

Editorial Reviews

Austen is the hot property of the entertainment world with new feature film versions of Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility on the silver screen and Pride and Prejudice hitting the TV airwaves on PBS. Such high visibility will inevitably draw renewed interest in the original source materials. These new Modern Library editions offer quality hardcovers at affordable prices. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 at Steventon near Basingstoke, the seventh child of the rector of the parish. She lived with her family at Steventon until they moved to Bath when her father retired in 1801. After his death in 1805, she moved around with her mother; in 1809, they settled in Chawton, near Alton, Hampshire. Here she remained, except for a few visits to London, until in May 1817 she moved to Winchester to be near her doctor. There she died on July 18, 1817. As a girl Jane Austen wrote stories, including burlesques of popular romances. Her works were only published after much revision, four novels being published in her lifetime. These are Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816). Two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical notice by her brother, Henry Austen, the first formal announcement of her authorship. Persuasion was written in a race against failing health in 1815-16. She also left two earlier compositions, a short epistolary novel, Lady Susan, and an unfinished novel, The Watsons. At the time of her death, she was working on a new novel, Sanditon, a fragmentary draft of which survives.

Bio of Anna Quindlen

Anna Quindlen joined The New York Times in 1977, and has been a general assignment reporter, City Hall reporter, and the paper's deputy metropolitan editor. A 1974 graduate of Barnard College and a member of the college's Board of Trustees, she has been awarded Columbia University's Meyer Berger prize for the best writing about New York and the University Medal of Excellence. Her work has also been honored by the Associated Press, Women in Communications, and she was named by Glamour magazine as one of the ten outstanding women of 1991. She was the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1992.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Modern Library

Filesize

1.57 MB

Number of Pages

304

eBook ISBN

9780679641124

Excerpt from: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

CHAPTER 1

IT IS A TRUTH universally acknowledged that a single man in
possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on
his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in
the minds of the surrounding families that he is considered as the
rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard
that Netherfield Park is let at last?"

Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.

"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she
told me all about it."

Mr. Bennet made no answer.

"Do not you want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.

"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is
taken by a young man of large fortune from the north of England; that
he came down on Monday in a chaise and four to see the place, and was
so much delighted with it that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately;
that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his
servants are to be in the house by the end of next week."

"What is his name?"

"Bingley."

"Is he married or single?"

"Oh! single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four
or five thousand a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"

"How so? How can it affect them?"

"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome!
You must know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."

"Is that his design in settling here?"

"Design! nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he
may fall in love with one of them, and therefore you must visit him
as soon as he comes."

"I see no occasion for that. You and the girls may go, or you may
send them by themselves, which perhaps will be still better, for as
you are as handsome as any of them, Mr. Bingley might like you the
best of the party."

"My dear, you flatter me. I certainly have had my share of beauty,
but I do not pretend to be anything extraordinary now. When a woman
has five grown-up daughters, she ought to give over thinking of her
own beauty."

"In such cases, a woman has not often much beauty to think of."

"But, my dear, you must indeed go and see Mr. Bingley when he comes
into the neighbourhood."

"It is more than I engage for, I assure you."

"But consider your daughters. Only think what an establishment it
would be for one of them. Sir William and Lady Lucas are determined
to go, merely on that account, for in general you know they visit no
newcomers. Indeed you must go, for it will be impossible for us to
visit him if you do not."

"You are over scrupulous surely. I dare say Mr. Bingley will be very
glad to see you; and I will send a few lines by you to assure him of
my hearty consent to his marrying whichever he chooses of the girls;
though I must throw in a good word for my little Lizzy."

"I desire you will do no such thing. Lizzy is not a bit better than
the others; and I am sure she is not half so handsome as Jane, nor
half so good-humoured as Lydia. But you are always giving her the
preference."