History: The Novel
Written on Sunday, March 02, 2014 by Unknown
Seeing as this web show wouldn't be possible without the book it was based on, I thought I should spend at least one post on some facts about the novel.
Pride and Prejudice:
Type - Novel, satire, comedy, classic
Author - Jane Austen
Published - Jan 28, 1813
Publisher - T. Egerton, Whitehall
Volumes - Three, but now sold as one
Volumes - Three, but now sold as one
Origin - United Kingdon
Setting - Early 19th-century England
Class system - Landed gentry
Protagonist - Elizabeth Bennet
Narrated - Third-person omniscient
Chronology - Published after Sense and Sensibility but before Mansfield Park. However, it was thought to be written before S&S.
Original Title - "First Impressions"
Setting - Early 19th-century England
Class system - Landed gentry
Protagonist - Elizabeth Bennet
Narrated - Third-person omniscient
Chronology - Published after Sense and Sensibility but before Mansfield Park. However, it was thought to be written before S&S.
Original Title - "First Impressions"
Popularity - Well received by critics when first published. Popularity grew with time. It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide to this day. Probably mostly to high school students, English teachers, and bibliophiles. Did you read it when you were in school? I did. Once in high school and twice in college. And many more times just for fun. Yes, I'm that person.
Characters - Elizabeth (Lizzy/Eliza) Bennet [20], Fitzwilliam Darcy [28], Mr. Bennet, Mrs. Bennet, Jane Bennet [22], Mary Bennet [~18], Catherine (Kitty) Bennet [17], Lydia Bennet [15], Charles Bingley [23], Caroline Bingley [~20], George Wickham [mid/late 20s], William Collins [25], Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Anne de Bourgh [close to Darcy], Mr. Edward Gardiner, Mrs. Gardiner, Georgiana Darcy [16], Charlotte Lucas (and her family), Louisa Hurst (née Bingley), Mr. Hurst, Colonel Fitzwilliam [~30], etc.
[The brackets contain their approximate age at the beginning of the book. Beginning because it takes place in more than a years time so they likely celebrated some birthdays in between those stolen glances.]
[The brackets contain their approximate age at the beginning of the book. Beginning because it takes place in more than a years time so they likely celebrated some birthdays in between those stolen glances.]
Famous first line - “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
(Less important) Last line - “With the Gardiners, they were always on the most intimate terms. Darcy, as well as Elizabeth, really loved them; and they were both ever sensible of the warmest gratitude towards the persons who, by bringing her into Derbyshire, had been the means of uniting them.”
Themes and motifs - Marriage, manners, morality, class, education, love, courtship, self-knowledge, etc. Oh yea, and those two other ones. What were they called? I want to say pride and prejudice, but I'm just not sure...
List of adaptations - Too many to list on my own so here are some helpful links:
Themes and motifs - Marriage, manners, morality, class, education, love, courtship, self-knowledge, etc. Oh yea, and those two other ones. What were they called? I want to say pride and prejudice, but I'm just not sure...
List of adaptations - Too many to list on my own so here are some helpful links:
Fun things - Character relationships map, family trees, and a map where novel occurs (black dots).
Majority of information from the novel itself (included in the bibliography) and some extra info from public resources such as wikipedia, sparknotes, and pemberley.com. Oh, and also some if it is just knowledge I retained from studying it in various classes.
-Danny
