Pride and Prejudice : Illustrated Classics
About The Book
"Pride and Prejudice traces the life of the Bennet sisters in the Victorian times. It addresses ideas of morality, social standing of women, class divide and its idiosyncrasies through the experiences of Elizabeth Bennet, the second daughter of Mr and Mrs Bennet. All is calm and quiet in Longbourne until the summer when the mild-mannered Mr Bingley and his uptight friend Mr Darcy rent the nearby estate of Netherfield Park. Mr Bingley falls instantly for the shy, sensitive Jane, the eldest of the five Bennet girls, but sparks fly when Elizabeth and Mr Darcy meet. And so enters love, and with it comes turmoil into their young lives. Will Jane and Mr Bingley get together, despite their social differences? Will Elizabeth look beyond her first impressions of Mr Darcy? How will their choices affect their future as well as that of their sisters? This classic novel answers all this as Jane Austen skilfully weaves various themes that were quintessential to the lives of the landed gentry in early 19th century England."
About Jane Austen
| Born on 16 December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, Jane Austen was one of eight children of George Austen, a clergyman, who assisted as the rector of the Anglican parishes. Jane began writing as a teenager. In 1783, along with her sister Cassandra, she was sent to Oxford where she was taught by Mrs Ann Cawley. When the sisters caught typhus, both were sent home and Jane attended boarding school in Reading from early 1785. Since the Austen family couldn't afford the school fees, Jane returned home in 1786. In 1796, Jane began writing First Impressions and completed the first draft in August 1797, (later published as Pride and Prejudice). During this time, her father tried publishing one of his daughter's novels. In her early years, Jane had unrestricted access to her father's library and her father too would provide her expensive stationery to encourage her. In 1797, George Austen wrote to Thomas Cadell, a famous publisher in London, asking if First Impressions could be considered. Meanwhile, during mid-1798, Jane began working on Susan (later published as Northanger Abbey). Again, the manuscript was offered to a London publisher who paid 10 pounds for the copyright. The book remained unpublished for a long time and eventually, Jane had to repurchase the copyright from the publisher in 1816. Northanger Abbey was published posthumously in 1818. In 1816, Jane's health deteriorated due to Addison's disease, and she went to Winchester for treatment. She died there on 18 July 1817. As a writer, Jane achieved critical acclaim only after her death. Her body of works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. In 1833, her works were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series, and illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering. These became immensely popular and almost 52 years after her death, in 1869, her nephew published A Memoir of Jane Austen, reintroducing the writer to her readers. |
