For this reason many entries refer the reader to other pages where more complete information about a topic exists. This, however, is not practical for definitions of words, so definitions of the same word are repeated at each appropriate point, except in cases when such definitions are extremely close together.

Acknowledgments

I would first like to thank my mother and my sister and brother-in-law, Mara and Steven Elliott, whose many kind offices have proved invaluable in the preparation of the manuscript and the completion of this project.

I would also like to thank the citizens of the Republic of Pemberley, who formed one of the inspirations for my decision to embark on the project in the first place, and whose questions and discussions concerning Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice have stimulated my thinking and helped direct me to issues and points in the novel that deserve explanation or commentary.

Finally, I would like to thank the staff of the Bethlehem Public Library and the New York State Library, who have helped me procure many of the materials essential for my research.

Introduction

Pride and Prejudice has always held a special place among Jane Austen's novels. She herself called it “my own darling child” an endearment that goes beyond what she said about any of her other works. It is the work that attained the greatest popularity in her own day, that became known as the quintessential Jane Austen novel as her reputation grew, and that is still her most widely-read book.

Its roots lie in the writings of Jane Austen's youth. She was born on December 16, 1775 in the English county of Hampshire, just west of London. Her father, George Austen, was a clergyman, and her mother, Cassandra Leigh Austen, came from a family of landed gentry and clergy. Jane was the seventh of eight children, six of whom were boys. The family was one that valued education highly and loved books, and that always encouraged Jane Austen's own literary efforts, which commenced at thirteen with short, highly comical sketches. As she matured she wrote longer fictional pieces, including unfinished fragments of novels, that reveal her interest in human character. In 1795, at the age of 19, she wrote her first complete novel, Elinor and Marianne (the later Sense and Sensibility). This was followed in 1796-97 by First Impressions (the first version of Pride and Prejudice): it pleased her and her family enough that they sent it to a publisher; he, however, rejected it. No copy of First Impressions exists, so it is impossible to know its exact character, but the generally light-hearted spirit of Pride and Prejudice suggests that First Impressions bore strong traces of the playfulness and high comedy of her early writings. Such elements are certainly prominent in her next writing, Susan (the later Northanger Abbey), composed in 1798-99.

It would be a number of years, however, before these initial efforts bore fruit in actual published works, including Pride and Prejudice. In 1800 Jane Austen experienced a major disruption in her life when her father retired from his clerical position and moved to the city of Bath. This introduced a less settled period in Jane Austen's life, one that included her father's death in 1805 and further changes of abode and that saw her write less. It was also a period when she turned down her one known offer of marriage; there are hints of other possible lovers in her earlier life, as well as evidence in her letters of interest in men, but nothing that ever led to any serious entanglements. Eventually, in 1809 she, her mother, and her sister moved into a house, owned by her brother Edward, in the small Hampshire town of Chawton. The quiet of her new circumstances allowed Jane Austen to return to her writing with renewed vigor. Her first effort was Sense and Sensibility, crafted from the earlier Elinor and Marianne; it was finished in 1810 and published in the latter part of 1811. She then turned to First Impressions, and during 1811-1812 transformed it into Pride and Prejudice.

The novel appeared in early 1813 and soon attracted a wide audience, becoming one of the literary sensations of the year. Jane Austen was gratified by this reception, as she was also by the money she earned from the novel, which gave her far more personal wealth than she had ever known. The book earned her the notice of some of the leading literary figures of the day, but she showed little interest in this reward, shying away from publicity and remaining aloof from any literary circles. Instead she devoted her energies to further writings, and in 1814 and 1815 she published Mansfield Park and Emma, both of which attained a degree of success but not that of Pride and Prejudice. Work on another novel, Persuasion, began, but unfortunately in 1816 she became increasingly ill. Although able to finish Persuasion later that year, and even to begin work on a new novel, Sanditon, her worsening physical condition forced her to abandon all her efforts during the spring of 1817. Some researchers have diagnosed her ailment as what is now called Addison's Disease, though this is not certain. On July 18,1817, Jane Austen died. Shortly afterwards Persuasion was published, accompanied by an unpublished earlier novel, Northanger Abbey. Her reputation grew slowly after her death, and during the second half of the nineteenth century she attained, both among critics and the general public, the status of one of the great English novelists, a status she has maintained ever since.

Pride and Prejudice, like the rest of Jane Austen's writings, has its roots in the novels of the eighteenth century, a time when the novel first emerged as a major literary genre. One of the distinguishing features of this new genre, pointed out by many commentators of the time, was its relative realism: in contrast to the exotic and often fantastical romances of earlier periods, its stories were generally set in the current world, with characters such as one might encounter in daily life and incidents that might happen to ordinary people.