Pride and Prejudice: a classic that will be hard to reread as an adult, simply because we know too much

Pride and Prejudice: a classic that will be hard to reread as an adult, simply because we know too much
Synopsis: The Bennet family has five daughters, the most intelligent being the second daughter, Elizabeth. At a ball, the arrogant aristocrat Darcy and Elizabeth meet, but because of Darcy's arrogance Elizabeth develops a prejudice against Darcy as well. In the course of their subsequent encounters, the arrogant one gradually ceases to be arrogant, and the prejudiced one sets aside his prejudices.
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I have decided to write Pride and Prejudice without reading it again.
In fact, I wrote the previous ones without reading them again. But after all, this time it was Pride and Prejudice, and it had been almost twenty years since I had last read it.
In the large bookcase downstairs, the maroon three-door bookcase my mother bought ten years ago to support my writing, there are three editions of this book: a popular literature book, an old Shanghai translation with original English illustrations, and a Chinese-English book for learning English. The Chinese-English book, I was thinking how easy it would be to read the original text so I could see what Jane Austen's most original sentences felt like. But I never finished that book.
Pride and Prejudice I find myself not having read since I was an adult, even though I once loved it so much and struggled to decide which was better, it or Jane Eyre. Although I reread Roots and The Thorn Birds and Journey to the West every few years, I really found with this book that it lost its magic in my adult life.
What was the reason for this?
It has become a truth that all rich bachelors want to marry a wife.
Anyone who has read Pride and Prejudice will instantly recognise this as the first sentence of the book. It has been selected as one of the most famous openings in the world's classic novels, along with Kafka's The Metamorphosis, Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude and Herman Melville's Moby Dick. It gets right to the point and gets you 'in the mood' very quickly, sending the reader two clear messages: 1) this is a marriage novel and 2) it's playful.
Sure enough, the story unfolds in this light-hearted + enjoyable manner. Mr. Bennet has five daughters in his family, the eldest Jane is the prettiest, the second Elisabeth is the smartest, the third Manly is like an old nun, the fourth Kitty is silly, and the fifth Lydia is a crazy girl. These daughters would have been enough for a good show, but their mother is a Mrs Bennet who has made it her life's work to marry her daughters. And so the story unfolds as if it were a living drama. Mrs Bennet asks Mr Bennet to visit Mr Bingley, a rich bachelor who has moved to the neighbourhood, for the sake of his daughters' future. Mr Bennet originally refuses, but two days later says he has already been there. Then, at a ball hosted by Bingley, our Elizabeth met up with Darcy for the first time. Although it is Bingley and Jane who are the focus at this ball, we also soon discover that the real hero of the story, the one with the tendency towards perspective, is none other than Elizabeth, the second daughter, and in her eyes we see the arrogant Mr Darcy. Bingley asks Darcy what he thinks of the beauty at this ball. Darcy replies that the most beautiful one (Jane) has already given Bingley a partner, and that the second daughter is not yet beautiful enough to impress him.
It is this slice of life that immediately establishes the two opposites of the hero and heroine. This is the very antagonism and symbiosis of Pride and Prejudice. I think this approach is simple, ingratiating and purposeful, but in novels nowadays, I don't know when this kind of over-dramatic design has been seen as too commonplace, i.e. "less advanced writing", and is used less often. If this novel had been born in China, especially after the year 2000, I doubt very much that it would still be famous.
Then Elizabeth, our lovely Lizzy, got into a fight with Mr. Darcy, and I remember the following exchanges between them that followed.

1. Sir William took Lizzy by the hand at one of the balls and formally introduced her to Darcy. Darcy wanted to dance with Lizzy but Lizzy refused.
2. Jane goes to Bingley's house as a guest but becomes ill. Lizzy walks a few miles to visit Bingley at his home. Darcy likes the flush on Elizabeth's face after her workout but thinks she is getting her dress dirty.
3. An intruder, Weyhan, says that Darcy had prevented him from getting ahead, making Lizzy hate Darcy.
4. Lizzy's cousin Collins makes a fool of himself at the ball, which is a disaster because "the family seems to be working together to make a fool of themselves", making Lizzy feel the crudity of her family and think Darcy will look down on her, which she does.
   ......
   See, that's just the encounter before Darcy even proposes. And later, after Darcy's courtship is rejected, the two go through a succession of confrontations between Lizzy and Darcy's arrogant aunt, the fifth Lydia runs away with Weyhan, Darcy finances the marriage of those two to save his dignity, Lizzy meets Darcy by chance at Darcy's estate and is received warmly, and Darcy's aunt goes to Lizzy and tells her to never refuse Darcy's love ......
   What a hilarious play, what a tight and dramatic plot, so much fun to write about everyday life, weddings and funerals, and family affairs. I wondered if I've had this similar experience in other novels ......
   In fact I'm looking at the opposite shelf right now, from left to right, top to bottom and I'm looking for it.
   Let's start with foreign literature.
   Wuthering Heights? Not the life of most of us.
   The Count of Monte Cristo? The characters are too cartoonish, legendary and a bit distorted.
   Les Misérables? Great novel, but the life part is diluted by the legendary nature of its characters and Hugo's big exposition.
   Anna Karenina? Each character has a soul searching part above his or her own, but the average person in life is not that deep.
   And then there's Chinese literature.
   The Siege? Thank goodness I finally found a copy.
   The Cause of Laughter? The writing style is clichéd, the number of characters and their distinctness insufficient.
   Under the Red Flag? But unfinished.
   Furong Town? The lifelike touches are subtle enough, but the heroine is a bit of a fake.
   ......
   Okay, I'll admit it.
   So it seems that a novel that is written about life to the extent that Pride and Prejudice is written is not really easy.
   Take a look at a few of the reasons why it has become a classic.
5. Great book title
   "Pride and Prejudice" Pride and Prejudice, good to read, good to remember. The combination of the two P letters makes it fluent to read and lowers the threshold for it to circulate around the world.
6. The characters, of course
   I don't know if men like Elizabeth, but the women love Mr Darcy. Handsome, wealthy, elegant, of noble birth, introverted but surging like a volcano when he is. Women who can read are intelligent, and intelligent women want to meet the perfect lover, Darcy, just like the intelligent Lizzy.
7. The dazzling secondary characters
   The silly and noisy Mrs Bennet, the facetious and clever Mr Bennet, the groveling and practical Collins, the loverly and lying Weyhan, the flirtatious and brainless Lydia, the ordinary-looking and talented Manly, the jealous Miss Bingley, the arrogant and bullying Catherine ...... These secondary characters make few appearances in the book but all shine brightly and more importantly they are still visible and comparable in today's society.
8. The ideal state of upper-class life, the gentleman and the lady, is portrayed
   The interaction between the gentleman and the lady is fascinating. Elegant, rich, full of rituals and waiting at every turn. They spent their days waiting for guests to visit, waiting to see who was going to throw a ball, and their money seemed to be spent on romantic socialising, which required good clothes, good jewellery and a carriage to transport them - it was a model for the life of the Western upper class. In the years I have been in society, I have seen many people constantly striving for this westernised life because they aspire to it, and it is evident how far it has gone.
   As I write this, I have also finally found out why I have not read Pride and Prejudice once more in my adult life. I found that the most important reason is that the novel lacks white space, the kind of text that allows you to stop and think about it without having to follow it all the way through. There never seems to be a single passage in Pride and Prejudice that is like this. Austen is all straightforward in telling us. For example, she wants us to know Elizabeth's heart, and she will say that Lizzy is equally looking forward to meeting Charlotte and to talking to her about what happened at the ball. For example, when she writes about Elizabeth's visit to Darcy Manor she will write that Elizabeth thought, if I had said yes when he asked me to marry him some time ago, then the manor would be mine now. The story is wonderful, but the rest of the story is just short.
   Secondly, and most importantly, I found the work to be 'false'. No, the work is sincere, and by false I mean the 'truths' that we are told as adults with more experience. I have laughed at Collins' philistinism, I have hated Weyhan's hypocrisy and Charlotte's stoicism. But I changed my mind when I came of age, interviewed myself for a book, worked in the film industry and wrote for a few years. Collins was trying to survive. Weyhan, who just wanted to leapfrog his humble origins, was always looking for shortcuts. And then there's Charlotte, whose difficulties Elizabeth doesn't understand. Instead of being an old girl being raised by her mother's family in a male-dominated society it is better to lower your mental expectations and marry an honest man. This is also a wisdom of life.
   Elizabeth and Darcy, although the disparity in status and possessions between them is repeatedly emphasised in the novel, they are still on the same level in general. Elizabeth once says to Darcy's aunt, "Your nephew is a gentleman, and I am a gentleman's daughter. The implication was that they were a good match. Imagine how much charm Darcy would have left if he did not have such status and wealth without such birth, even if his looks were handsome and his manners were charming.
   I believe Austen wrote this book with a lightness, humour, positivity and a little thoughtfulness. Nor was she in any way intentionally trying to make people look up to her in the first place. It is only as we learn more about the truth of life that we can gain a deeper understanding of the hopelessness and sadness behind the surface drama.
   The scene where Colin Firth's Darcy returns from a swim in the lake and has a chance encounter with Elizabeth is beautiful. This version is in my opinion more faithful to the original than any of the others. The new version we know from the 2005 film is too beautiful for Elizabeth, not handsome enough for Darcy, and the film that many have been enthused about, Becoming Jane Austen, is a good one to see.