Pride and Prejudice

There is no doubt that the heroine of the novel Pride and Prejudice, Lizzie, is Jane Austen (1775–1817) herself. Although she lived a typically conflict-free life (she never married and is said to have rejected her only marriage proposal within an hour), her work does not reflect any fateful bitterness. It seems that from her position as a daughter without a dowry, and therefore a girl without any special chances of a better marriage, she was rather immensely amused – like someone watching an entertaining comedy at the theatre. By adding an ironic subtext, she moved novel writing several generations forward from the spheres of naive realism. More than a century and a half is a period that has managed to absorb hundreds of literary works that were prophesied to be immortal at their birth; and these were works with far more impressive and exciting themes than Pride and Prejudice. The subtle charm of Jane Austen has its constant, grateful circle of readers, and each new generation discovers the author's legacy in its own way, in new shades of colour and in a new lustre.