The marvelous mutations of Pride & Prejudice

If you missed my chat last night on figment.com with E. Lockhart and Elizabeth Eulberg, here are some highlights. Good fun! Love those sassy dames.

Also, here's a reprint of a guest blog I did for figment.com on Austen.

 

I first read Pride and Prejudice in high school for unassigned pleasure. I can’t remember who recommended it to me. Everyone, I guess. I loved it. I’d never read a romance before, and I lapped it up. Mr. Darcy was perfect! Elizabeth was perfect! The long ago–far away, the longing and finding—perfection! I immediately sought out the rest of Austen’s novels and ate them up too.

At 19, I went on a study abroad to Mexico. Saturated with Spanish, far from home, I found a worn copy of Pride and Prejudice in the school’s small English-language library. I didn’t mean to read it. I was supposed to be immersing myself in a new language. But I opened the first page and that was all it took. I was in England again and falling most dangerously in love with Mr. Darcy. I turned pages, hungry, as if I had no idea what would happen next. It was as fresh to me as it had been at first.

At age 23, I read Pride and Prejudice for at least the third time. But wait . . . it was no longer a romance. How on earth could a book simply change genre? Now it was social commentary, feminist and raw and heady and fascinating. The slavery of women! The bindings of social custom! I wrote a seething essay for a college course—well supported from the text, I thought—on how Austen is mistaken for a romantic when really she was a biting satirist.

At 27, I read Pride and Prejudice again. I was married, my master’s degree finished, and working on novels of my own. And the book changed genre on me yet again. It was a comedy now! How had I never noticed? It was a laugh-out-loud romp with the most fun dialogue and deliciously askew narrator. Simply brilliant.

Many people ask me, why do you think Jane Austen is so enduring? Simple answer: she writes books people want to reread. Books mean different things to different people at different times. It’s impossible to generalize why so many people love her. All I know is, her books are just plain good. She’s a marvelous writer. Her characters are unique and relatable, her voice is funny and sharp, her observances are intelligent and worth examining, her dialogue is rich and believable. Heck, the dame can write a sentence. A book written with that much skill and depth doesn’t age. So many of the classics are historically dependent—a reader needs to decode language or understand complicated historical contexts in order to fully appreciate why the book was (and/or continues to be) important. Austen is only human dependent. Her characters could live then, now, or anyhow. Her stories feel vibrant and alive. They grow with you.

I can’t wait to see what genre Pride and Prejudice becomes next.

Comments

[Happy Mom]

What a fun post. I'm going to have to go read it again (for the I-don't-know-how-manyieth time).

Your books, especially Princess Academy fit your description so well. They are books that I want to read again and again (and have to myself and multiple daughters). They are generally timeless, could be from any age and time. The dialogue is rich and believable. I simply adore your voice. I think I could pick up thousands of books without their covers and find yours amongst them, simply by reading a page or two of your prose.

To sum up, I'm a die-hard fan. If it's written by Shannon Hale, it must be read! Thank you for that.

[Aimee]

That's wonderful! I once wrote a paper for a children's literature course I took at the local community college post-college, just for kicks, about the changing experience of the Anne of Green Gable series as a young girl grows up. I meant to write 8 pages and ended up with 22.

Your article is fascinating to me and now I want to reread P&P again!

[Jo Seable- Schaffer]

I was swept away by Austen as a young girl. And I went on a Study abroad program to England as a college student--totally basking in the experience "under the influence". I have truly enjoyed your Austeny forays. Good stuff.

[Alexandra]

Pfft, forget Mr. Darcy! I've got Mr. Knightley on the brain...
Anyways, I find it funny that even though my parents are the ones that got me hooked on reading, neither of them have read much of the classics outside of their high school experience. And then there's me, their 16-year old daughter who reads a variety of them for fun. I love reading your posts on classics. It lets me know I'm not alone out here!

[Angie]

I read it last year at 36 and the genre changed yet again! Suddenly Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy are expert zombie killers and keeping England safe from attack. How romantic!! ;)

[Kate Hamberlin]

I love Jane Austen. I can't seem to get enough of the reading or the watching of recreations of her books! Most specifically Pride and Prejudice. There is something so captivating to me, of the lead man wanting to do ALL he can for the leading lady. Don't we all want someone to love us so completely that they would do anything to win our affection? Do I do all I can to procure the affections of my leading man? That is something I am working toward. My man loves me because he doesn't mind if I lay in bed until all hours of the night reading when I can't put it down. Thank you for creating books that keep me "up all night" reading! :)

[Dr. Sallie N. Cheinsteen]

I watched half of Pride and Prejudice tonight. I've seen it so many times, I can quote many sections by heart. I love Austen, for the many reasons that you described, I just hadn't thought of it so eloquently. Read Midnight in Austenland last week! It kept me up well into the night, and I couldn't put it down! Absolutely stunning work, and I'm so thrilled that I got to read it!

[Helene]

Ha, I read Pride and Prejudice for this first time in August, with no idea what to expect. Hilarious was the last thing I thought it would be, but laugh-out-loud funny it was. And it was sweet, too, and now I not only have to find her other books, I need to read Austenland, too! But it's never in my bookstore :(

[Bridget]

I actually don't have anything to say about Austen right now, but it's ironic, your blog post, because I came here just to have someone to talk to about my re-reading of Princess Academy. I first read it at 25, when it first came out, and of course I liked it a lot. But now here I am, re-reading it at 31. And tears are rolling down my face as I read of Miri's hopeless initial run from the bandits, of the girls' fear and despair, of little Gerti clinging to her father's leg.

I don't even understand what's happening to me. I'll pretend it's hormonal.

[Isobel]

It's really fascinating how Austen's words changed for you over the years (or, you changed for them). I have a question that's pretending to be related to the topic: do you find your tastes in what you write change over time? For example, you suddenly find yourself drawn to writing sci-fi and not so much to the murder mysteries you used to write. I'm not just talking about hopping from one subject or genre to another, but moving on altogether from a particular interest. Have you experienced that?

[Z Parks]

@ Bridget--I blame everything on hormones! But blaming the attachment to Shannon's books on hormones? Blasphemy! Nope, Shannon, you write good stuff.

[Ian Miller]

Beautifully put - reminds me of another lovely bit of analysis of Austen by Roger Gard - good classics contain within them all the context you need to know. You don't need to read The Mysteries of Udolpho to understand Northanger Abbey - everything you need to know about Udolpho is given you in Northanger. Similarly with the conventions and mores and values in all her books - they are human dependent, and therefore timeless.

[Tonia]

I am in the comedy stage myself as well. It also started as a pure romance to me. I also love how sense and sensibility has changed in the sense of how I identify with the characters. My favorite character at first was MaryAnne, I felt like she was the girl I wanted to be. Now I identify with....oh, my brain is going, the oldest. Especially with five daughters who will one day be teenagers!! Oh, the fun and the dread!

[Christy Grigg]

What a fabulous post! I love how you explore the ways Pride and Prejudice has changed for you over the years. How true that is! I think it's time to go pull out my Jane Austen collection again and see how they've changed for me this year. :)

You're the best Shannon. I love it that you post regularly, even with all you've got going on in life.