The Great Jane Re-Read: Pride and Prejudice

(Other links in this series: Sense and Sensibility; Northanger Abbey)

I've written about Pride and Prejudice here and here.

And people, there is ONLY ONE P&P movie. ONLY ONE.

(If you want some video, click the second link above).

There is no other version. The Keira Knightley version does not exist in my world. Jennifer Ehle is Elizabeth, and Colin Firth is Darcy, and that is all.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about the book!

• P&P is, without a doubt, the Jane novel I've re-read the most. I used Mansfield Park (which is next!) a lot, obviously, when I was writing my thesis, but P&P has been read, straight through, the most. It's also, coincidentally, one of Jane's shorter novels. It's shorter than Sense and Sensibility,  and it's only 40 pages longer than Persuasion, so P&P is the second-shortest of her novels.
• The action gets started right away, which is another reason I think it's shorter. It's concentrated, in a way. Bingley is introduced on the very first page--the narrative and characters are set, and we're off.

• It's so hard to read the parts of this novel where Elizabeth believes Wickham (does anyone else feel this way?). After you've read it a few times you just want to yell, "RUN AWAY!" The first time you read it, of course, it's a sucker punch when Darcy's letter reveals him about halfway through the novel, and you cannot believe it.
• I love the scenes of Darcy and Elizabeth at Rosings. It's just so obvious that they are more alike than they think.

• 

• I wish we still wrote letters to people. Email is faster, no doubt, but the handwritten quality of letters is so delightful.
• Georgiana Darcy is fun, isn't she? At least I think she's fun. I would love to know more about her, and I wish Lizzie had gotten to spend more time with her. Since this novel is so streamlined, we don't get the insight into the secondary characters that we do in some of the others.
• Whenever I read about Darcy's library, I want to know what's in it. What do you think Darcy would like to read?
• Jane told her family the fates of the other characters--both Kitty and Mary end up married, but I wonder what their husbands were like.

• 

• And: Did Mr. Collins ever inherit Longbourn? Or did Mr. Bennet outlast him? (Probably not, but I can see how that would've mae Mrs. Bennet happy.)

Share your thoughts about P&P in the combox!

'To be very accomplished': Learning to draw

'It is amazing to me,' said Bingley, 'how young ladies can have the patience to be so very accomplished, as they all are.'

--Pride and Prejudice

I often joke that I was born in the wrong century. Not medically--in any other century I'd be dead--but socially. A lot of my skills are in the old-school definition of 'accomplishment', as Bingley talks about in Pride and Prejudice (and which we will be talking about on Thursday in the Jane Re-Read!). I can cook, knit, sew (cross-stitch and mend), play the piano, sing, etc.

'A woman must have a thorough knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, and the modern languages, to deserve the word; and besides all this, she must possess a certain something in her air and manner of walking, the tone of her voice, her address and expressions, or the word will be but half deserved.'

'All this she must posses,' added Darcy, 'and to all this she must yet add something more substantial, in the improvement of her mind by extensive reading.'

--Pride and Prejudice

I certainly have the extensive reading down, but I've never been able to draw. Really. My brother could do it, and my grandfather, but not me. Art class in school was never a subject at which I excelled. As I got older, I thought I'd never be able to learn it.

But then Melissa turned me on to Sketchbook Skool. This is an online art school, taught by professional artists and teachers. It's video-based, and each class lasts six weeks. I enrolled in "beginnings," and I'm in my last week of the course.   I have definitely learned to draw!

(I don't know why the second one is wonky...sorry guys!)

Anyway, yes, I am really happy with the progress I'm making. The classes have been so informative and I love the teachers. I'm enrolling in another class next week, because in 'beginnings' we haven't covered everything. We've done watercolors, pen, pencil, colored pencil, and we've learned a bit about technique, but I really need to work on perspective and depth in my drawings.

There are times when it's really frustrating--don't get me wrong. Some of my drawings are much better than others. But I see something good in every piece I do, so that's definitely a step forward.

SBS is a great example of how the Internet can be awesome. I never would've tried to do this if I hadn't gotten the recommendation from Melissa, and I never would've found these great teachers. I can move through the classes at my own pace, right tin my house. It's not something I have to leave my house to do, which is nice.

Summer is a great time for experimentation and learning new things--are you doing anything this summer like this? Or can you draw much better than I can? :)