Pride and Prejudice fever seems to be in the air. I guess it's that new Keira Knightley movie that's got everyone excited. A few days ago Georg gave me a link to an interesting essay on common Pride and Prejudice myths. I had heard most of the myths before, and identified them as such, but it was still interesting to read it all collected so well. And then the next day I heard a radio talk show about the book, in which most of the misconceptions in the essay were repeated! I did enjoy the program very much. But it was still kind of depressing to hear not just the callers but the scholars stating matter-of-factly that Elizabeth Bennet was a rebel, she reformed Mr. Darcy, etc.
The radio show also trotted out a myth that I've heard many times but wasn't mentioned in the web essay: that Elizabeth was a great reader. "She's seen reading many times," said one of the scholars, and I must say I'm dismayed to hear a self-proclaimed Austen expert say something so totally unsupported by the text.
Aside from correspondence, Lizzie is shown reading exactly one time: one evening while she is at Netherfield, during Jane's illness. She joins the party after dinner, finds them playing cards and decides that the stakes are too high for her, so she will read instead. Mr. Bingley offers her full access to his library, but she declines, saying that the few books lying on a table nearby will suffice. Miss Bingley sneeringly calls her a great reader who takes no pleasure in anything else, and Lizzie replies that she is not a great reader, and takes pleasure in many things. The party begins to talk about other things and Lizzie finds their conversation so fascinating that she can't concentrate on her book, soon putting it aside to stand by the card table and listen in. When they stop talking, she leaves the room.
Hardly a depiction of a devoted reader. I'm inclined to take Lizzie's word for it that she is not a great reader; instead her hobbies seem to be needlework and especially walking, both of which are mentioned many times. Other Austen heroines (Anne Eliot and Marianne Dashwood for example) are convincingly portrayed as avid readers, but I think Lizzie is more like Emma Woodhouse: lively, intelligent, and reasonably well educated, but not devoted to books.
Why do so many people assume that Lizzie is a great reader? My theory is that the devoted fans of Pride and Prejudice tend to be women who themselves love reading, and who identify to some degree with Lizzie. Lizzie is intelligent and witty, and therefore she must be well-read. Also I think the scholar on the radio's comment that Lizzie is "seen reading many times" was telling. Lizzie is often seen reading -- in the movies. I just rewatched the Jennifer Ehle movie and she's reading all the time. I guess that must have influenced the way people think of the original story.
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