Pride & Prejudice: Part 1

These Books Made Me

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This episode we are taking a leisurely stroll through the gentle hills of Hertfordshire and the genteel romances of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. We're talking classics, love-hate relationships, £5,000 bachelors, loveless marriages, Mr. Bennet's zingers, and the cost of living index in Regency period England. Our most subplot-laden book yet produces our most complicated plot summary and we marvel at how Jane Austen kept all of these threads together without major editorial help. We have so much to say about Lizzie and Darcy and this very important book that we are breaking this episode into two parts. Just as you can love both Colin Firth and Matthew MacFayden's Mr. Darcy, so too can you love episodes 1 and 2 of our very chatty dance with Pride and Prejudice.
These Books Made Me is a podcast about the literary heroines who shaped us and is a product of the Prince George's County Memorial Library System podcast network. Stay in touch with us via Twitter @PGCMLS with #TheseBooksMadeMe or by email at [e-mail]. For recommended readalikes and deep dives into topics related to each episode, visit out blog at https://pgcmls.medium.com/.
We cover a lot of ground in this episode. If you'd like to learn more about some of the topics we touch on, here's some links you might enjoy:
The crunchiest economic explanation of money in Pride and Prejudice we could find! https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/
The complicated Cassandra Austen: https://lithub.com/cassandra-austen-literary-arsonist-or-a-heroine-in-her-own-right/

Chapters

1. Pride & Prejudice: Part 1 (00:00:00)

2. Intro (00:00:08)

3. Special guest (00:00:47)

4. What did this book mean to you? (00:01:13)

5. Plot summary (00:05:12)

6. Author bio (00:10:26)

7. Discussion start/how did it hold up? (00:12:59)

8. Class structure (00:13:41)

9. Domestic life and the everyday (00:14:21)

10. Enduring relevance of themes (00:15:27)

11. Holds up but essentially erases lower classes from the narrative (00:16:09)

12. Little [positive] representation of anyone outside gentlemen and women (00:18:22)

13. Agency and romance (00:20:55)

14. Mr. Bennet's acerbic wit (00:21:51)

15. Wickham, Mr. Collins, and Mr. Bennett's headspace (00:22:45)

16. Mr. Bennet's attitude towards his daughters (00:26:18)

17. Mr Bennett: Deadpan Snarker (00:29:26)

18. Charlotte: Practical, unsung heroine (00:30:48)

19. Elizabeth's shortcomings, privilege, and romantic nature (00:33:07)

20. The Bennetts and their unhappy marriage (00:39:45)

21. Mr. Collins proposes to Lizzie (00:40:05)

22. Money of the tim (00:41:59)

23. Mr. Darcy's extreme wealth (00:44:23)

24. Lizzie and Mr. Darcy (00:48:50)

25. Darcy's letter to Lizzie (00:52:48)

26. Lizzie reflecting on her prejudice (00:57:49)

27. Caroline Bingley (00:59:23)