So, I recently read Pride and Prejudice at the behest of my girlfriend (it's her favorite book) and I just could not get into it. I don't know if it was the Regency-era prose or what, but I could not get into a flow of reading it - some books I'll effortlessly ingest 100+ pages at a time, but nothing like that happened with P&P. It always felt like a struggle. I enjoyed some of the characters - Mrs. Bennet is ridiculous, and Mr. Collins is one of the funniest characters I've encountered in fiction, but overall I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone.
Now, I know that many critics and authors I admire consider P&P to be one of the finest English-language novels ever written, so I have to ask: what am I missing?
One of the things I love about Austen, her wit and great storytelling aside, is her insights into the regency society of the time.
With Austen, for a modern reader, there's a lot to appreciate. Her books give a perspective on what life was like as a member of a class (females) in a society which terribly oppressive for them. What would it be like to be a very intelligent, well-read person who is not allowed to hold a job at a professional or managerial level, not allowed to get a college education, not allowed (generally speaking) to travel freely or own property without restrictions. In many respects, this world is as alien to us as anything found in scifi or fantasy and is therefore a fascinating and horrifying view.
Austen will give you this perspective. If you pay attention closely, you can also learn quite a bit about the ground level view of the English class system in the regency period and how it worked for people on varying social strata. Her novel, Emma, is particularly good at this.
Even the focus on courtship and marriage, which many people will find completely frivolous, has an interesting message. I can't find the exact quote so this is from memory, Austen once remarked that her focus on marriage was because the marriage proposal was the one free choice (in terms of refusal) women were allowed to have. And considering the social and legal power the husband would have over the wife, the woman's choice becomes the thing which will determine the course of her life. From this point of view, there's no wonder why marriage is presented as such an overwhelmingly important event.
Now, I know that many critics and authors I admire consider P&P to be one of the finest English-language novels ever written, so I have to ask: what am I missing?