The Oxford Paragraphs: Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice

Books One of the benefits of finally reading a book of which I’ve seen numerous screen versions is in increasing my understanding of the art of the adaptation which in Austen’s case requires much more than transcribing quotes and turning prose into stage directions. Although there is some conversation, most of the action in Pride and Prejudice occurs in reported speech leading to much invented dialogue, the screenwriter also having to make sense of rapid scene changes, days often passing in a matter of words. It’s a charming book, rightly loved, but a slow read. The writer often pastiches other contemporary novelistic styles making some sections oddly incomprehensible to my untrained eyes, which are also replaying versions of scenes from those adaptations and forever comparing them to their literary origin.  My favourite character after Lizzy is still her father, an inspiring symbol of tolerance searching for peace within the domestic chaos of his surroundings.