Pride and Prejudice 1918 Novel By Jane Austen Free PDF eBook









An excerpt from the preface by William Dean Howells.









Unless daily sacrifice this side of martyrdom is a fault there is nothing to blame n the story of Jane Austen's life. Out other idols, literary idols, need veils in their temples where we like them to hide certain traits from us while we worship them, or at best receive from us piety mixed with our pity; we cannot help knowing they were poor things, though divine. If our human frailties, our vices, our foibles, have a consecration in them it does not keep us from being ashamed, or at best, sony for them.In the most traditional readings of the novel, Mr. Darcy is seen as "pride," and Elizabeth Bennet, as "prejudice." The plot of the novel kicks into action when Mr. Darcy is too proud to ask Elizabeth to dance. Elizabeth overhears him saying that she is not pretty enough to tempt him.