Jams Austen (1775-1817) Jane Austen has been regarded by critics as the moot perfect artist in English fiction. George Saintsbury compared her to Shakespeare whose detachment and elusiveness she certainly shares. She was a truly great novelist of manners among the country gentry. Born in the family of a rector of Steventon in Hampshire, Jane Austen had her early education in Oxford and Reading. She started writing early in life. Between 1792 and 1798 she completed her first four novels, Lady Susan, First Impressions (later entitled Pride and Prejudice), Elinor and Marianne (later called Sense and Sensibility) and Northanger Abbey. Later she produced three more novels: Mansfield Park, Emma and Persuasion. She contracted tuberculosis and died tragically early at the age of 41. Although not recognized in her time, her popularity has increased, rather than faded, with the passing of years, which will be evident from the remark of F.R. Leavis: "Jane Austen inaugurated the great tradition of fiction." Pride and Prejudice was Jane Austen’s first novel. She started writing it in 1797 under the title First Impressions. Later she revised it and it was published in 1813 under the title Pride and Prejudice. It is a novel mainly concerned with the problems of marriage. Four pairs, "Elizabeth and Darcy, Jane and Bingley, Charlotte and Collins, Lydia and Wickham are married on different considerations. The main 3tory concerns the first pair who are first separated because of their pride and prejudice and later reconciled and united as their misunderstandings are removed. This novel has been accepted as the masterpiece of the novelist having a superbly balanced plot-construction and a well-defined character development. Jane Austen here succeeded in wedding realism to a lively dialogue and evolved a witty narrative style to express in the most vital manner the story of a young girl and her love.

Table of Contents:
1. Life and Works of Jane Austen 2. Characters and Places 3. A Brief Synopsis of the Novel 4. A Critical Analysis of the Novel 5. The Title of the Novel: Its Significance 6. Pride and Prejudice: A Novel of Manners 7. Treatment of the Theme of Money and Marriage 8. Irony and Humour in Pride and Prejudice 9. The Plot-Structure 10. Narrative Technique 11. Art of Characterization 12. Character-Sketches Major Characters Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy Mr Charles Bingley Elizabeth Bennet Jane Bennet Minor Characters Mr Bennet Mr Collins Mr Wickham Mr Gardiner Mrs Bennet Miss Caroline Bingley Charlotte Lucas Lady Catherine de Bourgh Lydia Bennet Mary Bennet Catherine Bennet (Kitty) 13. Jane Austen’s Moralistic Outlook 14. Jane Austen’s Style 15. Significance of the Opening Chapter of Pride and Prejudice 16. The Narrow World of Jane Austen 17. A Summing-up 18. Critical Reception of the Novel Some Important Questions A Select Bibliography A Brief Glossary Index