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Jane Austen: Pride And Prejudice

I'm planning on reading this book shortly. I find it tops most Top 100 (or whatever) Books lists, so I'm really curious to see what the fuss is about. :)
 
Here's a different take on it, due for release this year:

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers—and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen's classic novel to new legions of fans.
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Gonna have to add to my "to do" list.
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Northanger Abbey might be a better setup.

Henry's mother is a zombie queen, stalking the halls of the Abbey. Henry and his sister are kidnapping naive young ladies from Bath to feed to a zombie horde. Of course, the general is a hero not the villian, he discovers the nefarious plans of his children and banishes Catherine from the Abbey to save her.
 
PipPirrip said:
Northanger Abbey might be a better setup.
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Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Now, that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck's?
Igor: ...No.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won't be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abbey Someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abbey Someone. Abbey who?
Igor: Northanger Abbey Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: ...Northanger Abbey Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA? Is that what you're telling me?
 
beer good said:
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Now, that brain that you gave me. Was it Hans Delbruck's?
Igor: ...No.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Ah! Very good. Would you mind telling me whose brain I DID put in?
Igor: Then you won't be angry?
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: I will NOT be angry.
Igor: Abbey Someone.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Abbey Someone. Abbey who?
Igor: Northanger Abbey Normal.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: ...Northanger Abbey Normal?
Igor: I'm almost sure that was the name.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Are you saying that I put an abnormal brain into a seven and a half foot long, fifty-four inch wide GORILLA? Is that what you're telling me?
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Ah, one of my all time favourite films.
 
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies to be filmed?

Hollywood studios are bidding to turn a radical reworking of Austen’s most popular book, now called Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a parody to be published in April, into a blockbuster movie.

Grahame-Smith hopes that his talent agency, William Morris, will sign a film deal with a studio in the next few weeks.

Other talent agencies are pitching their own slate of monster-lit titles. They include a version of Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, where Catherine, the deceased heroine, returns as a Japanese-style ghost not only to haunt but also to terrorise Heathcliff.

In a reworking of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre , M r Rochester has something more terrible than an insane spouse in his attic, and a version of George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss is powered by human sacrifice.
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"You have created a monster, Doctor! A monster!"
 
So with the prospect of zombie mayhem looming, I figured I should finally pull my thumb out and actually read Pride And Prejudice.

And I'm really glad I did. Despite the book's reputation for being more than just a love story, I wasn't sure what to expect of a 200-year-old romantic comedy. But it pretty much won me over from the first page on; that famous opening line - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" - turns out to be dripping with irony as Austen sets about sending up the social, sexual and class-related norms of her day. Which, occasionally, aren't all that different in nature, if not degree, to ours.

Of course, reading Austen with 200 years' worth of perspective on those issues (and no personal experience of 19th century upper class twits), it's probably easy to read it as more revolutionary than it was intended.
Elizabeth does end up marrying wealth, after all - and doesn't protest when her father says she wants to "look up to [Darcy] as a superior".
The Second Sex it certainly ain't - not even A Doll's House. Still, it makes its points and makes them well - simply by sketching how the world worked and then inserting a female protagonist who asks, perhaps not the world, but at least a say in what part of the world she'll end up with - without ever getting preachy, and with characters so well-described (not in appearance, but in personality) that they still feel real all these years later. As an aside, I can't help thinking that it would be nice to slip this into the hands of people currently claiming to defend the ancient, sacred institution of marriage, too. Somehow I doubt that this is what most of them truly want to go back to.

"My reasons for marrying are, first, that I think it a right thing for every clergyman in easy circumstances (like myself) to set the example of matrimony in his parish; secondly, that I am convinced that it will add very greatly to my happiness; and thirdly--which perhaps I ought to have mentioned earlier, that it is the particular advice and recommendation of the very noble lady whom I have the honour of calling patroness. (...) To fortune I am perfectly indifferent, and shall make no demand of that nature on your father, since I am well aware that it could not be complied with; and that one thousand pounds in the four per cents, which will not be yours till after your mother's decease, is all that you may ever be entitled to. On that head, therefore, I shall be uniformly silent; and you may assure yourself that no ungenerous reproach shall ever pass my lips when we are married."

It was absolutely necessary to interrupt him now.

"You are too hasty, sir," she cried. "You forget that I have made no answer. Let me do it without further loss of time. Accept my thanks for the compliment you are paying me. I am very sensible of the honour of your proposals, but it is impossible for me to do otherwise than to decline them."

"I am not now to learn," replied Mr. Collins, with a formal wave of the hand, "that it is usual with young ladies to reject the addresses of the man whom they secretly mean to accept, when he first applies for their favour; and that sometimes the refusal is repeated a second, or even a third time. I am therefore by no means discouraged by what you have just said, and shall hope to lead you to the altar ere long."
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Romantic fellow, that Collins, isn't he? And bear in mind that this is considered a favourable marriage by just about everyone except Elizabeth herself (and her father, but he's what he is.)

Of course, it's all very obvious how it's going to turn out and apart from one twist that I should probably have seen coming (
Wickham running off with Lydia
) it's not the kind of book you read for the plot. But still, even if the basic story is a bit by-the-numbers, it's beautifully written (though I was glad of the footnotes) and holy crap, the dialogue! Rapid-fire back-and-forths (especially Elizabeth and her father) loaded with barely-hidden sarcasm that just... zings as well as sings. Ah, dry British wit, how happy you make me. Even in a tale as dated as this undoubtedly is - though it's far from irrelevant - both the jokes and the subtly serious points still carry enough truth and venom to sting and tickle. :star4: with lots of plusses after.
 
I've never read the book and only know the latest movie. The zombie adaption however has been preordered quite a while ago. :D
 
beer good said:
...and holy crap, the dialogue! Rapid-fire back-and-forths (especially Elizabeth and her father) loaded with barely-hidden sarcasm that just... zings as well as sings.
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I especially love the dialogue between Lizzy and Darcy when he proposes and is refused, in no uncertain terms, as well as between Lizzy and Lady Catherine DeBurg when the latter visits the former to forbid any union b/w Lizzy and Darcy...just electric! And of course, Mr Collins is a lovable baffoon...whilst his proposal is positively preposterous and giggle inducing, I must say, the dinner scene where he confesses to 'sometimes amus[ing] myself with suggesting and arranging such little elegant compliments as may be adapted to ordinary occasions, I always wish to give them as unstudied an air as possible' gets me every time. Mr Bennets private pleasure in having his expectations met just makes me want to give him a big hug...

Austen rocks...
 
Pride And Prejudice And Zombies.

I'm ever upper-class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
And I always fill my ballroom, the event is never small
The social pages say I've got the biggest balls of all!
- AC/DC, "Big Balls"

Yes, if you didn't get your fill of jokes during teabagging week, fear not; Seth Grahame-Smith is here to save both you and Jane Austen with numerous double entendres about just what excites upper-middle class girls in 19th century England.
"Balls are always a subject which makes a lady energetic."
"It depends on who's throwing them, Mr. Darcy."
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Of course, that's not the most obvious change that Pride And Prejudice has gone through here. While the basic plot, setting, characters and even most of Austen's original text remain the same, Seth Grahame-Smith has tweaked everything a little bit; London now is a walled-off fortress where few people get in or out, violence is part of everyday life, and the Bennet sisters have trained with Shaolin monks to become some of the fiercest warriors in Hertfordshire. Which doesn't exactly help their marriage chances in a country which, despite everything, still expects a wife to submit to her husband and stay at home.
My sisters and I cannot spend any substantial time searching for Wickham, as we are each commanded by His Majesty to defend Hertfordshire from all enemies until such time as we are dead, rendered lame, or married.
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The reason for all of this, obviously, are the titular zombies who have been terrorizing England for the past 50-odd years, and which offer plenty of excuses for inserting action scenes into the story - both from fights against the undead, and from the generally much more violent society that their presence has created. See! Hordes of zombies attack the ball where Elizabeth and Darcy meet for the first time! See! One of Elizabeth's closest friends slowly turn into a zombie! See! Elizabeth Bennet fight off three ninjas blindfolded and eat the last one's still-beating heart before him! See! Certain characters get exactly what's coming to them!
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.
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It's completely insane, of course. But the really insane thing is, it works. Obviously, most of it is played for laughs (though there's enough respect for the source material to keep it from turning into outright parody), but Grahame-Smith actually uses the zombie plot to underline and comment on Austen's themes. In classic horror fashion, the monsters work as an embodiment of the less tangible problems in life, the everyday struggle becomes an actual life-or-death fight. I'll give you three guesses as to how the confrontation between Elizabeth and Lady Catherine plays out. Hint: it involves katanas. Elizabeth fights society's norms and she fights zombies.
Elizabeth lifted her skirt, disregarding modesty, and delivered a swift kick to the creature's head, which exploded in a cloud of brittle skull and bone.
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But mostly, it's just a lot of gory fun. So Grahame-Smith can't match Austen's dialogue (who can?), so it all gets a bit predictable (especially if you're read P&P before), but who cares? It's PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, people. And they've got the biggest balls of them all. :star4:
 
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