'I must confess I think her as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print', wrote Jane Austen of Elizabeth Bennet, the heroine of Pride and Prejudice.
Few readers have disagreed. Yet Elizabeth's vivacity, beauty and wit leave Jane Austen's hero Mr Darcy unmoved on their first meeting, and. his aloof superiority is more than matched by Elizabeth's cool disdain. Darcy is peremptorily dismissed - 'the last man in the world I could be prevailed upon to marry' - whereupon, in one of English literature's sublime volte-faces, Elizabeth is compelled to realize that hasty first impressions are not always the truest. Pride and Prejudice is'probably Jane Austen's best-loved work and certainly her most popular. In its sparkling comedy of love and marriage, wit, form and feeling achieve a perfect balance.
