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| 'Pride and Prejudice' by Jane Austen |
"...men may come and men may go/ But I go on forever..." Lord Tennyson might have said this about a brook but we surely and most befittingly apply it to Jane Austen and specifically to her masterpiece creation 'Pride and Prejudice', which completed 200 years in January. Innumerable writers have churned out thousands of love stories in these two centuries but nobody matches the precision and dexterity with which Austen dexterously weaves in all the ingredients of a gripping tale.
One might be tempted to call 'Pride and Prejudice' a love story. Inspite of Jane Austen being called a writer, who works on 'six inches of ivory', the canvas of this tale of love is much wider and comprehensive than the love stories being written now. This statement needs to be observed in the light of the love-fiction being churned out by the new young breed of Indian writers. If Jane Austen carved on six inches, the 'self-proclaimed' bestsellers of today can be said to be working on just one-inch of ivory.
The everlasting appeal of 'Pride and Prejudice' lies in the way in which she magically carves out each one of her characters. The novel apart from presenting a very interesting and simple narrative, gives us an insight into the witty and intelligent heroine and also a wonderful and genuinely intimate relationship that develops through mutual efforts. A reason for universal appeal of this novel is in the fact that inspite of the English manners and backdrop, the novel fits in equally well in any other country or region. That is precisely, even after two hundred years of having been written it is still being published and read, and that too in all languages.