Pride and Prejudice

Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice (1813) is a comedy of manners centered on Elizabeth Bennet, the witty second daughter of an English country gentleman. When the wealthy Mr. Bingley and his aloof friend Mr. Darcy take nearby Netherfield, the Bennet family's quiet life becomes a stage for courtship, class, and self-knowledge. Austen's irony is gentle but exact — she exposes the follies of vanity in both gentry and tradespeople, while letting her heroine learn the difference between first impressions and true worth. A foundational novel of the English tradition: literary, moral, and as readable now as the day it was written.