A Common Household Austen Odyssey

Without love, we are indeed toast.
American Visionary Art Museum
Baltimore, Maryland.  2016.

I am blessed beyond measure to be in two book clubs.  One is the Page Turners’ Book Club (started by a pianist).  This group, all women, picks all its books for the year at once, and makes a point of reading lit related to women during March, Women’s History Month.  For March, our pick was Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.

The other book club was started by the Common Household Husband Himself in 2015.  This book club picks next month’s book at the end of each meeting.  After reading the well-written but anxiety-producing Innocent Blood by P.D. James for this book club in February,I was ready for a calmer read, and lobbied the CHH book club to take the leap back to the early 1800s and read Pride and Prejudice. The choice had plusses and minuses:  I would get to kill two reading assignment birds with one stone, but because I suggested the book, I therefore became the discussion leader.  

Late February

As I start in on P&P, I notice that the nearly-free e-book edition I got 10 years ago is rife with typos, and instead of italics, the emphasis is provided by using ALL CAPITALS.  This was acceptable to me in 2011 but is now intolerable to me in 2022.  

Wanting to get the Penguin publisher’s digital edition, I search for “Pride and Prejudice Penguin”, and get this as the top result:

Pride, Prejudice & Penguins: A More in Heaven and Earth Magical Academy Pride and Prejudice Variation, by Katherine Gilbert.

According to the Amazon blurb, it includes penguins, magic, a medieval castle on a Scottish island, an elf king, and possibly sarcastic talking cats, although it is unclear if sarcastic talking cats are included in this book, or only in other books by this author.

Early March

The Common Household Husband is partway through Vol. 1 of the original Pride and Prejudice; it is not to his liking. Perhaps he would prefer the one with the penguins & magic. 

At dinner, the CHH wonders aloud at possible P&P plot twists: “When will Mr. Darcy reveal that he prefers other men?  When will Mr. Blingley say that he planned all along to have a  mistress immediately after marrying?  When will one of the characters become destitute?  When will the owner of the estate own up to a gambling problem, such as investing in the shipping industry, and the ship goes down?”  

Apparently the plot is not swift enough for CHH, especially compared to the P.D. James psychological thriller from last month.

Whereas the CHH falls asleep at every third page, I am finding it to be wonderful escapism.  Austen writes about well-off people acting out their social game, with very important consequences, that is, the future economic well-being of the women characters. But no strife occurs other than bad manners and turning down marriage proposals.

During the time Jane Austen was writing (early 1800s), here are just a few things going on in the world:

• slavery (Britain abolished slave trade in 1807 but did not abolish slavery until 1833)

• Colonialism

• Severe economic inequality

• The Napoleonic wars

• British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval assassinated (1812)

• War of 1812 (US v. Britain) 

Jane Austen had plenty of opportunity to introduce strife into her novels, but chose instead to focus on one segment of English society. One reviewer points out that the reader gets to know the annual income of nearly every character in the novel.

Middle of March 

The Common Household Husband has read a little further through Vol. 1.  He says to me, accusingly, “Who is this new character - Mr. Wexford?!”

Me:  Wickham.

CHH:  He is not on good terms with Mr. Darcy.  And Mr. Blinky thinks that Mr. Darcy is not to blame.   Mr. Wickham is the vicar.

Me:  No.  Mr. Collins is the vicar.  Wickham was going to be a vicar… (I pause, not wanting to give away the plot).

CHH:  I think I should just find the movie version.  Is there a Russian musical version?

Me:  There are a lot of versions, both movies and other books.  There is “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.”  

CHH:  How many of the characters are Jewish? 

I urge CHH not to give up yet, to read at least through the letter that Darcy hands to Elizabeth.

Six days later…

It’s a rainy Saturday morning, and I am trying to muster the energy to go collecting more petition signatures to get candidates on the ballot.  I’m working on my voter list. The Common Household Husband comes into the office and sits down behind me ominously.

After a minute or so of him lurking there, I figured out that he has something to tell me.  He says, “I finished reading Darcy’s letter to Elizabeth.  I have to say that it does not change my opinion of Darcy.”

Me:  So you still think he’s gay?

CHH:  No.  But I think he is quite respectable and has made good decisions.

Me:  So you are okay with his marriage proposal, where he said, “I’ll marry you even though you are low class compared to me, and your family engages in bad behavior”?

CHH:  Yes.  That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Two days before book club meets

The Common Household Husband is now getting into the book. He says, “Lydia!  She has run off with Wickaby!  And Mrs. Bennet is only concerned about clothes.”

One day before book club meets

CHH has not yet finished the book, but gives me his latest on the plot synopsis and character assessment:

Lydia is going up north with Wickaby.   She doesn’t see that she did anything wrong.  Nothing happened in this book until Lydia ran off with him.  …  Elizabeth has learned the role that Mr Darcy played in preventing a scandal from Lydia and Wickaby’s behavior.  Mr Binkley is back at, um, Nutherfield, and I'm assuming it's because Mr Darcy has relented and told him it’s fine for him to marry Jane. Mr Bennet is most displeased with Lydia.  Because of her, he has told his youngest daughter she may not associate with anyone for the next ten years, and no one may go to Brighton, ever.  He continues to be the most ineffectual father and husband. 

Elisabeth Bennet may have changed her opinion of Mr Darcy, but the CHH’s opinion hasn’t shifted.  He thought Mr D was fine before and thinks he is fine now.  The CHH is in bitter disagreement with Younger Daughter, who thinks Mr Darcy is a terrible person who absolutely did not deserve to get redeemed or be with Elizabeth at the end.

One definition of a classic is perhaps “a book that people can’t stop talking about.”  Pride and Prejudice has definitely met that grade in the Common Household. We could argue for hours about whether Elizabeth Bennet is a feminist for her time because she insists on marrying for love, if Jane Bennet would have made a terrible main character, if Mr. Bennet is a loving father stuck in a bad financial situation or if he's irresponsible.

But it's time to start on next month's book.