Happy 200th Birthday to Pride and Prejudice

**_“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”_**

With possibly one of the most famous opening lines of its time, Jane Austen’s _Pride and Prejudice_ has held its place as one of the most popular novels ever written. Two hundred years after it was first published, the lives and loves of the Bennet girls still have a special place in the literary cannon, as well as in the imagination of the wider general public.

The crowning glory of _Pride and Prejudice_ has to be the way in which it has survived the test of time, a story that has captured the minds of successive generations and moved between genres with spectacular flexibility, losing none of its original charm and gaining much on the way.

Possibly the most memorable adaptation was shown by the BBC in 1995, providing thousands of viewers with the iconic image of Colin Firth striding from the lake, clad in a soaking wet white shirt. “Thank you, Jane Austen,” sighed women the length and breadth of England. This version opened the floodgates for many more, including the smash hit 2005 film starring Keira Knightley.

The story has not only managed to cross mediums, but also genres, being used as the basic plot for the 2004 Bollywood hit Bride and Prejudice. Austen’s most famous novel has survived not just culture switches and the addition of some really cool dancing, but far more drastic adaptations too.

The TV series _Lost in Austen_ included time travel in its altered plotline, while Seth Grahame-Smith’s 2009 novel _Pride and Prejudice and Zombies_ had the brilliant addition of the undead.

So, what is it about this book that has had such a huge effect on two centuries of readers?

Where to start! An all-star cast of five pretty sisters, men in uniform, men with money, men with no morals, men with too many morals, men with hidden depths, men with bitchy sisters (deep breath, this is a long list), beautiful dresses, elaborate parties, huge houses, gorgeous landscapes, insufferable vicars, hysterical mothers, sizable dollops of satirical social critique and a double wedding at the end! Really, what more could you ask for from a 19th century novel!

It has stood the test of time and weathered the words of nay-sayers who would have you believe that a simple romance novel with no gritty political statement does not deserve such a following. It has even survived a plague of zombies.

It is taught in schools as well as universities and, in my opinion as well as that of many others, _Pride and Prejudice_ well deserves its glowing reputation as one of the best romantic novels ever written.