The Annotated Pride and Prejudice

With all my reviews of annotated editions, my ratings and comments are based on the annotations and observations made by the editors and not Jane Austen’s magnificent and beloved masterpieces. I hope you find this breakdown helpful! THE INTRODUCTION: There is plenty of astute analysis to explore in Mr. Shapard’s introduction, but my favorite points he brought up pertained to what makes Jane Austen’s novels unique for her time, and specifically what makes Pride and Prejudice unique when compared to her other novels. I haven’t read much of Frances Burney or Samuel Richardson, but I greatly appreciate learning that, compared to their works, Jane Austen’s novels are more rooted in verisimilitude and that she distinctly gives her characters the freedom of choice. In addition, while I may have concluded on my own that P&P is the Jane Austen novel most focused upon romantic relationships (how many marriages take place?), I did not make the realization that it was the only novel where both the hero and heroine make crucial errors. I think the realism she shows with these characters and the journey of their mistakes and growth might have a lot to do with why Pride and Prejudice is so many readers’ favorite. THE ANNOTATIONS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: The annotations for the text are plentiful, informative, and analytical. Word usage, customs, Regency references are all thoroughly explained. But what I really enjoy is when David M. Shapard shares his own insights, revelations, and commentary. I love the personal touch, and I appreciate that his notes include more of his own deductions and scrutiny, and not just other scholars quoted. The illustrations are appropriately selected and placed. One downside of this edition versus Harvard University Press is the absence of color images on a large scale. These images, while printed clearly and crisply are black and white. SOME THINGS I LEARNED/NOTICED: - Mr. Bingley is Young!: It might be my own mistaken memory or how oftentimes Austenesque novels portray Darcy and Bingley as mates from university, but I completely forgot that Mr. Bingley is 22! That puts some of his immaturity and weaknesses of character into a different perspective! - A Clergyman’s Lot: Because of an influx of ordained clergyman, only 20% of clergymen received an appointment within five years of being ordained, and some never did and worked as assistants their whole lives! No wonder Mr. Collins is so excessive in his praise and gratitude of Lady Catherine! - Elizabeth is Contrary: She holds Mr. Darcy’s implacable resentment against him, but sister-friend has some implacable resentment of her own. Also, while she is disappointed with Charlotte’s marital prudence, she openly forgives and defends Mr. Wickham’s marital prudence when he is in pursuit of Miss King. - The Lucases Be Plentiful: Not all are prominent in the story, but with the mentions of daughters and sons added together there are at least seven children in total! Again, this puts a new light on Charlotte’s situation and actions. - Elizabeth’s Evolution: Talk about understanding and witnessing a character’s journey through their emotions and the turning of their mind and/or heart! Jane Austen’s representation of Elizabeth Bennet’s evolving feelings for Mr. Darcy is brilliant and perfect. I really appreciate how it is laid out, how it happens gradually and believably, and how Elizabeth becomes aware and reanalyzes her own character. Plot twist: Mr. Darcy isn’t the only one guilty of pride and vanity! - The Proposal Scene: Even though I’ve read and seen it take place numerous times before, it still fills me with such awe and admiration. There is such fiery emotion, such intensity in their words and actions. It is so vibrant with strong feeling. It may be blasphemous to say, but I don’t know if I yet to see it portrayed on screen as magnificently and powerfully as it is portrayed on page. - Pemberley Shades: I need to laugh at myself for this one! When Lady C made her exclamation about the “shades of Pemberley” being polluted, I was thinking shades like window covering, and that the Elizabeth’s inferior relations would dirty and befoul them. But it looks like the term would more likely apply to the grounds of Pemberley and all the shades of light and darkness produced by trees. COMPARING HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS AND DAVID SHAPARD EDITIONS: It is a super tough decision to make because I equally loved Patricia Meyer Spacks’ Pride and Prejudice: An Annotated Edition – her comments are equally astute and insightful, but I feel like I may have learned a bit more and delved into P&P a little bit deeper with David Shapard’s annotations. So my vote is once again for David Shapard. CONCLUSION: I emphatically urge all Austenesque readers and Jane Austen admirers to read annotated editions of Jane Austen’s novels. The reading experience will be time-consuming, but the gift you give to yourself is immeasurable. What could be better than broadening your understanding and appreciation of Jane Austen’s genius? If you have yet to read any annotated editions of Jane Austen’s novels, I’d recommend starting with The Annotated Pride and Prejudice by David M. Shapard, because it may very well be the best. Austenesque Reviews

This review deals only with the annotations. I'm not going to talk about the text of this edition itself, because I assume most readers of an annotated version are familiar with it. For the most part, I really loved the notes. It turns out that despite having read P&P multiple times, there were things that I had misunderstood, and the background information (which comprises mostly historical context and/or literary influences) added depth. After the annotation, I had a greater appreciation for the incredibly layered, complex, subtle, and amazingly well-thought-out book P&P really is--and I had always assumed that it WAS all of those things. I also loved how the annotations were presented. The text appears on the left page, and the notes on the right, which is not a layout of annotations I have seen before (seems most are either marginalia, footnotes, or endnotes). At first, I thought this would make for an awkward and unnatural reading, but after a page or two, I got into a nice rhythm. The layout made for very easy simultaneous reading of both--no flipping back and forth, the print was clear, and you could skim the annotations before or after reading the text on that page to get a sense of then, then delve into them at the appropriate part of the text. The one thing I will fault the annotations for are the word definitions. The vast majority of them are words that anyone who has read P&P more than once or has an above average vocabulary would have figured out from the context; e.g. it's not that difficult to figure out that want=lack in the context of the book. But even more annoying than that is that the same word is defined in the same way over and over and over again; e.g. every time the word "pale" is mentioned (and it's used a surprising number of times), there is an annotation pointing out that it means fencepost or border. Anyone with half a brain, after seeing pale used in that way once, would have been able to figure out the correct usage (fencepost vs. light in color) from the context after that. The editor states that this is done because it's meant to be a reference work and the repeated definitions are included to aid in understanding when only specific parts are consulted. But I still found it distracting and a bit insulting, and I felt disappointed when I stopped my reading of the text to read an annotation that it was yet again only another repeated definition. Despite my rambling on the definitions, this is still a 5-star annotation. The easy reading and overall helpfulness of the notes make this edition a great way to develop an even greater appreciation for our beloved Pride and Prejudice.

So many books lately have invoked Jane Austen’s classic work Pride and Prejudice that I felt I had no choice but to read it. But I resisted for over six decades because face it, the story is hard to understand in the style and language it was written in. Enter The Annotated Pride and Prejudice. David M. Shapard made this amazing story not only understandable, but enjoyable. The footnotes are equal in length to the book itself. The notes cover word meanings and usage, explanations of practices common to the times, and, when relevant, reminders of where in the storyline the reader finds themselves. If you have avoided this classic as I had, buy this book on Amazon right now. Thanks to the following authors for finally spurring me on. Becky Monson – Desperately Seeking Mr. Darcy Jennifer Peel – Without Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a classic of literature that can be read and enjoyed again and again. And now we finally have a truly annotated version to increase that enjoyment. So many titles claim to be "annotated" when all they offer is a short biography of Jane Austen. But this book is the real deal. If you are looking for an excellent truly annotated version, buy this book. Besides presenting the full text of the novel, based on the original editions, it also almost a thousand footnotes explaining everything from what the different card games played in the novel say about the characters, to how militias like Wickhams fit into the military, to what all the types of carriages mean. The notes also present historical information about England in the Regency period that puts the novel in context. Besides that, it has has a timeline of the novel and a great deal other useful information. Half the book is explanatory material. The format for the Kindle is excellent too in that book, as you can go back and forth between the novel and the notes very easily. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve deeper into the Jane Austen classic.

The annotation are thoughtful and add to the experience of reading or rereading this book. Because the text is on the left hand pages and the annotations are on the right, they are not distracting and do not make the book taxing to read.

This is a serious book and I’d like to give it a serious review. I have several complaints about it but I want readers to know that it is a valuable resource for fans of Pride and Prejudice and other Austen novels. I’ll list my complaints below, but the work is carefully researched and clearly presented. It is well worth a close reading. While the content of the annotations covers a wide variety of subjects, the notes are mostly concerned with clarifications of Austen’s language and explaining codes of class in early 19th century England. I find the meaning most of Austen’s expressions obvious in context. To be fair there were a number of clarifications that were helpful but the majority were not. I became weary of guessing whether a footnote was worthy of leaving the narrative and began to ignore all notes if the expressions weren’t opaque to me. I found the illustrations wearying as well. They seemed redundant, particularly the drawings of the idealized, impossibly-shaped young women. An interest in fashion might keep the reader looking at them but I grew tired of their simpering expressions and tiny feet. Perhaps Miss Bingley and Mrs. Hurst would like these women but I can’t believe that Elizabeth would. Far better were the portraits of real people. I found the scope of the annotator’s interests limited as well, much more concerned with Austen’s times than her style and wit. The annotator was quite thorough in explaining characters’ motivations in terms of class, but I longed for references to Austen’s insight into human character and her humor about it. Austen fans, particularly those of Pride and Prejudice, find so much of the descriptions and dialogue funny - sometimes laugh-out-loud funny - but the annotator seemed unmoved by this wonderful quality. Finally the annotator rarely refers to Austen by her surname alone, preserving a gallantry of older times that seems out of step with current gender courtesies. I kept imagining an annotated Great Expectations where the author was referred to as “Charles Dickens” in every note. To conclude this book represents a prodigious amount of work and a commanding knowledge of the material culture and class distinctions of the times. I would recommend it to any fan of Pride and Prejudice, particularly those curious about the social world of the Bennets, Lucases, Darcys, and De Bourghs.

Pride & Prejudice came out when I was in high school. By 2006 or 2007, I had seen the movie and, to my surprise, fallen in love with it. Over the last decade I've probably watched the film about a dozen times. One day this summer, while perusing the aisles at my local Barnes & Noble, I decided I wanted to read the source material—however, I was intimidated by the novel's publishing date of 1813. This book was the answer to every concern I had about reading such an old book. The annotations were so thorough and covered seemingly everything, including social etiquette, humor, terminology, and even furniture from the time (not to mention literary and character analyses that I found intriguing). I was initially concerned that the annotations would be distracting, but they turned out to be a very welcome and purely enriching presence. At 780 pages this version is quite a bit longer than the original (in addition to the annotation, it includes maps, images, and a timeline of events), but it's consistently interesting and masterfully paced with unparalleled character development. I would highly recommend this version of the book to anybody who wishes to tackle Austen's beloved novel but doesn't feel confident in their ability to do so on their own.

I won't tax the readers of this review by talking about Jane Austen and her genius, since many people buying this edition will be more than familiar with her work. Instead I will just focus on this Annotated edition and its merits. I'm not a reader who has really struggled with Jane Austen's language; on previous readings of P&P I have been able to make out the gist of her meaning even when she uses language that is very obscure to our modern usage. But thanks to the helpful annotations, I was able to pick up on many new and interesting nuances to the novel that I had not noticed before. The maps too, along with the chronological notes, were extremely helpful and illuminating to the structure of the novel overall. I would certainly recommend this edition to any Jane Austen acolyte, but this would also be an excellent edition for someone looking to read her novels for the first time, especially if they are unfamiliar with 18th/early 19th century English language and customs. I enjoyed this edition so much that I'm planning on replacing all my old copies of Austen's novels with these editions. They are truly a wonderful addition to any library, both for the pleasure of reading and as a reference.