Audiobook · read by volunteers
Pride and Prejudice (version 2)
Jane Austen (1775–1817)
Read by Annie Coleman Rothenberg · 35 chapters · 13 h 25
About the book
Five unmarried daughters, a mother set on seeing them settled, a rich new neighbour or two and a whole regiment of soldiers in town: Jane Austen needed little more to build one of the most enduring comedies in English, with a generous measure of pride and a pinch of prejudice. Jane Austen’s novel follows the Bennets through a round of balls, visits and letters, where tears and laughter, embarrassment and affection take turns. At its centre is Elizabeth Bennet, clever, spirited and not easily impressed, who must learn to look again at the people she thinks she understands, not least the proud and reserved Mr Darcy. This alternative recording of the novel, read throughout by a single voice, runs for more than thirteen hours and is well suited to leisurely listening.
Introduction
Jane Austen, who lived from 1775 to 1817, published Pride and Prejudice in 1813, and it has remained her best-known work. In a letter to her sister she called it her “own darling child”. The novel chronicles the events in the lives of the Bennet family, a household with five unmarried daughters and a limited fortune. When a wealthy new neighbour arrives, followed by his friends, and when a regiment of soldiers settles in the area, ordinary life takes on new colour. Austen uses these developments to explore love, social position, the pressure to marry well and the ways in which pride and prejudice can blind us.
The tone of the book is comic, though it has serious moments. Austen’s irony is gentle but exact, and she delights in the oddities of her characters. The story has been adapted many times for the stage, film and television, yet the original, with its brisk dialogue, is still the best way to enjoy it.
This is a separate LibriVox version of the novel, with its own reader. It is made up of 35 sections, each covering one to three chapters, and runs for just over thirteen hours. A different reader brings different shades to the characters, so listeners who enjoyed one version may like to try the other.
LibriVox volunteers give their voices freely so that books in the public domain can be heard by everyone. If you are coming to Austen for the first time, or returning to a familiar favourite, this edition makes an inviting companion for long journeys, quiet afternoons and winter evenings.
Public domain
Jane Austen died in 1817: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text