“Mr Darcy has no defect. He owns it himself without disguise.”

“No” — said Darcy. “I have made no such pretension. I have faults enough, but they are not, I hope, of understanding. My temper I dare not vouch for. — It is I believe too little yielding — certainly too little for the convenience of the world.... My feelings are not puffed about with every attempt to move them. My temper would perhaps be called resentful. — My good opinion once lost is lost for ever.”

“That is a failing indeed!” — cried Elizabeth. “Implacable resentment is a shade in a character. But you have chosen your fault well. — I really cannot laugh at it. You are safe from me.”

“There is, I believe, in every disposition a tendency to some particular evil, a natural defect, which not even the best education can overcome.”

“And your defect is a propensity to hate every body.”

“And yours,” he replied with a smile, “is wilfully to misunderstand them.”

Jane Austen was born 250 years ago, on December 16, 1775, and we’re happy to celebrate! Suzanne takes a look at her most beloved novel, Pride and Prejudice, while Chris makes a case for one of her more curious novels, Northanger Abbey. They talk about Austen’s humour (in all its various modes), her clever plots and dialogue, as well as adaptations, inspirations, and more.

Thanks to Michael Collins for helping to edit this episode!

Jane Austen: Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey.

Our episode on Emma.

Also, our episode on Middlemarch.

Some Pride and Prejudice adaptations we mention: the 1995 BBC miniseries; the 2005 Keira Knightley film; Fire Island; Bridget Jones’s Diary; Bride and Prejudice; Pride and Prejudice and Zombies; Pride/Prejudice.

Ann Radcliffe: The Mysteries of Udolpho, and the audiobook read by Karen Cass.

The Portland Poetry Confluence that Chris read at.

Munsee Language and History Symposium.

Enos Montour: Brown Tom’s School Days.

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