Pride and Prejudice, Chapter One

I recorded the first five minutes within Chapter One from Pride and Prejudice, with some cutting to the text.

   

Like a lot of my classmates who studied English literature, especially those of us who identified as female, I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice during college.  The 2005 film with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen on DVD was frequently viewed within our dorm rooms; I tended to associate with a lot of the smartest girls on campus and, consequently, during my senior year most of my dorm neighbors were at the very top of our class.  I remember writing a piece of creative nonfiction during my freshman year where I remarked how romantic I found it that Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth just happened to run into each other in these grandiose countryside settings; someone who was peer editing corrected my allusion as to the place but I, of course, was referring to the movie and not the novel. I also loved that during my senior seminar class in which we solely studied the work of John Donne, my professor remarked on pastoral literature and said, "Not that any of you would know what it is like to live near sheep," and I interjected immediately, "hold up, I definitely do!" because on my family farm--we often raised sheep or let others' sheep graze on our pasture in the grove.  

Place is so important to my favorite literature and other writing.  Where I come from and where I currently am impact how I pursue art and take in others' work.

After college, and not too many years afterwards--I got married.  For a long time, I considered this novel to be the most similar (of novels I have read) to my own love story.  I met my husband almost ten years ago to the date I am writing this.  I was visiting a guy friend from high school on my birthday on another campus, along with my best friend and his future wife, and pretty vividly remember the first moments in which we interacted.  He was so kind and attentive to me.  Later on that night, he was otherwise occupied when we were in proximity to each other, and I didn't think he liked me very much.  The next day (and I have hardly any recollection of this) he tried to talk with me and I didn't look up from my book much.  Neither of us knew it, but we both liked each other very much!  We are not very similar in many ways, but I enjoy the ways we complement each other and am so happy to be growing older with him continuously.

I will try to record as much of text of Pride and Prejudice as I can.  I may continue to cut some of the text, but I am a big fan of the content within Austen's work--especially more so as I age and mature and as I pursue being an artist--and will find it difficult to omit much.