Sadie Stein on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
"I am very attached to the idea that being interesting can trump everything and that at the end of the day nothing is more devastatingly attractive."
The Pleasure of Being Wrong
Stein calls being wrong about people one of the primary pleasures of adult life. Wessels tests the claim against a thirty-year grudge over Jane Austen.
Read the introduction →- 1 Nobody in This Book Has a Job Episode 1 • 16 min • Members
- 2 Tote-Bag Austen Episode 2 • 19 min • Members
- 3 The Case for Settling Episode 3 • 17 min • Members
- 4 The Rain Gambit Episode 4 • 18 min • Members
- 5 Stuck in a Room Episode 5 • 17 min • Members
- 6 Don't Feel Sorry for Him Episode 6 • 18 min • Members
- 7 The Nicest Guy Anyone's Ever Met Episode 7 • 18 min • Members
- 8 An Anatomy of Mortification Episode 8 • 18 min • Members
- 9 A Rational Creature Episode 9 • 15 min • Members
- 10 Charlotte's Bargain Episode 10 • 19 min • Members
- 11 Violently in Love Episode 11 • 18 min • Members
- 12 Twenty-Four Miles from London Episode 12 • 19 min • Members
- 13 Something Is Up with Darcy Episode 13 • 18 min • Members
- 14 In Vain Have I Struggled Episode 14 • 19 min • Members
- 15 Till This Moment I Never Knew Myself Episode 15 • 22 min • Members
- 16 Nothing Is Funny Anymore Episode 16 • 21 min • Members
- 17 Of This Place I Might Have Been Mistress Episode 17 • 19 min • Members
- 18 The World Will Prey on Them Episode 18 • 19 min • Members
- 19 Getting Married Was Grim, Too Episode 19 • 18 min • Members
- 20 A Gentleman's Daughter Episode 20 • 15 min • Members
- 21 The Slow Burn Episode 21 • 20 min • Members
In Conversation With – Where this book meets another
I Couldn't Have Given You Up to Anyone Less
Sadie Stein weeps at Mr. Bennet's half-sentence goodbye. Garth Greenwell reads a whole novel about a father who can't say it, so the daughter must.
Go deeper →The One Who Learns and the One Who Doesn't
Elizabeth Bennet learns herself in time to change; Newland Archer learns too late to matter. Gay and Stein trace the same flaw to opposite ends.
Go deeper →Marriage as Transaction: The Two Ways a Novel of Manners Ends
Austen and Wharton diagnose the same marriage economy, Gay and Stein show; one lets Elizabeth beat the house, the other closes the door on Ellen.
Go deeper →
The Questions these books keep starting →
Why Darcy Falls for Elizabeth in Spite of Himself
Darcy falls for Elizabeth because she alone does not perform for him, Stein argues — her wit is character, not strategy, and he falls in spite of himself.
Go deeper →Was Charlotte Lucas Right to Marry Mr. Collins?
Stein reads Charlotte Lucas's marriage as clear-eyed and defensible: in Austen's marriage market, Elizabeth's freedom to refuse was the exception, not the rule.
Go deeper →Marriage, Money, and the Village Religion of Pride and Prejudice
Stein argues the romance sits on hard economics: a village credo of marriage, too few men, and a good match as the difference between security and ruin.
Go deeper →- Was Charlotte Lucas Right to Marry Mr. Collins? Sadie Stein on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice
- What Does the A on Hester's Chest Actually Mean? Megan Marshall on Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
- Was Thoreau Selfish? The Question of Self-Reliance John Kaag on Henry David Thoreau's Walden
- What Is Kant's Categorical Imperative? Paul Guyer on Immanuel Kant