大象传媒

A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with Rabbi Julia Neuberger

Good morning.

On this day back in 1813, Jane Austen鈥檚 Pride and Prejudice was published. Amongst the most beloved books in English literature, it's sold well over 20 million copies. It begins with that memorable line: 鈥淚t is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.鈥� And so the story progresses, with the heroine, Elizabeth, eventually marrying the romantic Mr Darcy- and his fortune. Her wit, charm and honesty win him over- and Darcy is portrayed ever after as a romantic figure, haughty yes, but so handsome, and so very compelling.

But Pride and Prejudice is more than simply popular. It is also, as the writer Anna Quindlen suggests, the first modern novel that focuses on the search for self, 鈥渨ith this search (being) as surely undertaken in the drawing room making small talk as in the pursuit of a great white whale or the public punishment of adultery.鈥� It's a novel of manners, about the search for husbands, about women鈥檚 inability to fully control their own destinies, and about their capacity- if bright- to shape their own futures. It allows us to look for meaning within a hemmed-in, genteel life, and then to find it in the courage, humour and generosity of some of the characters. It lets us find the profound in a seemingly constrained existence. And it teaches us that learning to control one鈥檚 feelings, and supporting others, brings its own reward. A simple message maybe, focusing on 鈥榖e kind鈥�, something we often forget, but as important for us to remember now when pursuing our own Mr Darcy, or in the rest of life, as it was back then.