Pride and Prejudice: Irony in the Novels

Abstract

Cassandra Austen’s Memorandum records: ‘First Impressions begun in Oct 1796/Finished in Aug^t 1797. Published afterwards, with alternations & contractions under the Title Pride & Prejudice.’¹ In its earliest form the novel even antedates Sense and Sensibility, which was not begun under that title until November 1797.² Pride and Prejudice is thus the third and last³ of Jane Austen’s ‘gradual performances.’ According to the Memoir she was apparently revising it as late as 1809–10;⁴ and she tells in a letter how she ‘lop’t and crop‘t’ it for publication (Letters, p. 298). It appeared early in 1813.