Tuesday, September 30, 2008

being elizabeth bennet


by silvereagle21


it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. however little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
- jane austen, pride and prejudice

the worst thing about holidays is that instead of studying, like i should, i end up watching romantic comedies or period dramas, no thanks to the wonderful world of youtube.

watching the complete 1995 bbc drama for the first time, i came to realise that what i like most about the show is not colin firth's damp white shirt (sorry, never really thought he himself was that attractive, although the characters he plays certainly are...which means he's a pretty darn good actor, no?) but the dialogue, because it is chock full of quick wit and dry humour.

i asked a friend if the british really speak that way, with their sarcasm and punchlines that need to be caught at the right time or they may be missed. she told me that they did, and that was enough to make me wish i were there right now.

sigh.

anyway, my mother's trying to set me up with a friend's son who is apparently a good-looking fellow on his way to acquiring a phd. i say apparently, because she's never seen him before and made that assumption based on his parent's physical attributes. right. oh she didn't say she was gonna set us up, just that we could be friends. but i know she's worried that i'll be an old spinster who is married to her job.

honestly though? right now that is the least of my worries. it annoys me to no end that it's higher on my parents' priority list than on mine because it's my life, not theirs. good intentions aside.

i wonder what jane austen would think about how things are today. perhaps she would have written, "it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single woman in possession of a good education must be in want of a husband. however little known the feelings or views of such a woman may be on her first entering a university, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of her immediate family, that her non-existent love life is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their friends' sons."

bah.

lishun at 6:16 PM

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