It's odd to remember a time when I wasn't acquainted with Jane Austen, she's been such a huge part of my life for the past few years. (Okay, that sounded creepy. Guys, I don't know her personally or anything.)
Of course, though, once there was a time before I knew the words, "there is a truth universally acknowledged," or fully understood their import...and shockingly, that was a mere 4 years ago. I distinctly remember being at church one Sunday evening and having a friend reference some person called "Mr. Darcy"; I gave her a blank look ("oh, this is, like, one of those obscure-celebrity crushes *sigh*") and had to admit, no, I've never read Pride & Prejudice...nor any other of Jane Austen's works...nor have I even heard of Mr. Darcy. Frankly, he sounds like a fuddy-duddy. -- NO, I didn't say that out loud, thank heavens. My rep would be virtually unsalvageable if I had.
In the course of human events, however, I had to read P&P for school and... I could say 'the rest is history,' but that would hardly be satisfactory.
I was hooked and dangerously obsessed by the second page. I ate, breathed, slept, swore by, and spoke nothing but Pride & Prejudice for weeks. ...the book, I mean. Not the actual manifestations.
My ravings over everything Mr. Darcy and the book finally induced one of my friends to ask if I'd ever seen The Movie (by which she of course meant the miniseries, though she wouldn't have, had she known where it would lead me).
"I'll bring it next week," she said. "You'd probably like it," she said.
Well, okay, she was a little more emphatic than that. I think the word "obsessed" figured in her description; but we can understand the gist without the details.
The rest is, pretty much, history: I read every other Austen novel out there within the year; I own two 'complete works of' and an extra each of P&P and Sense & Sensibility; I happen to have both movies. (...and lest you think I am a traitor to the cause, I present to you a little DISCLAIMER: my poor sainted grandmother only knew that her poor crazed granddaughters were nuts about this story and she sweetly bought us "the movie" as a present. yes, "P&P"05. Pestiferous & Pathetic would be a better title; but I digress. She couldn't have known how we'd say... mean, unprintable things about the actors, laugh it to death, and execrate it. AND IT'S NOT MY FAULT WE HAVEN'T BURNED IT YET! My dear grandmother can't help that Matthew Mcfadyen looks like a horse and acts like a donkey. We sent her very sweet thank-you notes.)
Anyway, my wonderful friend brought me The Real Movie. As I watched all the glorious hours of Colin Firth's face it, I knew that my life would never be the same. Innumerable marathons later, I'm not sure what "my life would never be the same" really means, but it's got to be true, because all my productive-life plans have been trashed in favor of asking people how their families are and cracking up over "WHAT. -- excuse me."
So. That, my friends, is the story of how I met P&P95.
And I lived happily ever after.
Find out more about the blog series by clicking the "how I met P&P95" tag below.
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