喜欢这部小说，因为作者奥斯丁和我这个读者，我们志趣相投。
比起英雄和传奇，我们更喜欢生活写实。奥斯丁不写波澜壮阔的英雄史诗，令人惊叹的传奇故事，没有谋杀癌症车祸失忆，只通过她熟悉的乡镇婚恋题材，写世态人情，生活静水流深，唯有知音能赏弦外之音。奥斯丁的智慧，化平凡为神奇，“用最恰当的语言，向世人表达对人类最彻底的了解，把人性各式各样不同的方面，最巧妙地加以描绘，笔下闪耀着机智与幽默。”
第一章就写得趣味盎然引人入胜。开篇是以Bennet太太的心态说出的一段人之常情，平静的乡镇生活投下一颗石子，邻近的庄园搬来一个有钱的单身汉。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 the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.
Bennet夫妇因此展开对话，太太希望先生早早去拜访新邻居，以便为女儿们占据有利位置，先生明明想去，却不想遂了太太的愿，故意插科打诨地说不去，惹太太着急。奥斯丁用生动的对话描绘出一对老冤家，结尾的评语像是在和读者交换心得。Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented,she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.
比起看侦探小说找杀人凶手，我们更喜欢探究日常人事的前因后果心理脉络。第九章奥斯丁借Elizabeth和Darcy的讨论传达人性探索的迷人之处。
“Yes, but intricate characters are the most amusing. They have at least that advantage.”
“The country,” said Darcy, “can in general supply but a few subjects for such a study. In a country neighbourhood you move in a very confined and unvarying society.”
“But people themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.”
奥斯丁的人物都是工笔细描、有血有肉的立体人像。主人公Elizabeth和Darcy自不必说，他们的傲慢与偏见产生的原因，以及怎么克服自身缺点获得成长的轨迹清晰可寻，就连配角都刻画得栩栩如生，Bennet夫妇、Gardiner夫妇、Jane和Bingley、Lydia和Wickham、Charlotte和Collins、Lady Catherine，这些典型的人心人情，我们都能在身边找到。
比起冷漠悲观黑暗，我们更喜欢温暖乐观幽默。现实世界显然不完美，阳光的背面就是阴影，奥斯丁终身未嫁，42岁英年早逝，但她塑造Elizabeth和Darcy、Jane和Bingley两对情投意合的恋人聊以自慰。奥斯丁热心看世情，却只轻轻点出两句，恰似智慧的聚光灯照出世间可笑的人、可笑的事，和会心的读者了解、体谅地相视而笑。喜剧的笑启人深思。看到笨人丑人的表演，读者发笑之余暗自警惕不要步他们的后尘。伶俐人也会犯错出丑，主人公Elizabeth和Darcy毕竟只是20多岁的一般聪明人，傲慢与偏见在所难免，反省和改进使他们生出智慧。杨绛说奥斯丁的笑是不调合，内心那个是非善恶的标准坚定不移，不肯权宜应变，受到外界现实的冲撞或磨擦，就会发出闪电般的笑。
“And so ended his affection,” said Elizabeth impatiently. “There has been many a one, I fancy, overcome in the same way. I wonder who first discovered the efficacy of poetry in driving away love!”
“I have been used to consider poetry as the food of love,” said Darcy.
“Of a fine, stout, healthy love it may. Everything nourishes what is strong already. But if it be only a slight, thin sort of inclination, I am convinced that one good sonnet will starve it entirely away.”
Darcy only smiled.（第九章）
这本小说容易读，能有多少领悟，却是各人造化不同。虽然富有的Darcy用钱帮追求的女孩摆平风波，俩个乘龙快婿都父母双亡，happy ending在婚姻开始时，婚姻中的常见挑战如金钱、家务、成长、婆媳关系和孩子教育等从未降临，但世间本无完美，瑕不掩瑜，我还是情不自禁地喜欢，一读再读。
202006
