A little Pride and Prejudice

Is it December already? How incredible that the year's slipped by without my really noticing. I returned in August and for the longest time I felt as if I were still in the middle of 2005. Well, so much for that.

I'm still in the doldrums but life must go on. And life - lived rather well when it's filled with books and music - today centered on a Pride and Prejudice workshop organized by United International Pictures and The British Council. I managed to register Dimsumdolly and myself for places on a rather limited list. We met at the basement of the Central Lending Library and then watched as other assumed-to-be-P&P-fans-but-how-wrong-we-were showed up. I noticed several small children and a fair number of men. I was, at first, impressed by these men who've read or perhaps were interested in the novel, or okay, maybe just the movie. And then it dawned on me - and to Dimsumdolly too, who pointed out the blank looks on a number of faces - that they were there because of their girlfriends. Anyone who's said that Singaporean guys don't give a rat's ass about their girls should have seen these guys who were actually willing to attend a two-hour workshop about a novel they'd perhaps never heard of until today or when the name "Keira Knightley" became associated with it. Either way, good for them - or, anyone, for that matter - for wanting to learn about something new.

Dimsumdolly and I quickly got into the fun of brushing up on the text we studied more than ten years ago. We still knew the locations, characters, themes; yes, we held our own even against the much younger, fresher teenage students of Literature, one of whom I noticed wrote down every word the British Council organizer said. I'll have to confess that I couldn't help raising my hand or mumbling my answers to a number of questions that the organizers raised. There were only a few of us mumbling the answers anyway, and I figured I didn't want to hold back the way I used to when I was young and easily intimidated. If I gained anything from an overseas education, it was shucking off my inhibition of playing Miss I-know-the-answer on occasion (I learned the hard way how much class participation counts towards the final grade).

Speaking of overseas, Dimsumdolly and I conversed briefly with someone who'd already seen the film. She expressed her disappointment and displeasure with it; I mentioned that I'd read a few positive reviews in by American critics, to which she remarked, "Well, you know how they all think!" I was surprised by such an unfair statement, and all I could do was blink and mumble, "Well, I do believe there're some very good reviewers on that side of the world." Eh, she probably didn't hear me. I really should have said, "No, I don't know how they all think, but I do like what I usually read in certain movie columns."

Never mind, never mind. If I see her again, I'll set her straight.

I've decided that if I have a daughter, I'll have her read P&P when she's about thirteen and then again at seventeen (if she even needs the prodding); the girl next to me said she read it at eleven but I wonder if eleven's old enough for one to appreciate the difficulties of love. And if I have a son, I'll have him read P&P when he's fifteen (when I'm still able to tell him to do something at all) and then tell him to some day date a girl who'll appreciate him for having read any Jane Austen at all. Oh, I'll also tell the girl - be like Lizzie, and while you're at it, hope but don't hold out for a Darcy; and tell the young fellow - a lot of girls out there want a Darcy, you know, but they might settle for someone who actually knows who Mr Darcy is.

Posted by Monoceros at December 3, 2005 10:16 AM