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Background

Title

The novel was originally titled First Impressions, and was written between October 1796 and August 1797.^[3] Her first bid for publication was rejected. However, Austen made significant revisions to the manuscript for First Impressions between 1811 and 1812.^[3] She later renamed the story Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen probably had in mind the "sufferings and oppositions" summarized in the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, called "Pride and Prejudice", where the phrase appears three times in block capitals.^[4] It is possible that the novel's original title was altered to avoid confusion with other works. This version of the book was published in 1813.

Narration

The novel follows twenty-year-old Elizabeth Bennet. She is the second eldest of the five daughters of a relatively poor country gentleman in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, England.