Pride/Prejudice: A Novel of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, and Their Forbidden Lovers

Ann Herendeen's slash novel can be classified as a "waistcoat ripper," rather than "bodice ripper" because it proposes a same sex relationship between Darcy and Bingley. I found it a very appealing mix: a serious well-researched exploration of the situation of homosexuals in Georgian England and an amusing take on what happens in the scenes we don't see in Pride and Prejudice. Why *is* Darcy so resistant to Bingley's marrying Jane? What happens in London when the whole group at Netherfield go there? Why is Darcy so seemingly reluctant to expose Wickham's misdeeds? Unlike some recent "mashups" this novel does not consist of large chunks of Austen's prose with some shocking lines pasted in at the ends of paragraphs (I'm looking at you, Zombies). There are several exchanges where Herendeen manages to channel Austen quite convincingly. I don't think "our Jane" would have been so very shocked. She was no sheltered Victorian lady, and if you read her letters you can see that she didn't hold back when it came to speculating about sexual relations, licit and otherwise, between her acquaintances.( In one letter she prides herself on having a good eye for recognizing an adulteress.) Anyway, if you're up for it you will very much enjoy Pride/Prejudice and learn quite a lot about Regency manners and morals.

I did not approach this novel as a possible 'what if' in Regency Times, but more of a Regency staged Alternate Universe. In this book, the sexual mores of the men of the 'Ton' is likened to ancient Greece, where a man's most meaningful sexual relationships were not with women, but with his intellectual equals - other men. Plato's Republic describes for us a society were bi-sexuality was the norm for upper class men, especially those men of great learning. While Socrates was married and had children, Plato tells us Socrates' greatest love was the Greek General, Alcibiades. This is not the only ancient society where bi-sexuality was the norm, not the exception. The Spartan army encouraged relationships between their solders as it was believed that a solder would fight harder so not to appear weak before his lover. Older soldiers took on young recruits not only as students of their craft, but as lovers. It was effective, as the Spartan army is regarded by many to be one of the most successful in history. While Darcy's 'club' is not as philosophical as Socrates society, in Pride/Prejudice, Darcy finds intelligence and the fostering of it emotionally, intellectually and sexually stimulating. That is the basis behind his love for Bingley. Bingley is his student, his young Spartan recruit. That is why Darcy has so few female relationships and that is why he falls so heavily for Elizabeth Bennet. Once he realizes she is his intellectual equal, he is hopelessly lost. While Darcy loves Bingley, the relationship is different from, and therefore not threatening to his relationship with Elizabeth. Be warned that the relationship between Darcy and Bingley is very graphically described. So if that would disturb you, then this is not the book for you. In a more accurately portrayed Regency setting, Darcy and his club would have had to be far more secretive, and this Darcy was even more controlling than Jane Austen's. However, I did not feel a strict cannon portrayal was this author's goal. I felt the book was very well written and I enjoyed the fantasy.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Ann Herendeen is a good friend of mine, and I am mentioned in her Dedication of this book. Until I actually had the book in my hands, though, I never read so much as a single sentence of this book; however, as a friend, I certainly encouraged her as a writer and said the kinds of things cheerleaders say to their friends who are challenging themselves to create something of value. In that regard, I applauded every word, and probably every semicolon and exclamation point. Writers, even previously published ones like Ann, need feedback, and mine was of the conceptual and existential variety, i.e., yes writing is glorious, yes it sucks, yes it's where we love to live, yes it's a dreadful place to be, etc etc. I do not feel that my friendship precludes my ability to write a book review of a friend's book, and yet I claim no particular objectivity, either. So, this is my review. Make of this disclosure, and my review, what you will. I absolutely LOVED this book. I appreciate the manner in which Ann Herendeen paid tribute to Jane Austen without mimicking her. I thoroughly enjoyed how the plot twists, while staying true to the thrust of the original story, drew life, and a wonderful sense of life, by the very nature of the differences Herendeen created to make her story as plausible as Austen's. I also think Jane would roll her eyes and roll over in her grave were she to read this. Not because she wouldn't like it, but rather, because she would think: The jig is up, I've been found out, let's dance! Jane Austen wrote the book she could write. Ann Herendeen wrote the book Ann Herendeen wanted to write. For Austen purists, if, indeed, there really is such a thing, I believe you would shudder at Pride/Prejudice, and the shuddering would be not entirely without delight! For others, I think the author's implicit request that one expand one's imagination, might be too much to ask. And for yet another group, I think their belief in an all-powerful and loving God does not, under any circumstance, include homosexuals, bisexuals and lesbians. So they really should not read this book because the sex alone is shockingly, wonderfully, deliciously sinful. By the way, there's no way one can look at the cover of this book and read the first page without realizing the same-sex nature and inclinations of the two main male characters. So, it's OK to say you hate it, it's OK to say you love it; it's not OK to say you were shocked---shocked I tell you!---to discover two men making love with one another and, quite separately, of course, with their wives. Oh, sorry, didn't mean to reveal that much. As Herendeen says in her essay at the back of the book "The Story Behind Pride/Prejudice," her own story "...is a way of bringing to light the alternative universe that was invisible in Austen's time." As even the most casual observer of marginalized people could agree, the invisibility first, of women, and second, of the subcultures of homosexuals,

Disclaimer: This is not the greatest book ever written, but for what precisely what it's trying to be, which is very original, it's a very good book. And honestly, if you were not expecting orgies and gay stuff when you bought this book, that's your own fault for not reading summaries, reviews, or back covers. This novel is set in some alternate universe where every man in England who has dialogue is either gay or bisexual. (Thankfully, Mr. Bennet has no active dialogue) Sodomy is still hugely illegal and a hanging crime, so it's all totally secret, as they can't turn one guy in because then EVERYONE would get turned in and there wouldn't be any guys left in England. They're also pretty terrible at keeping this secret, as the women either know or find out and then are not horrified. Seriously, Jane and Elizabeth took it really well. I think the spokesperson for GLAAD would take it slightly less well than Jane Bennet does. Only Elizabeth has some minor qualms, until Charlotte points out they're lesbians, which Elizabeth doesn't think is comparable. That being the setting, crazy as it is, the book is a lot of fun. The dialogue isn't precisely Regency period but then again we left the Regency period on the front cover. There is actually a lot of use of terms for homosexuality (molly and madge cull) that the author is proficient in using, so some Georgian slang is mixed with some phrases that don't fit in the time. The perspective is mostly Darcy's, with a few chapters from Elizabeth's perspective. It's really a retelling of Pride and Prejudice from Darcy's perspective, which means some enormous gaps are filled in to the storyline in a more interesting way than just "Darcy went to London and did business while avoiding Miss Bennet." There's a lot of focus on Bingley's character here, and I always feel that Bingley gets shortchanged in these sequels and rewrites, so good for him. He's the one who wants to stop only having sex with men and get married to Jane, whom he loves, and Darcy doesn't want him to, which provides the conflict for the first half of the story, before Darcy realizes he's in love with Elizabeth. Bingley wanting to "grow out of it" (loose rephrasing from the way the book puts it) and move into marriage and kids and a house to put them in while Darcy wanting to stay in an orgiastic bachelorhood is certainly a novel spin on why they abandoned Netherfield so early in the book. To people who haven't read Pride and Prejudice, this book isn't for you. The author avoids using Austen's text, and skips and then summarizes prolonged encounters and pivotal scenes between Darcy and Elizabeth, as this is Darcy's story and she would rather retell it in post than rewrite it. So there are gaps that are filled in with summaries and quotations from scenes that didn't happen on-screen. And there's smut. To the author's credit, it isn't prolonged, usually not lasting more than a couple of lines, and heavily interspersed with ordinary dialogue.

Following their lust at first sight meeting at a family gala, Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy remain attracted to one another though he is expected to marry Caroline Bingley. The pair particularly enjoys their heated debates on a variety of subjects sexual and otherwise. Elizabeth finds she looks forward to making love with older Charlotte Lucas. Fitzwilliam relishes his trysts with his future brother-in-law doubled compliant landless Charles, Caroline's brother. He especially enjoys pinning Charles under him when he takes him. Although Charles also enjoys his romps with Fitzwilliam, he fears exposure as he wants Elizabeth's older sister Jane though he assumes he will marry his male lover's sister Georgiana. This is an enjoyable erotic over the top of Big Ben retelling of Pride/Prejudice that probably has Jane Austen turning over in her grave. Although the extended relationships are out of control and needing a baseball scorecard to keep track of who's doing who and when, fans who want something radically different in their Austen diet will want to read the other loves of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. Harriet Klausner