Perceptions from the Outside--A lecture about Pride and Prejudice by Feiyu Bi

Pride and Prejudice, written by Jane Austin, is a household masterpiece owned by every literature lover in the world. But have you ever perceived it from what was going on outside the novel at that time? On September 24, 2019, Professor Feiyu Bi, unfolded the things happening in society at that time, going beyond the story itself, to the audience in the East Lecture Hall of the Jingwen Library. Professor Jie Zhang extended the invitation and professor Shiyan Xu hosted the lecture, both of whom are from The School of Foreign Languages and Cultures at NNU.

Feiyu Bi, as a famous contemporary writer as well as a professor at Nanjing University, has won many prizes for his excellent literary works, including the second "Fengmu Literature Prize”, two firsts and a third "Luxun Literature Prize", and the eighth "Maodun Literature Prize", etc. Because of his devotion to literature, in 2017, the "Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” was bestowed upon him by the French Ministry of Culture.
 
At the very beginning, Professor Bi presented the theme of the lecture--Pride and Prejudice. Instead of a detailed analysis, he preferred to show the audience something outside of it and he mentioned four points--elopement, family life, recognition and pride.

The theme of elopement deals with the character Lydia in the novel. Professor Bi took Emma in Madame Bovary and Anna in Anna Karenina as examples to make comparisons, showing the changes of the standard for moral judgment of women as well as how fiction has participated in the process of human civilization.

When it came to the appearance of family life in the fiction of that time, Professor Bi turned the topic to the historical background. He said, “At that time, due to the development of free trade, family trifles became a new topic of fiction and fiction no longer had a blind angle for the exploration of human nature.”

As for the British writing style in the novel, Professor Bi referred to the philosophy in Britain at that time as a source of this particular type of mindset. He also said, “Chinese writers care more about feelings and sincerity, and this can be attributed to cultural differences.”

Focusing on the theme of ’pride’, Professor Bi said, “From a contemporary reader’s perspective, it might seem baffling to inquire deeply into Darcy’s pride.” He had two reasons for Darcy’s pride, one was Austin’s background as a pastor’s daughter and the other was the Enlightenment. “Pride was exactly what people cared about the most, and it was quite enough for the development of the novel,” he remarked.

Finally, Professor Bi concluded the lecture by saying, “This is a masterpiece about the main theme of the Enlightenment, and it can best reflect the spirit of the Enlightenment as well.” All people present gained a lot of knowledge about the history and changes of the times through Professor Bi’s speech concerning the novel Pride and Prejudice.