Welcome to the Slate Audio Book Club's special 200th anniversary Pride and Prejudice edition,

where we're going to discuss Jane Austen, her work, and Pride and Prejudice, her great novel,

which is celebrating its birthday this month.

I'm stepping aside for this book club and leaving it to our Jane Austen experts,

David Plotz, Julia Turner, and Seth Stevenson. Take it away, guys.

Hi, I'm Julia Turner, the deputy editor of Slate, and this is the Slate Audio Book Club podcast on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, which we are wishing a happy 200th birthday.

My co-celebrants today, or maybe you guys are Jane Austen detractors, we'll find out, are Slate's editor, David Plotz. Hi, David. Hello, Julia. David is joining us from our DC studio and Slate contributor Seth Stevenson. Hi, Seth. Hi, Julia. Hi, David. Hi, Seth. Seth is in New York. I'm a J-Nite, definitely. You're a J-night? Okay. Seth, you're not planning to throw wildfire bombs, Seth. Hi, Julia. Hi, David. Hi, Seth. Seth is in New York. I'm a J. Knight, definitely.

You're a Jainite?

Okay.

Seth, you're not planning to throw wildfire bombs in Jane, Jane Austen's direction in the course of this conversation? I am so in the tank for Jane. All right. Well, it will be a love fest, but hopefully an interesting one. we are talking about this book because it is 200 years old and yet we are all still reading it.

It's a book that I've read at least five or six times.

It's a book that's been made into two high cultural impact visual productions recently,

the BBC version which introduced the world to Colin Firth, or at least the women of the

world to the art of swooning over Colin Firth, and the

Joe Wright version starring Kira Knightley. There are books about people who read books about

Jane Austen. There are advice books by famous critics about what you can learn about living

from Jane Austen. There are comic book iterations of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.

My first question to you guys is, why are we all still reading Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. My first question to you guys is, why are we all

still reading Pride and Prejudice? I think it's because the stories are so relatable. I mean,

this isn't a story about war or hunting a whale on the open seas or some sort of palace intrigue

with a prince and a king. This is just people in houses, in villages,

falling in love and getting married, and there's nothing that feels dated or out of the realm

...