Unromantic Atheism?

[thesummerqueen]

I was actually thinking of P&P, Kingpin, and didn't mention it.

That's a story about two people who see only the worst of each other according to their own prejudices and fall in love in bits and pieces as they learn about all the best parts. But also because in the middle of it, they begin to actually use their reason to judge the people around them and determine what their own values ought to be. Elizabeth doesn't accept Darcy until he fixes the trouble he knowingly and unwittingly caused, as well as seeing him for the man he really is (by visiting his home - Georgian standards dictated that the family seat reflect the values of the present owner in landscape and decor) and Darcy requires her to put aside her prejudices and see her family and him from a different perspective. She's too clever by half and it makes her just as arrogant as she thinks he is.

And seriously, Darcy is like the ultimate in what we would now consider the socially awkward hot guy. He's "aloof" because he sucks at talking to people. HOT INTROVERT ALERT.

Jane Austen was really plugged in to human psychology, and unfortunately the 'genre' she created has spawned only a berjillion bodice bursting Harlequin novels.