In the early nineteenth century, when Jane Austen published her first two novels Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice, Writes B. C. Southam in his introduction to Jane Austen. The Critical Heritage, "fiction reviewing had no ... dig nity, and in the light of prevailing standards the two novels were remarkably well-received The reviewers were in no doubt about the superiority of these works. Although their notices are extremely limited in scope they remark on points which any modem critic would want to make." These points, in the case of Pride and Prejudice, include the spirited characterizations of Elizabeth Bennet and her family, Fitzwilliam Darcy, and the other major personalities of the novel. Those people that criticized the novel, however, complained that the author of the book (who was unknown at the time—Austen published her works anonymously and her authorship did not become widely...