A TINDER-swiping Mr Darcy and a Twitter-loving Elizabeth Bennet will star in a reworking of Jane Austen’s classic love story Pride And Prejudice.
Literature experts have updated the novel, as well as Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and Thomas Hardy’s Tess Of The d’Urbervilles, with new covers and rewritten passages to show how some of literature’s most famous romances would have played out in the digital age.
The modern-day makeovers are part of a move to show the negative impact the internet could be having on modern romance as research reveals digital devices are one of the biggest passion killers for Britons.
The reworked Pride And Prejudice explores how Darcy and Elizabeth’s courtship is affected by the perils of WhatsApp, while the latter will inadvertently cause a “Twitter storm of epic proportions” after posting a photo of Darcy emerging from the lake with his white shirt clinging to his chest in the famous scene.
The wealthy bachelor will also be shown having the pick of potential marriage via Tinder as the Bennet sisters spend their time competing on online games.
Wuthering Heights will see Heathcliff’s choice of ringtone putting doubts into Catherine Earnshaw’s mind as to her feelings for him, while she will later take to downloading a fitness app in a bid to get in shape.
Reworked by literature academic, Professor John Sutherland of University College London – and a team of writers from TV channel Drama, the new novels are aimed at celebrating the channel’s Romantic Sundays season and will be available to download this week.
A survey of 2000 British adults commissioned by Drama found 54% admit people are less romantic than in the days of Austen and Bronte, with 34% saying digital devices distraction was one of the biggest romance killers.
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