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As the tide of feminism that crested two decades ago recedes and the old advance-and-retreat games of courtship return, "Pride & Prejudice" speaks wistfully to the moment. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are tantalizing early prototypes for a Katharine Hepburn-Spencer Tracy ideal of lovers as brainy, passionate sparring partners. That the world teems with fantasies of Mr. Darcy and his ilk there is no doubt. How many of his type are to be found outside the pages of a novel, however, is another matter.

As the tide of feminism that crested two decades ago recedes and the old advance-and-retreat games of courtship return, Pride & Prejudice speaks wistfully to the moment. Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy are