Colin Firth as Darcy in Pride and Prejudice

London, April 8: He is the handsome bachelor whose strong but silent demeanour has sent women’s hearts fluttering for generations.

But one academic thinks she has found the reason for Darcy’s tight-lipped manner — he was autistic.

A book claims that the hero of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, played by Colin Firth in the TV adaptation of the novel, suffered from the brain disorder that affects communication and interaction skills.

The text also suggests that Collins, the clergyman, was a sufferer and Lydia Bennet had attention deficit disorder.

Phyllis Ferguson Bottomer, a speech pathologist in Canada, analyses eight characters from Austen’s classic novel, in a book that teachers are being encouraged to use to liven up GCSE English lessons.

She argues that five characters from the Bennet family, and three from the Fitzwilliam clan, have fundamental difficulties with communication and empathy. It provides an explanation for some characters’ awkward behaviour at crowded balls, their frequent silences or the tendency to lapse into monologues rather than truly converse with others, she said.

Darcy’s “unaccountable rudeness” can be blamed on “high-functioning autism or Asperger’s syndrome”, which Austen wrote about without knowing what it was, it is claimed.

In her book, So Odd a Mixture, Bottomer quotes Austen’s description of Collins — “awkward and solemn, apologising instead of attending, and often moving wrong without being aware of it”.

The author says it epitomises “some of the coordination problems those on the autistic spectrum can have”. The squabbling Bennet couple are also said to be sufferers. Lydia, the heroine’s younger sister, is also described as having attention deficit disorder after she runs off with Wickham.

Bottomer told the Times Educational Supplement: “I hope it will help people understand the sometimes subtle challenges faced by those on the mild end of the autistic spectrum and serve as a reminder not to judge too quickly.”

The book, which the publishers hope will be used to provoke debate in schools, was dismissed by UK’s National Association for the Teaching of English as “wonderfully absurd”.

Bottomer’s conclusions came as it emerged that the number of A-level set texts will increase from eight to 12 under plans to make English literature exams more demanding.

Students will also have to analyse the cultural and political context of books in greater depth.

New works will include F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Evelyn Waugh’s A Handful of Dust and poetry by Wilfred Owen.