biography jane austen

Members Area

Join Us Support Us

Jane Austen: A brief biography

Jane Austen was born at the Rectory in Steventon , a village in north-east Hampshire, on 16th December 1775.

She was the seventh child and second daughter of the rector, the Revd George Austen, and his wife Cassandra (née Leigh). Of her brothers, two were clergymen, one inherited rich estates in Kent and Hampshire from a distant cousin and the two youngest became Admirals in the Royal Navy; her only sister, like Jane herself, never married.

Steventon Rectory was Jane Austen’s home for the first 25 years of her life. From here she travelled to Kent to stay with her brother Edward in his mansion at Godmersham Park near Canterbury, and she also had some shorter holidays in Bath , where her aunt and uncle lived. During the 1790s she wrote the first drafts of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey; her trips to Kent and Bath gave her the local colour for the settings of these last two books.

In 1801 the Revd George Austen retired, and he and his wife, with their two daughters Jane and Cassandra, left Steventon and settled in Bath.

The Austens rented No. 4 Sydney Place from 1801-1804, and then stayed for a few months at No. 3 Green Park Buildings East, where Mr. Austen died in 1805. While the Austens were based in Bath, they went on holidays to seaside resorts in the West Country, including Lyme Regis in Dorset – this gave Jane the background for Persuasion.

Jane fell ill in 1816 – possibly with Addison’s Disease – and in the summer of 1817 her family took her to Winchester for medical treatment. However, the doctor could do nothing for her, and she died peacefully on 18th July 1817 at their lodgings in No. 8 College Street. She was buried a few days later in the north aisle of Winchester Cathedral.

Jane’s novels reflect the world of the English country gentry of the period, as she herself had experienced it. Due to the timeless appeal of her amusing plots, and the wit and irony of her style, her works have never been out of print since they were first published, and are frequently adapted for stage, screen and television. Jane Austen is now one of the best-known and best-loved authors in the English-speaking world.

Profile of Jane Austen

Novelist of the Romantic Period

• Important Figures
• History Of Feminism
• Women's Suffrage
• Women & War
• Laws & Womens Rights
• Feminist Texts
• American History
• African American History
• African History
• Ancient History and Culture
• Asian History
• European History
• Latin American History
• Medieval & Renaissance History
• Military History
• The 20th Century
• B.A., Mundelein College
• M.Div., Meadville/Lombard Theological School

Known for: popular novels of the Romantic period

Dates: December 16, 1775 - July 18, 1817

About Jane Austen

Jane Austen's father, George Austen, was an Anglican clergyman, and raised his family in his parsonage. Like his wife, Cassandra Leigh Austen, he was descended from landed gentry that had become involved in manufacturing with the coming of the Industrial Revolution . George Austen supplemented his income as a rector with farming and with tutoring boys who boarded with the family. The family was associated with the Tories and maintained a sympathy for the Stuart succession rather than the Hanoverian.

Jane was sent for the first year or so of her life to stay with her wetnurse. Jane was close to her sister Cassandra, and letters to Cassandra that survive have helped later generations understand the life and work of Jane Austen.

As was usual for girls at the time, Jane Austen was educated primarily at home; her brothers, other than George, were educated at Oxford. Jane was well-read; her father had a large library of books including novels. From 1782 to 1783, Jane and her older sister Cassandra studied at the home of their aunt, Ann Cawley, returning after a bout with typhus, of which Jane nearly died. In 1784, the sisters were at a boarding school in Reading, but the expense was too great and the girls returned home in 1786.

Jane Austen began writing , about 1787, circulating her stories mainly to family and friends. On George Austen's retirement in 1800, he moved the family to Bath, a fashionable social retreat. Jane found the environment was not conducive to her writing, and wrote little for some years, though she sold her first novel while living there. The publisher held it from publication until after her death.

Marriage Possibilities

Jane Austen never married. Her sister, Cassandra, was engaged for a time to Thomas Fowle, who died in the West Indies and left her with a small inheritance. Jane Austen had several young men court her. One was Thomas Lefroy whose family opposed the match, another a young clergyman who suddenly died. Jane accepted the proposal of the wealthy Harris Bigg-Wither, but then withdrew her acceptance to the embarrassment of both parties and their families.

When George Austen died in 1805, Jane, Cassandra, and their mother moved first to the home of Jane's brother Francis, who was frequently away. Their brother, Edward, had been adopted as heir by a wealthy cousin; when Edward's wife died, he provided a home for Jane and Cassandra and their mother on his estate. It was at this home in Chawton where Jane resumed her writing. Henry, a failed banker who had become a clergyman like his father, served as Jane's literary agent.

Jane Austen died, probably of Addison's disease, in 1817. Her sister, Cassandra, nursed her during her illness. Jane Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Novels Published

Jane Austen's novels were first published anonymously; her name does not appear as author until after her death. Sense and Sensibility was written "By a Lady," and posthumous publications of Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were credited simply to the author of Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park . Her obituaries disclosed that she had written the books, as does her brother Henry's "Biographical Notice" in editions of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion .

Juvenilia were published posthumously.

• Northanger Abbey  - sold 1803, not published until 1819
• Sense and Sensibility  - published 1811 but Austen had to pay the printing costs
• Pride and Prejudice  - 1812
• Mansfield Park  - 1814
• Emma  - 1815
• Persuasion  - 1819
• Father: George Austen, Anglican clergyman, died 1805
• Mother: Cassandra Leigh
• James, also a Church of England clergyman
• George, institutionalized, disability uncertain: may have been mental retardation, may have been deafness
• Henry, banker then Anglican clergyman, served as Jane's agent with her publishers
• Francis and Charles, fought in the Napoleonic wars, became admirals
• Edward, adopted as heir by a wealthy cousin, Thomas Knight
• older sister Cassandra (1773 - 1845) who also never married
• Aunt: Ann Cawley; Jane Austen and her sister Cassandra studied at her home 1782-3
• Aunt: Jane Leigh Perrot, who hosted the family for a time after George Austen retired
• Cousin: Eliza, Comtesse of Feuillide, whose husband was guillotined during the Reign of Terror in France, and who later married Henry

Selected Quotations

"For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?"

"The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all — it is very tiresome."

"Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery."

"One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other."

"A woman, especially if she has the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can."

"One cannot be always laughing at a man without now and then stumbling on something witty."

"If there is anything disagreeable going on men are always sure to get out of it."

"What strange creatures brothers are!"

"A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment."

"Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure to be kindly spoken of."

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."

"If a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to Yes, she ought to say No, directly."

"It is always incomprehensible to a man that a woman should refuse an offer of marriage."

"Why not seize the pleasure at once? How often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparation!"

"Nothing is more deceitful than the appearance of humility. It is often only carelessness of opinion, and sometimes an indirect boast."

"Man is more robust than woman, but he is not longer lived; which exactly explains my view of the nature of their attachments."

"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them."

"One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it unless it has all been suffering, nothing but suffering."

"Those who do not complain are never pitied."

"It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy. May I ask whether these pleasing attentions proceed from the impulse of the moment, or are the result of previous study?"

"From politics, it was an easy step to silence."

"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of."

"It is very difficult for the prosperous to be humble."

"How quick come the reasons for approving what we like!"

"...as the clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the nation."

"...the soul is of no sect, no party: it is, as you say, our passions and our prejudices, which give rise to our religious and political distinctions."

"You ought certainly to forgive them as a Christian, but never to admit them in your sight, or allow their names to be mentioned in your hearing."

• A Timeline of Jane Austen Works
• 'Sense and Sensibility' Quotes
• 'Pride and Prejudice' Overview
• 'Pride and Prejudice' Characters: Descriptions and Significance
• 'Pride and Prejudice' Summary
• 42 Must-Read Feminist Female Authors
• Jane Eyre Study Guide
• Biography of Charlotte Brontë
• Biography of Calamity Jane, Legendary Figure of the Wild West
• Quotes from Abolitionist and Feminist Angelina Grimké
• 'Jane Eyre' Questions for Study and Discussion
• 'Pride and Prejudice' Quotes Explained
• An Introduction to the Romantic Period
• Sophia Peabody Hawthorne
• Biography of Anne Brontë, English Novelist
• Individuality and Self-Worth: Feminist Accomplishment in Jane Eyre

Jane Austen

"let other pens dwell on guilt and misery." - jane austen.

• Catalog and Account Guide
• Ask a Librarian
• Website Feedback
• Log In / Register
• My Library Dashboard
• My Borrowing
• Checked Out
• Borrowing History
• ILL Requests
• My Collections
• For Later Shelf
• Completed Shelf
• In Progress Shelf
• My Settings

Jane Austen Biography

It is said that Jane Austen lived a quiet life. Only a few of her manuscripts remain in existence and the majority of her correspondence was either burned or heavily edited by her sister, Cassandra, shortly before she died. As a result, the details that are known about her are rare and inconsistent. What can be surmised through remaining letters and personal acquaintances is that she was a woman of stature, humor and keen intelligence. Family remembrances of Austen portray her in a kind, almost saintly light, but critics who have studied her books and the remnants of her letters believe she was sharper than her family wished the public to think.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire on December 16, 1775 and grew up in a tight-knit family. She was the seventh of eight children, with six brothers and one sister. Her parents, George Austen and Cassandra Leigh, were married in 1764. Her father was an orphan but with the help of a rich uncle he attended school and was ordained by the Church of England. Subsequently, he was elevated enough in social standing to provide Cassandra a worthy match whose family was of a considerably higher social status. In 1765, they moved to Steventon, a village in north Hampshire, about 60 miles southwest of London, where her father was appointed rector.

Like their father, two of Austen’s older brothers, James and Henry, were ordained and spent most of their lives in the Church of England. Of all her brothers, Austen was closest to Henry; he served as her agent, and then after her death, as her biographer. George, the second oldest son, was born mentally deficient and spent the majority of his life in institutions. The third son, Edward, was adopted by their father’s wealthy cousin, Thomas Knight, and eventually inherited the Knight estate in Chawton, where Austen would later complete most of her novels. Cassandra, Austen’s only sister, was born in 1773. Austen and Cassandra were close friends and companions throughout their entire lives. It is through the remaining letters to Cassandra that biographers are able to piece Austen’s life together. The two youngest Austen boys, Francis and Charles, both served in the Navy as highly decorated admirals.

When Austen was 7, she and Cassandra were sent to Oxford to attend school but sometime later the girls came down with typhus and were brought back to Steventon. When Austen was 9 they attended the Abbey School in Reading. Shortly after enrolling however, the girls were withdrawn, because their father could no longer afford tuition. Though this completed their formal schooling, the girls continued their education at home, with the help of their brothers and father.

The Austens often read aloud to one another. This evolved into short theatrical performances that Austen had a hand in composing. The Austen family plays were performed in their barn and were attended by family members and a few close neighbors. By the age of 12, Austen was writing for herself as well as for her family. She wrote poems and several parodies of the dramatic fiction that was popular at the time, such as History of England and Love and Freindship [sic]. She then compiled and titled them: Volume the First , Volume the Second and Volume the Third .

Austen is said to have looked like her brother Henry, with bright hazel eyes and curly hair, over which she always wore a cap. She won the attention of a young Irish gentleman named Tom Lefroy. Unfortunately, Lefroy was in a position that required him to marry into money. He later married an heiress and became a prominent political figure in Ireland.

In 1795, when she was 20, Austen entered a productive phase and created what was later referred to as her “First Trilogy.” Prompted by increasing social engagements and flirtations, she began writing Elinor and Marianne , a novel in letters, which would eventually be reworked and retitled Sense and Sensibility . The following year, she wrote First Impressions , which was rejected by a publisher in 1797. It was the first version of Pride and Prejudice . She began another novel in 1798, titled Susan , which evolved into Northanger Abbey .

The Austens lived happily in Steventon until 1801, when her father suddenly announced he was moving the family to Bath. Austen was unhappy with the news. At the time, Bath was a resort town for the nearly wealthy with many gossips and social climbers. As they traveled that summer, however, she fell in love with a young clergyman who promised to meet them at the end of their journey. Several months later he fell ill and died.

Bath was difficult for Austen. She started but did not finish The Watsons and had a hard time adjusting to social demands. She accepted a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither, the son of an old family friend, but changed her mind the next day. A few years later, in 1805, her father died, leaving Jane, Cassandra and their mother without enough money to live comfortably. As a result, the Austen women relied on the hospitality of friends and family until they were permanently relocated to a cottage in Chawton, Hampshire, belonging to her brother Edward Austen-Knight. There, Austen began the most productive period of her life, publishing several books and completing her “Second Trilogy.”

Austen finished the final drafts of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice in 1811. They were published shortly after and she immediately set to work on Mansfield Park . In 1814, Mansfield Park was published and Emma was started. By this time, Austen was gaining some recognition for her writing, despite the fact that neither Sense and Sensibility or Pride and Prejudice were published under her name.

Austen began showing symptoms of illness while she worked on Persuasion , her last completed novel. It was published with Northanger Abbey after her death. Unknown at the time, Austen most likely suffered from Addison’s disease, whose symptoms include fever, back pain, nausea and irregular skin pigmentation. On her deathbed, when asked by her sister Cassandra if there was anything she required, she requested only “death itself.” She died at the age of 41 on July 18, 1817 with her sister at her side.

Jane Austen’s Enduring Popularity

When asked why Jane Austen’s works are so popular, Richard Jenkyns, author of A Fine Brush on Ivory: An Appreciation of Jane Austen and descendant of Austen’s older brother, said: “I don’t think it’s nostalgia for the past and all those empire-line dresses and britches tight on the thigh, all that sort of thing. I guess that she is popular because she is modern… I think her popularity is in her representing a world, in its most important aspects, that we know.”

Although living in a world that seems remote in time and place, Jane Austen’s characters have experiences and emotions that are familiar to us. They misjudge people based on appearances, they’re embarrassed by their parents, they flirt and they fall in love. Her characters face social restrictions that can be translated into any environment, from a California high school in Clueless to an interracial romance in Bride and Prejudice . The critical and commercial success of the numerous recent film and television adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels, including nine of Pride and Prejudice , testifies to her timeless and universal appeal. Yet they fail to fully capture the genius of her writing. She was a great writer, a sharp wit and a wonderful satirist.

Takeoffs of Austen’s work, such as Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary and Clueless , have been huge successes. A number of sequels to Pride and Prejudice have been written such as Lady Catherine’s Necklace by Joan Aiken; Mr. Darcy’s Daughters by Elizabeth Aston; and Pemberley: or Pride and Prejudice Continued by Emma Tennant. Other novels such as Karen Joy Fowler’s The Jane Austen Book Club and Kate Fenton’s Vanity and Vexation: A Novel of Pride and Prejudice have contemporary settings using Austen’s characters or plots.

In The Eye of the Story , Eudora Welty wrote that Austen’s novels withstand time because “they pertain not to the outside world but to the interior, to what goes on perpetually in the mind and heart.” Perhaps, for these reasons, Austen’s work continues to fascinate, entertain and inspire us.

• Tucker, George Holbert. Jane Austen the Woman . St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
• Laski, Marghanita. Jane Austen and Her World . Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.
• “Jane Austen.” Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography, Volume 3: Writers of the Romantic Period, 1789-1832 . Gale Research, 1992.

Content last updated: October 31, 2005

Related Information

Powered by BiblioCommons.

BiblioWeb: webapp06 Version 4.19.0 Last updated 2024/05/07 09:49

British Literature Wiki

Jane Austen

Jane austen (1775-1817).

The Anti-Romantic?

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 and into a middle-class family in Steventon, Hampshire. She was the seventh of eight children born to Rev. George Austen and his wife Cassandra.

Austen was taught briefly by Mrs. Cawley in 1783, and later, accompanied her sister to the Abbey Boarding School in Reading from 1785-1786 (Pemberley); Aside from one year of formal schooling, she was educated at home. Her father’s library consisted of about 500 books, which she regularly perused, and reputedly, she was particularly fond of works by Henry Fielding, Samuel Richardson, Fanny Burney (Biography, Pemberley) and William Cowper (Literature Post).

Austen started writing at an early age and completed her first novel, Love and Friendship , at age 14 (JASA). The book was succeeded by A History of England by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant Historian (JASA), which was never published. Although her father greatly encouraged and supported her writing, Austen was very self-conscious and, supposedly, hid pages under the desk plotter if anyone came into the room and discovered her writing (JASA).

When Austen wasn’t engaged in reading and writing, she frequently attended parties and balls in Hampshire, and she visited London, Bath and Southampton to see concerts and plays. Although she never married, Jane did have love interests–most noteworthy Thomas Lefroy. A law student, who later became the Chief Justice of Ireland, Lefroy is frequently mentioned in Austen’s letters to her sister Cassandra. However strong the attachment was between them, Lefroy couldn’t afford to marry Austen, and the relationship dissolved.

In addition, when Austen and her sister stayed with a friend in Manydown in December 1802, she was proposed to by her friend’s brother, a wealthy landowner named Harris Bigg-Wither. Austen accepted, but a day later, thought better of her decision. She and her sister Cassandra ran away from Manydown and to her brother James, who was residing at the old, family home in Steventon. Austen’s unexpected departure ended the engagement and Austen’s romantic life as viewed by most scholars.

After the death of her father in 1806, Austen, her mother, and Cassandra moved about the country, settling for some time in Bath, Clifton, Southampton, and Portsmouth. Faced with financial difficulties, the women eventually moved in with Austen’s brother Edward at the Chawton Estate in Hampshire. At some point after, she later returned to Steventon and lived with her brother James. While Jane stayed at Chawton and Steventon, she published the following novels:

• Sense and Sensibility (1810-1811)
• Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1815)
• Persuasion (1816)
• Northanger Abbey (1817)
• Sandition (Unfinished)

Between 1815 and 1817, Jane became increasingly ill and eventually moved to moved to Winchester for medical treatment. Her last novel, Sandition , was left unfinished, the writing interrupted by her death on July 18, 1817 from Addison’s Disease. Her body was buried in the Winchester Cathedral.

Austen’s works were generally well-received by her contemporaries. As Sir Walter Scott wrote in 1846, “‘That young lady had a talent for describing the involvement and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going, but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting from the truth of the description and the sentiment is denied to me'” (Jane Austen’s Art, Pemberley). Andrew Trollope was also an admirer of Austen’s work and remarked, “‘Miss Austen was surely a great novelist. What she did, she did perfectly. Her work, as far as it goes, is faultless. She wrote of the times in which she lived, of the class of people with which she associated, and in the language which was usual to her as an educated lady. Of romance, — what we generally mean when we speak of romance — she had no tinge. Heroes and heroines with wonderful adventures there are none in her novels. Of great criminals and hidden crimes she tells us nothing. But she places us in a circle of gentlemen and ladies, and charms us while she tells us with an unconscious accuracy how men should act to women, and women act to men. It is not that her people are all good; — and, certainly, they are not all wise. The faults of some are the anvils on which the virtues of others are hammered till they are bright as steel. In the comedy of folly I know no novelist who has beaten her,'” (Jane Austen’s Art, Pemberley).

However, as odd as it might seem, Charlotte Bronte detested Austen’s works. In a letter to George Lewes in 1848, Bronte described Austen’s Pride & Prejudice as “An accurate daguerrotyped [photographed] portrait of a commonplace face; a carefully fenced, highly cultivated garden, with neat borders and delicate flowers; but no glance of a bright vivid physiognomy, no open country, no fresh air, no blue hill, no bonny beck [stream]. I should hardly like to live with her ladies and gentlemen, in their elegant but confined houses. These observations will probably irritate you. but I shall run the risk . . . Now I can understand admiration of George Sand . . . she has a grasp of mind which, if I cannot fully comprehend, I can very deeply respect: she is sagacious and profound; Miss Austen is only shrewd and observant” (Jane Austen’s Art, Pemberley).

Perhaps Charlotte Bronte disliked Jane Austen because she wrote “daguerrotyped portraits of the commonplace” and not deep, sentimental novels like the ones Bronte wrote herself. Was Jane Austen a Romantic? This is an issue that needs much exploration and will hopefully be answered, in part, by looking at the outcome of two of Jane Austen’s Romantic heroines: Marianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility and Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey .

Sense and Sensibility

Marianne Dashwood, the Hopeless Romantic

In Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility , Marianne –the “sentimental” Dashwood sister– is ridiculed by the narrator (presumably Austen herself) and her sister Elinor for being over-Romantic. In the introduction, Marianne is described in the following way: “She [is] sensible and clever, but eager in everything; her sorrows [and] her joys [can] have no moderation. She [is] generous, amiable [and] interesting: she [is] everything but p rudent” (5). Marianne is intense and passionate in everything she does, and is so exaggeratingly emotional, that by modern-standards she would be the quintessential “drama-queen.” Marianne has taken the ardent, fiery emotion delineated in Romantic poetry and integrated it into her own personality and life. Marianne has become a living work of Romantic art, but through the course of the novel, Marianne learns that she must be sensible and pragmatic to function in the real-world.

Marianne is not content on just being Romantic herself, she passes judgment on other characters and degrades them for not sharing in her intense passion. As she remarks about Edward Ferrars:

“[H]e is not the kind of young man…who could seriously attach my sister [Elinor]. His eyes want all that spirit, that fire, which at once announce virtue and intelligence. And besides all this… he has no real taste. Music seems scarcely to attract him, and though he admires Elinor’s drawings very much, it is not the admiration of a person who can understand their worth…He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur. To satisfy me, those characters must be united. I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same books, the same music must charm us both. O mamma! how spiritless, how tame was Edward’s manner in reading to us last night… To hear [Cowper’s] beautiful lines, which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!” (9-10).

Edward is a good-hearted, respectable, but albeit shy young man who earnestly loves Elinor, but he only engages in as much emotion as conventionally proper in 18th century society. This does not satisfy Marianne… but then again, nothing does.

However, while Marianne is sentimental, this does not necessarily imply that she is a Romantic. However, Marianne not only has a deep appreciation for Romantic poetry (ie. Cowper and Scott), but what she also creates improvised Romantic poetry in her everyday speech, indicating that she has integrated Romantic ideas into her psyche. An example of this “improvised Romantic poetry” is Marianne’s farewell ode to Norland. “O happy house!” she says, “could you know what I suffer in now viewing you from this spot, from whence perhaps I may view you no more! and you, ye wellknown trees! but you will continue the same. No leaf will decay because we are removed, nor any branch become motionless although we can observe you no longer! No; you will continue the same; unconscious of the pleasure or the regret you occasion, and insensible of any change in those who walk under your shade! But who will remain to enjoy you?” (14). Like a Romantic poet, Marianne uses Nature to touch on some deeper, transcendental thought– in this case how the trees around Norland continue to exist and time continue to pass after the Dashwoods are gone. In addition, in a conversation with Edward Ferrars and Elinor, Marianne makes an interesting remark which demonstrates that she is a connoisseur of Romantic Poetry and dislikes any amateur attempts at creating it. (See Marianne’s Appreciation of Landscape .) While Edward unknowingly describes the countryside in Romantic terms, Marianne scoffs and says “ admiration of landscape scenery is become a mere jargon. Every body pretends to feel and tries to describe with the taste and elegance of him who first defined what picturesque beauty was” (46). Edward, who Marianne has already labeled spiritless and dull, is putting landscape in Romantic poetry to shame by his improvised adaptation of it. Marianne knows good Romantic poetry, and Edward’s landscape descriptions have fallen short of it.

Austen’s final opinion on Romanticism is Sense and Sensibility is ultimately determined by Marianne’s downfall and recovery. Willoughby, who Marianne believed to be the love her life, betrays her and marries a wealthier woman. He never intended to court Marianne, and if she had made sure Willoughby was courting her without sucking him into the Romantic love story she had planned for them, he would not have gotten trapped and had to betray her later. After mourning the loss of her “beloved,” inconstant Willoughby to the point of making herself ill, Marianne falls in love with Colonel Brandon, an older, self-sacrificing, sensible man who stood on the sidelines while Marianne willingly gave her heart to his competitor (Willoughby). Marianne’s experience and the influence of Colonel Brandon transform her into a pragmatic, sensible woman who still has an appreciation for the Romantic, but learns where to separate art from reality.

Is it a coincidence that Marianne can only find happiness when she becomes less Romantic and more sensible? I think not. In Sense and Sensibility , Jane Austen uses Marianne to show the dangers of Romantic poetry and what happens when people try to live the “Romantic life.”

Northanger Abbey

A Parody of the Romantic, Gothic Novel

One form of art connected with Romanticism is the Gothic novel. After the publication of Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto in 1765, which was considered the first English Gothic Novel, this genre became increasingly popular. All of these novels are set in dark, deserted places that were once splendid and beautiful, but have since fallen into states of decay. Examples of Gothic settings are castles, abbeys, the moors, old mansions, ruined buildings, and essentially any dark, shadowy places that evoke feelings of horror and suspicion. The decay of the setting is often representative of the moral degeneration of civilization also supported by the plot. Like the Romantic poets (and Rousseau) who observed Nature and desired to go back to the simple, uncorrupt Golden Age before society, the setting of Gothic literature shows how corrupt the world had become.

The plot of the Gothic Novel tends to follow a specific format: The heroine of the novel — a weak, curious, “damsel-in-distress” type character prone to fainting — becomes isolated in one of the aforementioned dark, mysterious places. She gets seduced by the villain and is either murdered, tortured, or raped. Generally the villain destroys the virtue of the heroine, but she soon gets rescued by the hero of the work– usually a character previously introduced earlier in the novel, but only as a supporting character. The heroine is freed from danger and lives happily ever after with her rescuer.

If Northanger Abbey were a Gothic Novel, here are how two potential Gothic plots would work out:

However, Northanger Abbey is only a parody of a Gothic novel, and all of these potential plots fall through.

From the start, Catherine Morland is set up as the anti-heroine. As Austen writes, “No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be a heroine. Her situation in life, the character of her father and mother her own person and disposition, were all equally against her” (3). Catherine’s family was neither rich nor poor, she lived happily with nine other siblings, and nothing about her family’s circumstances would nurture the characteristics of a heroine. Austen also writes:

“She had a thin awkward figure, a sallow skin without colour, dark lank hair, and strong features; -so much for her person;- and not less unpropitious for heroism seemed her mind . . . [she] greatly preferred cricket not merely to dolls, but to the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a doormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush . . . [and] for with all [the] symptoms of profligacy at ten years old, she had neither a bad heart nor a bad temper; was seldom stubborn, scarcely ever quarrelsome, and very kind to the little ones, with a few interruptions of tyranny; she was moreover noisy and wild, hated confinement and cleanliness, and loved nothing so well in the world as rolling down the green slope at the back of the house” (3-4).

These are not the characteristics of a weak, Gothic heroine. As Catherine grew older, she became more like a heroine –beautiful, feminine, and fine– but despite the transitory moments of brainlessness and curious nature, but she doesn’t quite fit into the mold of the classic, gothic heroine.

Unlike Marianne Dashwood, Catherine is more interested in the Augustan writers than the Romantic ones. Among her favorites Augustans are Alexander Pope, Thomas Gray, and James Thompson (5). It was only after becoming acquainted with Isabella Thorpe that Catherine becomes interested in Gothic novelists like Anne Radcliffe. This new interest leads to a series of conversations about gothic novels and novels in general, which may be Jane Austen voicing her opinions through her characters and the narrator. The narrator writes that while the public considers novels inferior art forms and guilty pleasures, they are really works of genius that say a great deal about the human condition. In addition, they aren’t just for women, and the more “horrid” the novel, the better. To look at specific passages on Gothic novels, please see the Northanger Abbey and the Discussion of Novels page .

When General Tilney asks Catherine to stay with his family at Northanger Abbey, Catherine is enraptured and thinks that circumstances have thrown her into a Gothic plot. The Abbey’s “long, damp passages, its narrow cells and ruined chapel, were to be within her daily reach, and she could not entirely subdue the hope of some traditional legends, some awful memorials of an injured and ill-fated nun” (115). Henry Tilney, knowing Catherine’s interest in the Gothic, raises her expectations and frightens her with a mock-Gothic story about what her stay will be like. (See Tilney’s Description of Northanger Abbey ).

However, upon visiting Northanger Abbey, Catherine’s hopes to find a Gothic setting are let down. “[S]o low did the building stand, that [Catherine] found herself passing through the great gates of the lodge into the very grounds of Northanger, without having discerned even an antique chimney” (133). The lodges were “of a modern appearance,” the road a “smooth, level road of fine gravel,” and “the breeze had not seemed to waft the sighs of the murdered to her; it had wafted nothing worse than a thick mizzling rain… The furniture was in all the profusion and elegance of modern taste. The fire-place, where she had expected the ample width and ponderous carving of former times, was contracted to a Rumford, with slabs of plain though handsome marble, and ornaments over it of the prettiest English china. The windows, to which she looked with peculiar dependence . . . were yet less what her fancy had portrayed. To be sure, the pointed arch was preserved–the form of them was Gothic–they might be even casements–but every pane was so large, so clear, so light! To an imagination which had hoped for the smallest divisions, and the heaviest stone-work, for painted glass, dirt and cobwebs, the difference was distressing” (133-134). Northanger Abbey lacked all the haunted corridors and secret passages that Catherine expected; instead, it was an average, modern dwelling. In this, Austen is making the statement that ordinary, unheroic people like Catherine Morland shouldn’t fear Gothic-novels or long to be in them. Realistically, finding onself in a Gothic-setting is highly unlikely.

However, some of Catherine’s Gothic expectations do come true. For instance, she becomes alarmed by a mysterious chest near to the fireplace similar to the one Henry described (136). After struggling to open it, even being caught in the act by a maid-servant, Catherine finally opens the chest only to find a far-from-ghastly, white, cotton counterpane. A few nights later during a thunderstorm, Catherine discovers an old-fashioned black cabinet that also met Henry Tilney’s description. Frightened out of her wits and with her heart pounding, Catherine manages to open the cabinet to find “a roll of paper pushed back into the furthest part of the cavity, apparently for concealment” (140). This manuscript which caused Catherine so much alarm was merely a washing-bill (142). Once again, Jane Austen parodies the gothic novel and allows the potential gothic-plots to fall through to Catherine’s embarrassment.

The climax of this novel and Austen’s final statement about the unreality of Gothic-plot surrounds Catherine’s investigation of Mrs. Tilney’s room. After receiving a tour of the house from Eleanor and the General, Eleanor leads Catherine to “a narrower passage, more numerous openings, and symptoms of a winding staircase” (154). The General prevents Eleanor from showing Catherine the room, and this, to Catherine, suggests there is some deep-secret associated with the room that General Tilney wants to hide. It turns out that the room in question is the late Mrs. Tilney’s room. Catherine has suspicions about the circumstances of Mrs. Tilney’s death, for Eleanor was away from home at the time, and the General seems very adamant about preventing Catherine’s examination of it. This leads Catherine, who’s mind is already prone to Gothic-ideas, to believe that Mrs. Tilney may still be alive and held captive in her room. “Could it be possible?,” she wonders to herself, “Could Henry’s father?—And yet how many were the examples to justify even the blackest suspicions!–And then when she saw him in the evening, while she worked with her friend, slowly pacing the drawing-room for an hour together in silent thoughtfulness, with downcast eyes and contracted brow, she felt secure from all possibility of wronging him. It was the air and attitude of a Montoni!” (155). Montoni is villain in Anne Radcliffe’s Mysteries of Udolpho , and it is no coincidence that that Catherine makes the comparison between the two characters. The gothic novel, like Romanticism for Marianne, has shaped Catherine’s perception. While it is absurd and very unlikely, Catherine really believes General Tilney capable of imprisoning his wife!

A few nights later when the General retires to bed early to look at pamphlets, Catherine’s becomes even more suspicious. “To be kept up for hours, after the family were in bed, by stupid pamphlets, was not very likely,” she notes. “There must be some deeper cause; something was to be done which could be done only when the household slept; and the probability which could be done only while the household slept; and the probability that Mrs. Tilney yet lived, shut up for causes unknown, and receiving from the pitiless hands of her husband a nightly supply of coarse food, was the conclusion which necessarily followed” (156). Assured that Mrs. Tilney is locked in her bedroom, Catherine decides to explore the room the next day when General Tilney is on his walk.

Catherine explores Mrs. Tilney’s room (See Climax and Dissolution of Gothic Plot ) only to find great disappointment, and even greater embarrassment. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the room, and contrary to what she thought, the room is not hidden –Henry Tilney enters it while walking from his stables to his room. Even worse, Henry dissolves Catherine’s suspicions about Mrs. Tilney being alive. Although Eleanor was away from home at the time, Henry was present when Mrs. Tilney died. Offended that Catherine could think that his father could harm his mother, Henry puts Catherine straight and tells her that the atrocities found in Gothic novels do not happen in England. Catherine has let herself be too swayed with what she has read, and as a result, has lost her sense of reality and passed judgment on an (at that point) blameless person. Catherine is ashamed at herself, and at this point, the final, potential, Gothic-plot is dissolved. The narrator concludes:

“Charming as were all Mrs. Radcliffe’s works, and charming even as were the works of all her imitators, it was not in them perhaps that human nature, at least in the midland counties of England, was to be looked for . . . in the central part of England, there was surely some security for the existence even of a wife not beloved, in the laws of the land, and the manners of the age. Murder was not tolerated, servants were not slaves, and neither poison nor sleeping potions to be procured, like rhubarb, from every druggist” (166).

This is Austen’s final statement on Gothic novels, and the end to which all of Catherine’s misadventures have led. While they may be entertaining, Gothic novels are an allegorical, not a realistic, reflection on life. To a person who cannot see the line between fact and fiction, Gothic novels can even be dangerous once innocent people get blamed for monstrous crimes they did not commit.

In Conclusion:

Both Marianne and Catherine must learn to be sensible, rational women in order to achieve happiness. Both must give up their Romantic fantasies and settle into an unspectacular, banal existence. This may lead one initially to believe (myself included) that Austen was opposed to Romanticism and more interested in realistic “daguerrotyped portraits of the commonplace.” However, I think Austen may have had other thoughts in mind– She admires Romanticism and the Gothic novel so long as they remain in their medium, but once their motifs leap off the page and into the minds of sensitive readers and alter their perceptions of reality, they become dangerous. Austen’s is neither Romantic nor Un-romantic; she is a Mock-Romantic. Austen creates Romantic plots only to satirize them, making her more like an Augustan Age writer than a Romantic one.

Works Cited: Images: Portrait of Jane Austen . 1873. Duyckinick, Evert A. Portrait Gallery of Eminent Men and Women in Europe and America, New York. 4 May 2008 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen Hugh Thomson, “He cut off a long lock of hair.” Project Gutenberg. 31 May 2008 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/8/3/21839/21839-h/21839-h.htm

Biographical Information: About Jane Austen- Her Life and Her Novels.” Jane Austen Society of Australia . 4 May 2008 http://www.jasa.net.au/jabiog.htm “Biography: Life (1775-1817) and Family). The Republic of Pemberley . 4 May 2008 http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janelife.html “Jane Austen’s Art and her Literary Reputation.” The Republic of Pemperley . 28 May 2008 http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeart.html “Jane Austen Biography.” Literature Post . 4 May 2008 http://www.literaturepost.com/authors/Austen.html

Jane Austen and Romanticism: Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey . New York: Modern Library: 2002. Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. In The Works of Jane Austen . Ann Arbor, MI: Borders Classics, 2000.

Information on the Gothic Novel: Melani, Lilia. “The Gothic Experience.” Brooklyn College Website . 24 Oct. 2002. 30 May 2008 http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/gothic/gothic.html De Vore, David, Anne Domenic, Alexandra Kwan, and Nicole Reidy. “The Gothic Novel.” University of California Davis . 30 May 2008 http://cai.ucdavis.edu/waters-sites/gothicnovel/155breport.html

Jane Austen: A Biography

Jane austen 1775 – 1817.

The Jane Austen Centre’s website states: ‘Jane Austen is perhaps the best known and best loved of Bath’s many famous residents and visitors.’

One wonders at the restraint in that, considering that Jane Austen is indisputably one of the greatest English writers – some say the greatest after Shakespeare – and certainly the greatest English novelist and one of the most famous English women who ever lived. The insights found in Jane Austen’s quotes from her many works is very impressive.

A mark of her genius is that she was there near the beginning of the novel’s emergence as a literary form, and all of her novels, including the earliest of them, written when she was very young, are perfectly formed. No English novelist has since bettered them and the novel hasn’t developed much since her definitive examples of the form. That is amazing when one thinks about how the other art forms –painting, music, architecture – fall out of fashion with each generation, and give way to new forms. And also when one thinks about how many novels have been written since hers.

Jane Austen – a portrait by her sister Cassandra

One has to ask why it is that her novels have lasted and are still widely read. One thing is certain: when one settles down with a Jane Austen novel one can be sure that there are going to be hours of pleasure and a lot of chuckling.

Jane Austen prods away at the social conventions of her time and how they fashion and condition the English landed gentry, the people she socialised with and whom she observed closely. She reveals the little preoccupations and concerns of the ladies and the gentlemen and the young women in those circles, and she leads us to laugh at them. Sometimes the goading is gentle and sometimes it’s savage. And every novel tells a gripping story, full of tension, with mysteries where we are kept waiting for their final resolution, when everything falls into place – very much like the best detective novels of our time.

As with Shakespeare, Chaucer and Dickens, the other main English humourists,  her characters are highly memorable. We all know Elizabeth Bennett and Mr Darcy, Emma Woodhouse and Mr Knightly, and poor little Catherine Morland. And on another level, the immortal comic characters led by Mrs Bennett and including Sir Walter Elliot, Mr Collins, Mrs Elton and Mr Woodhouse, among many others.

It is difficult to pin down what it is that Jane Austen does with language to create that combination of humour and penetrating insight. It has something to do with the way she constructs sentences – all perfectly balanced and often with a sting in the tail, and a style of narration in which the variety of points of view of the different characters tell the story. It is perhaps that latter characteristic that makes her such a modern writer – indeed, a postmodern writer – as her stories are usually told with her pretending to be the narrator, but she is not, and we fall into the trap of taking her narrator seriously. With that narrative style she is able to reveal and ridicule the manners of her society.

Her novels always have a young woman at their centre – a young woman with romantic dreams and hopes about meeting and marrying her perfect man. The heroine always does, although only after a  series of ups and downs, near misses and multiple misunderstandings.

On the surface, the novels resemble modern romantic boy-meets-girl fiction or ‘chicklit.’ Jane Austen uses that plot but her exploration of people, their class and their community while doing so goes very far beyond the novels that are read for their romantic story alone.

We have an image of Jane Austen as a spinster who lived quietly with her mother and sister and wrote her novels in semi-secrecy, hiding her pages away if she heard anyone approaching while she was writing. Most of what we know about her was written by family members after her death and so we know only the sweet, quiet, ‘Aunt Jane.’ Someone with her intelligence and sharpness must have been much more than that.

She was the daughter of George Austen, the vicar of the Anglican parish of Steventon in Hampshire. She had six brothers and one sister, Cassandra, to whom she was very close. The family did not have enough money to send her to school so she was educated at home, where she read a great deal, directed by her father and brothers Henry and James. She also experimented with writing little stories from early childhood and one can still read her juvenilia, which has been collected by various editors.

Jane Austen died on 18 th July 1817 at the age of 41. We do not have an accurate diagnosis of the cause of her death but medical researchers think it may have been the rare disease, Addison’s disease of the suprarenal glands.

Read more about England’s top writers >> Read biographies of the 30 greatest writers ever >>

Interested in Jane Austen? If so you can get some additional free information by visiting our friends over at PoemAnalysis to read their analysis of Jane Austen’s poetic works .

i m inspired by the words written about her,each line stays alive in my heart,really speaking i have not yet read her novels but in future i will

I really wonder about her intelligence. I also want to read her novels.

Leave a Reply

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Jane Austen: A Life

Childhood and education.

Jane Austen was born in 1775 and grew up in the small Hampshire village of Steventon, where her father was a Church of England clergyman. The Austen household was large, with eight children – six boys and two girls – as well as additional pupils, for Rev. George Austen supplemented his clerical income by taking in boy pupils as boarders. There was also a small farm, to supply the family with meat and vegetables, and there were maids and manservants to help with the work.

At age six, Jane and her elder sister Cassandra went away to school, first in Oxford and then in Southampton – however they were swiftly brought home when a ‘putrid fever’ broke out in the town and both girls became ill. From 1785-6 they attended the Abbey House School in Reading, where they were taught writing, spelling, French, history, geography, needlework, drawing, music and dancing. After this, their education was undertaken privately at home.

Whilst their formal education was scanty, the girls were given unrestricted access to their father’s extensive library; its books instilled Jane’s lifelong love of reading.

Pencil Drawing of Steventon Rectory drawn from side view by Ben Lefroy, dated 1820. ©Jane Austen’s House

Teenage writings

As a family the Austens were highly literate and creative, delighting in games, acting and writing. Many years later, Jane’s niece Anna described their charm as ‘all the fun and nonsense of a large and clever family’. In this atmosphere the young Jane Austen began writing, and between the ages of 11 and 17 she wrote a series of stories, sketches and fragments to entertain her family and friends.

Those that survive are held in three notebooks, in Jane’s original handwriting, inscribed respectively Volume the First, Volume the Second and Volume the Third , in conscious imitation of a contemporary novel.  These notebooks are now among the national treasures held in the British Library, London, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

Jane’s teenage stories are spoofs, imitations and parodies of the kinds of books she was reading at the time: schoolroom textbooks and her favourite fiction. The teenage stories are full of action; in them, girls behave badly, eat too much, get drunk, steal money, get into fights and run off with each other’s fiancés.

Although at first they seem to be worlds away from her mindful and sedate adult novels, these early writings are clearly where she found her voice. They are little experiments in the art of novel writing, and full of clues about what was to come.

(Visit our Teenage Writing Hub to find out more)

Moving to Bath and Southampton

In 1801, when Jane was 25, her father retired and moved with his wife and two daughters to Bath. After spending the majority of her life in rural Hampshire, this removal was a great upheaval and a dramatic change of lifestyle for Jane. In Bath, once a stylish spa town but by then past its fashionable best, she attended balls and concerts, and visited the Pump Room and the Theatre Royal. Over the next few years the family also took holidays to Devon and Dorset, where Jane enjoyed coastal walks and sea bathing.

In 1805, Rev Austen died suddenly, leaving his wife and two daughters with a much reduced income. They were forced to rent smaller and less comfortable lodgings, and the following year they moved to Southampton, where they lived with their friend Martha Lloyd and with their brother Frank’s new wife, Mary, whilst Frank himself was away at sea. Money was tight, and the ladies stretched a small income as far as they could.

The eight years they spent in Bath and Southampton, or on long visits to relatives, were an unsettled time, reflected in Jane’s productivity as a writer. Whilst living in Steventon she had completed first drafts of Elinor and Marianne , First Impressions and Susan (later to be published as Sense and Sensibility , Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey respectively); whilst living in Bath she seems only to have worked on The Watsons , a work that she left unfinished. There are many theories to account for this – that she was pining for the countryside, saddened at the loss of her childhood home, hated city life and had no space to write in their relatively cramped lodgings and no time in the busy whirl of her new social life. On the other hand, The Watsons , though unfinished, is one of Austen’s most interesting fictional experiments, introducing a new note of bleak social realism into her writing.  Very few of her letters from this period survive, so we can only speculate as to whether the challenges of life at this time stalled her writing or ultimately improved it.

Illustration for Persuasion by Hugh Thomson, showing a fashionable evening party in Bath

Moving to Chawton

  ‘Chawton may be called the second, as well as the last home of Jane Austen; for during the temporary residences of the party at Bath and Southampton she was only a sojourner in a strange land; but here she found a real home amongst her own people.’

A Memoir of Jane Austen , James Edward Austen Leigh

In 1809, Jane’s elder brother Edward offered his mother and sisters a house on his Chawton estate, which he had inherited from wealthy relations, the Knights. The ladies moved to Chawton in July and together with Martha Lloyd they formed a stable and comfortable female household.

Jane wrote gleefully to her brother Frank, describing their pleasure in the house:

Our Chawton home — how much we find Already in it, to our mind, And how convinced that when complete, It will all other Houses beat

Jane Austen, 26 July 1809

They were a happy household. Jane acquired a piano and practised her music each morning before breakfast. They enjoyed walks to Alton and in the Hampshire countryside. Mrs Austen worked in the garden, whilst Cassandra and Martha took charge of the smooth-running of the household. Thrift and economy were vital, and nearly everything was homemade – items of clothing, a vast patchwork quilt, wine and beer; possibly even the ink with which Jane wrote her novels.

In the evenings, the women would gather round the fire to read aloud by candlelight, or to play parlour games. If there were visitors, the furniture might be pushed back to make way for informal dancing. The neighbourhood was small, but they received visits from family members and renewed their acquaintance with some of their old neighbours from Steventon.

The Drawing Room at Jane Austen’s House

Here in Chawton, Jane had the time, space and will to write. She took out her earlier works and revised them for publication. She redrafted Elinor & Marianne (as Sense and Sensibility ) , and with her brother Henry’s help in 1810 it was accepted for publication by Thomas Egerton, who also went on to publish Pride & Prejudice in 1813. The following year Jane began a new novel, Mansfield Park, which was also published by Egerton, and in 1814 she began Emma, which was published in December 1815 by John Murray, the most fashionable publisher of the day, and dedicated by permission to the Prince Regent.

In 1815 Jane began writing The Elliots (later published as Persuasion ); the following year her health began to fail, but she continued to write.

In 1816 Henry succeeded in buying back the manuscript of Susan, which had been sold in 1803 to a publisher in Bath but had never been published. It would appear a few months after her death as Northanger Abbey.

In 1817 she began her final novel, The Brothers (later published as Sanditon ) , but only completed the first twelve chapters. By April, her illness confined her to her bed, and later in the month she wrote a short will, leaving nearly everything to her ‘dearest sister Cassandra’.

First edition of Pride & Prejudice  ©Jane Austen’s House

Moving to Winchester

On 24 May 1817 Jane left Chawton with Cassandra and moved into lodgings in Winchester, to be near Dr Lyford at the County Hospital. Her illness however rapidly worsened and she died early on 18 July 1817. Six days later she was buried in Winchester Cathedral.

At the time of her death Jane Austen was just 41 years old and had been struggling with illness for over a year. We do not know for sure the cause of her death. The two main theories are that it was either Addison’s disease or Hodgkin’s lymphoma, although the symptoms mentioned in her letters don’t perfectly fit either condition.

Jane Austen’s gravestone in Winchester Cathedral

Six months after her death, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published. Henry dealt with her publisher John Murray and wrote a Biographical Notice to preface the novels, naming Jane Austen for the first time as the author of all her published works, and attributing to her ‘A life of usefulness, literature, and religion’.

In 1870 her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published A Memoir of Jane Austen, the first full biography.

First edition of A Memoir of Jane Austen , by James Edward Austen-Leigh ©Jane Austen’s House

• return to 'About Jane Austen'

Privacy Overview

Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.

Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born on the 16th of December in 1775, in Stevenson, Hampshire, England. She was an intelligent daughter of George Austen, a famous cleric at one of the Anglican parishes. Her mother, Cassandra Leigh, was a wealthy lady. Jane’s grandfather was an Oxford-educated cleric. The children grew up in an environment that provided them with room for creative thinking and learning. Young Jane, being close to her father, learned many things from him. Moreover, George’s extensive library helped her polish her reading and analytical skills. Unfortunately, her father died in 1805, and her mother passed away in 1827.

Jane Austen, a great literary figure, belonged to a well-educated and influential family. She began to read and write at a very young age. Sharing a close relationship with her father, she learned the basic skills at home. To get a formal education, Jane, along with her sister, was sent to Oxford in 1783 to be educated by Miss Ann Cowley, where they stayed for a short time. Facing an acute illness, both siblings returned home and stayed with the family. Later, in 1875, Jane and her sister were sent to Reading Abbey Girls School , where they were exposed to needlework, dancing, French, music, and drama . Unfortunately, due to the financial strains, the sisters returned home in 1876. After her return, her father and brothers guided her in the educational field. The private theatre had always been an essential part for Austen as her friends and family staged a series of plays, including The Rivals by Richard Sheridan . Inspired with the literary efforts of her family and friends, she started writing herself at the age of eleven.

Jane led a successful life, and at the age of forty-one, her health began to decline. Despite facing illness, she made efforts to continue to write and edited older works as well as started a new piece called The Brothers, which published after her death under the title of Senditon. The world lost this precious gem on the 18 th of July in 1877 in Winchester, England.

Some Important Facts of Her Life

• Her transformation from little-known to internationally acclaimed writers started in the 1920s when critics reevaluated her literary pieces.
• She enjoyed unprecedented fame in her life, but she never got married.
• The popularity of her works speaks in many TV adaptations and films of Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense and Sensibility and Pride, and Prejudice

Writing Career

Jane Austen, a towering figure of the seventeenth century, started writing literary pieces at a very young. With the compositions of plays and short stories , she laid the foundation of her long literary career. At first, she wrote pieces for her own and her family’s amusements with the subjects of anarchic fantasies of female power or feminism and illicit behavior. Later, in 1970, she started writing novels and came up with Love and Friendship followed by The History of England, presenting the historical and romantic fiction . Using the framework of letter writing in these fictions, she unveiled her wit and disliked for romantic hysteria and sensibility, which remained evident in her other writings, too. Later, she produced an epistolary story , Lady Susan , presenting the life of a female who manipulates others using her sexuality and intelligence. Marked with the techniques of letter writing, her other major work, Elinor and Marianne, which was later drafted as Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. She produced many masterpieces throughout her life including, Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park, and Emma.

Jane Austen stands among the most influential figures of world literature. With the help of her unique style , she beautifully portrayed her ideas in her literary pieces. Her distinctive literary style relies mainly on a blend of parody , free indirect speech, irony , and presentation of literary realism . Jane used burlesque and parody in her writings to critique the portrayal of women in the 18 th century. Her pieces are far from the world of imagination as she focused on presenting the ordinary people realistically. Moreover, her ironic style presents a keen insight into the English culture. Concerning characterization , she focused on the conversation allow the characters to develop themselves. The recurring themes in most of her literary pieces are cultural, identity, love, marriage, and pride.

Jane Austen’s Influence on Future Literature

Jane Austen, with her unique abilities, left a profound impact on global literature, and even after 200 hundred years of her demise, she continues to win love for her biting approach on diverse tangles of this passion.  Her witty ideas, along with distinct literary qualities, won applause from the audience , critics, and other fellow writers. Her impact resonates strongly inside as well as outside England. Her masterpieces provided the principles for the writers of succeeding generations. She successfully documented her ideas about marriage, power, and love in her writings that even today, writers try to imitate her unique style, considering her a beacon for writing prose .

Some Important Works of Jane Austen

• Best Novels: She was an outstanding writer, some of her best novels, which include Emma, Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park, Persuasion , and Northanger Abbey.
• Other Works: Besides novels, she also tried her hands on shorter and non-fiction too. Some of them include Plan of Novel , Juvenilia- Volume the First, Juvenilia- V0lume the Second, Juvenilia- Volume the Third, Letters, and Poems .

Famous Quotes

• “Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance. If the dispositions of the parties are ever so well known to each other or ever so similar beforehand, it does not advance their felicity in the least. They always continue to grow sufficiently unlike afterwards to have their share of vexation; and it is better to know as little as possible of the defects of the person with whom you are to pass your life.” ( Pride and Prejudice )
• “There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison.” ( Persuasion )
• A woman, especially if she have the misfortune of knowing anything, should conceal it as well as she can.” ( Northanger Abbey)
• Selfishness must always be forgiven you know, because there is no hope of a cure.” ( Mansfield Park)

Related posts:

• Literary Writing Style of Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre Characters
• Jane Eyre Quotes
• Jane Eyre Themes
• Pride and Prejudice Characters
• Pride and Prejudice Quotes
• Pride and Prejudice

Post navigation

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Two centuries after Jane Austen’s death, the early 19th-century English author’s words persist in our culture.

This drawing of Jane Austen was made by her sister, Cassandra, around 1810. (Image credit: National Portrait Gallery, London)

Austen, who died on July 18, 1817, at 41, is known for her six completed novels, among them the highly adapted Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility . Originally published anonymously, the works gained recognition among readers and scholars in the 20th century.

Now, most literary academics can’t imagine discussing the modern novel without crediting Austen’s contributions to the art form.

Stanford English Professor Alex Woloch said he doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t interested in Austen’s work.

An expert on the history and theory of the novel, Woloch said he focused a large part of his doctoral dissertation, which examined the creation of minor and major characters in novels, on Austen. He has subsequently taught and studied her work throughout his career.

“Austen is one of the biggest literary figures in English,” said Woloch, chair of the Department of English. “At this point, she is somewhat like Shakespeare, her centrality is so established.”

Austen’s writing stands out for its comedy, self-awareness and realistic, detailed portrayals of characters and their relationships.

“There is a level of intelligence in her work that the reader feels, and it has to do with her psychological perceptiveness and the sheer skill of her writing,” Woloch said. “When you read Jane Austen, you sense that you’re in the hands of someone authoritative and reliable … But there is always this feeling that she is one step ahead of you.”

Literary scholars, in particular, point to Austen’s subtle, innovative use of free indirect discourse as a style of third-person narrative. This style, in which a character’s perspective and thoughts intertwine with the narrator of the story, is now widespread in modern fiction, but was just taking shape in the late 18th and early 19th century.

“Austen was really ahead of her time,” Woloch said. “She is canonical in a way that she probably would not have anticipated. Her work falls so easily into dialogue not just with past literature but, strangely, with novels that had yet to be written.”

Austen’s style set the stage for the movement of literary realism, which took off in the mid-19th century and included writers such as Leo Tolstoy, George Eliot and Charles Dickens, said Elizabeth Wilder, an English PhD candidate.

“Because Austen’s contributions have been so widely adopted and adapted by other authors, it can be easy to forget how groundbreaking her work really was,” Wilder said.

Austen’s popularity was modest largely because her works were published anonymously. Her current renown can be traced to the 1940s when literary scholars began analyzing her work more closely and feminist critics, in particular, brought her achievements to light.

“Maybe no canonical author seems more accessible than Austen,” English doctoral student Matthew Redmond said. “People speak of loving Shakespeare, but too many don’t feel equal to the task of reading him. Not so with Austen.”

Pride and Prejudice , Austen’s most popular work, exemplifies the qualities of her storytelling.

“ Pride and Prejudice has transcended the novel form and become a modern myth,” Redmond said. “Had Austen written only that work, we could still speak of her as having dramatically increased the depth and resolution of English prose.”

But many scholars see Emma , where Austen’s unique narration style reaches full force, as her greatest novel, Woloch said.

“ Emma is famous in that you could reread it and it gets more interesting,” said Woloch, who often teaches Emma in his classes. “Not every piece of literature holds up with time. Some things become boring.”

Wilder, whose dissertation includes the study of Austen’s work, said she considers Persuasion to be one of the author’s most important works as well.

The book, which was Austen’s last completed novel, takes place during the Napoleonic Wars and focuses on themes of regret, loss and lives unled, more so than her other works.

“For me, Persuasion is one of Austen’s most interesting and important novels – in part because she breaks a lot of her own rules in it,” Wilder said. “The novel’s setting invites us to think about the relationship of the political to the personal or the domestic. It’s startling to think of Austen as a war novelist, but Persuasion reminds us of just how extensive her vision was.”

Jane Austen: 6 Interesting Facts About the Beloved English Author

Although she never married, Jane Austen did become engaged — for one night

Austen changed her mind overnight, however, and refused the proposal the next morning. The awkwardness of the situation caused her to leave Manydown immediately. We can only speculate what Austen’s thoughts were about the proposal. Perhaps she initially accepted because the marriage would have given her financial security and the means to assist her parents and sister. And, perhaps she changed her mind because she believed — as she later wrote to a niece considering a marriage of convenience — that “nothing can be compared to the misery of being bound without Love.” Fortunately for her readers, she chose to remain single and was able to focus on writing rather than running a household and raising children.

Austen continued to imagine how the lives of her characters evolved long after she finished a novel

In A Memoir of Jane Austen , her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh wrote, “She would, if asked, tell us many little particulars about the subsequent career of some of her people.” For example, Anne Steele, Lucy’s silly and vulgar sister in Sense and Sensibility , did not catch Dr. Davies after all. And, after the close of Pride and Prejudice , Kitty Bennet eventually married a clergyman near Pemberley, while Mary ended up with a clerk who worked for her Uncle Philips. Some of the most interesting revelations, however, related to Emma . Mr. Woodhouse not only survived Emma’s marriage to Mr. Knightley but also kept his daughter and son-in-law living at Hartfield for two years. Deirdre Le Faye has also noted in Jane Austen: A Family Record that "According to a less well-known tradition, the delicate Jane Fairfax lived only another nine or ten years after her marriage to Frank Churchill."

The surnames of several Austen characters can be found within the prominent and wealthy Wentworth family of Yorkshire — which also intersects with Austen’s own family tree

Her mother, Cassandra Austen, née Leigh, was the great-grandniece of the first Duke of Chandos (1673-1744) and Cassandra Willoughby. Her mother was also connected to Thomas, Second Baron Leigh of Stoneleigh (1652-1710), who was married twice: first to Eleanor Watson and then to Anne Wentworth, daughter of the first Earl of Strafford.

As Donald Greene, former English literature specialist at the University of Southern California, pointed out, “When the snobbish Sir Walter Elliot says of the hero of Persuasion , ‘Mr. Wentworth was nobody…quite unconnected, nothing to do with the Strafford family. One wonders how the names of many of our nobility become so common,’ it adds to the piquancy of the satire that Austen’s family was in fact ‘connected’ with the real-life Strafford Wentworths.”

Austen also used names from the Wentworth genealogy tree while writing Pride and Prejudice . Her hero Mr. Darcy, the nephew of an earl, bears the names of two wealthy and powerful branches of the Wentworth family: Fitzwilliam (as in the Earls Fitzwilliam of Wentworth Woodhouse, in Yorkshire) and D’Arcy.

Professor Janine Barchas of the University of Texas at Austin and author of Matters of Fact in Jane Austen has also noted that Austen used yet another Wentworth family name in the novel Emma : “In the 13th century, a Robert Wentworth married a rich heiress by the name of Emma Wodehouse.”

Austen took her writing very seriously

Austen began writing stories, plays and poetry when she was 12 years old. Most of her “Juvenilia,” as the material she wrote in her youth is called, was in the comic vein. She wrote a parody of textbook histories, " The History of England …by a partial, prejudiced and ignorant historian," when she was 16 years old. She also wrote parodies of the romantic novels of “sensibility” that were popular in her day. Austen’s family members read aloud and performed plays for each other, and she learned about writing from these activities and the comments her family made about her own efforts. By the age of 23, Austen had written first drafts of the novels that later became Sense and Sensibility , Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey .

From the letters she wrote to her sister, Cassandra, and other family members, one can see that Austen was proud of her writing. She enjoyed discussing her latest work, sharing news about a novel’s progress at the printer, and offering advice on the craft of writing to other aspiring authors in the family. She also carefully tracked comments made by family members and friends about Mansfield Park and Emma and referred to Pride and Prejudice as her “own darling child.” Austen continued writing throughout her adult life until just before she died in July of 1817.

Austen’s life was not limited to a sheltered country existence

On the surface, her life seems to have been quiet and secluded; she was born in a small country village and lived there for 25 years. Her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh published A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869, which reinforced the image that she was a demure, quiet maiden aunt in the best Victorian tradition. However, she led a very active life with travel and social contacts of many types. Through her family and friends, she learned a great deal about the world around her.

Austen frequently stayed with her brother Henry in London, where she regularly attended plays and art exhibits. Her brother Edward was adopted by wealthy cousins, eventually inheriting their estates in Kent (Godmersham) and Hampshire (Chawton) and taking their name (Knight). Over a period of 15 years, Austen visited Edward’s Godmersham estate for months at a time, mixing with his fashionable and wealthy friends and enjoying the privileged life of the landed gentry. These experiences are reflected in all of her fiction.

Austen was also well aware of the horrors of the French Revolution and the effect of the Napoleonic Wars on the people and the economy of Britain. Her cousin’s husband was guillotined during the French Revolution, and her brothers Francis (Frank) and Charles were officers in the Royal Navy, serving on ships around the world during the conflict. Sir Francis William Austen (one year older than Austen) advanced through the ranks and was eventually knighted. He was promoted to Admiral of Fleet in 1860. Rear Admiral Charles John Austen (four years younger than Austen) had his own command and was serving in North America by 1810. From correspondence and frequent visits with these two brothers and their families, she learned much about the Navy, which she incorporated into Mansfield Park and Persuasion .

Men read Austen, too

While Austen’s novels are sometimes viewed as “chick-lit” romances, her believable characters, realistic plots, moral themes, comedy, and dry wit have long appealed to readers of any gender.

British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan admitted to reading Austen’s novels, and Winston Churchill credited her with helping him win World War II. Rudyard Kipling read Austen aloud to his wife and daughter each evening in an effort to raise their spirits after his son, fighting in WWI, was reported missing and believed dead. Even after the war, Kipling returned to Austen with “The Janeites,” a short story about a group of British artillery soldiers in WWI who bonded through their shared appreciation of the novels of Austen. And one of her male contemporaries, Sir Walter Scott, praised her writing in his journal: “Also read again, and for the third time at least, Miss Austen’s very finely written novel of Pride and Prejudice . That young lady had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life, which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.”

About The Jane Austen Society of North America:

The Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering the study, appreciation and understanding of Austen’s works, life, and genius.

Watch Next .css-smpm16:after{background-color:#323232;color:#fff;margin-left:1.8rem;margin-top:1.25rem;width:1.5rem;height:0.063rem;content:'';display:-webkit-box;display:-webkit-flex;display:-ms-flexbox;display:flex;}

Famous Authors & Writers

Agatha Christie

A Huge Shakespeare Mystery, Solved

9 Surprising Facts About Truman Capote

William Shakespeare

How Did Shakespeare Die?

Meet Stand-Up Comedy Pioneer Charles Farrar Browne

Francis Scott Key

Christine de Pisan

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz

10 Famous Langston Hughes Poems

Jane Austen

A brief b iography.

Jane Austen (1775-1817), one of England’s foremost novelists, was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime.

Austen was born on December 16, 1775, at Steventon Rectory in Hampshire, the seventh child of a country clergyman and his wife, George and Cassandra Austen. Her closest friend was her only sister, Cassandra, almost three years her senior.

Education and Influences | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

St. Nicholas Church, Steventon, where Jane Austen was baptized. (Photo copyright Allan Soedring)

Jane Austen was primarily educated at home, benefiting from her father’s extensive library and the schoolroom atmosphere created by Mr. Austen’s live-in pupils.

Though she lived a quiet life, she had unusual access to the greater world, primarily through her brothers. Francis (Frank) and Charles, officers in the Royal Navy, served on ships around the world and saw action in the Napoleonic Wars. Henry, who eventually became a clergyman like his father and his brother James, was an officer in the militia and later a banker. Austen visited Henry in London, where she attended the theater, art exhibitions, and social events and also corrected proofs of her novels. Her brother Edward was adopted by wealthy cousins, the Knights, becoming their heir and later taking their name. On extended visits to Godmersham, Edward’s estate in Kent, Austen and her sister took part in the privileged life of the landed gentry, which is reflected in all her fiction.

Early Works: 1787-1798 | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

Manuscript of "The History of England," written by Jane Austen and illustrated by her sister Cassandra. (British Library)

As a child Austen began writing comic stories, now referred to as the Juvenilia. Her first mature work, composed when she was about 19, was a novella, Lady Susan , written in epistolary form (as a series of letters). This early fiction was preserved by her family but was not published until long after her death.

In her early twenties Austen wrote the novels that later became Sense and Sensibility (first called “Elinor and Marianne”) and Pride and Prejudice (originally “First Impressions”). Her father sent a letter offering the manuscript of “First Impressions” to a publisher soon after it was finished in 1797, but his offer was rejected by return post. 

Austen continued writing, revising “Elinor and Marianne” and completing a novel called “Susan” (later to become Northanger Abbey ). In 1803 Austen sold “Susan” for £10 to a publisher, who promised early publication, but the manuscript languished in his archives until it was repurchased a year before Austen’s death for the price the publisher had paid her.

View facsimiles of Austen's Juvenilia notebooks, including the History of England , on the Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition website.

Bath and Southampton Years: 1801-1809 | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

No. 4 Sydney Place, Bath (Photo copyright Allan Soedring)

When Austen was 25 years old, her father retired, and she and Cassandra moved with their parents to Bath, residing first at 4 Sydney Place. During the five years she lived in Bath (1801-1806), Austen began one novel, The Watsons , which she never completed. After Mr. Austen’s death, Austen’s brothers contributed funds to assist their sisters and widowed mother. Mrs. Austen and her daughters set up housekeeping with their close friend Martha Lloyd. Together they moved to Southampton in 1806 and economized by sharing a house with Frank and his family.

Mature Novels and Publishing Success: 1809-1817 | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

In 1809 Edward provided the women a comfortable cottage in the village of Chawton, near his Hampshire manor house. This was the beginning of Austen’s most productive period. In 1811, at the age of 35, Austen published Sense and Sensibility , which identified the author as “a Lady.” Pride and Prejudice followed in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, and Emma in 1815. The title page of each book referred to one or two of Austen’s earlier novels—capitalizing on her growing reputation—but did not provide her name.

Austen began writing the novel that would be called Persuasion in 1815 and finished it the following year, by which time, however, her health was beginning to fail. The probable cause of her illness was Addison’s Disease. In 1816 Henry Austen repurchased the rights to “Susan,” which Austen revised and renamed “Catherine.”

Final Months: 1817 | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

No. 8 College Street, Winchester, where Jane Austen died. (Photo copyright Allan Soedring)

During a brief period of strength early in 1817, Austen began the fragment later called Sanditon , but by March she was too ill to work. On April 27, 1817, she wrote her will , naming Cassandra as her heir. In May she and Cassandra moved to 8 College Street in Winchester to be near her doctor. Austen died in the early hours of July 18, 1817, and a few days later was buried in Winchester Cathedral. She was 41 years old. Interestingly, her gravestone, which is visited by hundreds of admirers each year, does not even mention that she was an author.

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published together in December 1817 with a “Biographical Notice” written by Henry, in which Jane Austen was, for the first time in one of her novels, identified as the author of Sense and Sensibility , Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park , and Emma .

Further Reading | Show Details ↓ Hide Details ↑

Essays in jasna publications.

Additional information about Jane Austen’s life can be found in essays published in Persuasions and Persuasions On-Line , in JASNA News , and on this site.

Selected Biographies

• J. E. Austen-Leigh, A Memoir of Jane Austen and Other Family Recollections , edited by Kathryn Sutherland (Oxford University Press, 2002) (also contains biographical memoirs by Austen’s brother Henry and her nieces Anna Lefroy and Caroline Austen).
• Jan Fergus, Jane Austen: A Literary Life (Macmillan Press, 1991).
• Park Honan, Jane Austen: Her Life (St. Martin’s Press, 1987).
• Deirdre Le Faye, Jane Austen: A Family Record (Cambridge University Press, 2004).
• Claire Tomalin, Jane Austen: A Life (Alfred A. Knopf, 1997).

More on Jane Austen's Life ›

Learn about Austen's life and family, her portraits, and the Austen Family Churches.

Jane Austen's Works ›

Find a chronology of Jane Austen's writing and overviews of her novels.

Austen on Screen ›

Have you seen these film, television, and video adaptations of Austen's novels?

Austen Chat Podcast ›

Austen Chat Podcast Welcome to Austen Chat, JASNA's new podcast dedicated to exploring the life and ...

Austen's World Up Close ›

Austen's World Up CloseJASNA members share their expertise in a variety of areas in these short vide...

Resources and Links ›

Explore more Austen-related websites and special online resources.

“. . . from politics, it was an easy step to silence.”

Northanger Abbey

About JASNA

The Jane Austen Society of North America is dedicated to the enjoyment and appreciation of Jane Austen and her writing. JASNA is a nonprofit organization, staffed by volunteers, whose mission is to foster among the widest number of readers the study, appreciation, and understanding of Jane Austen’s works, her life, and her genius.  We have over 5,000 members of all ages and from diverse walks of life. Although most live in the United States or Canada, we also have members in more than a dozen other countries.

©2024 The Jane Austen Society of North America, Inc. All rights reserved.

Terms of Use

Jane Austen

• Born December 16 , 1775 · Steventon, Hampshire, England, UK
• Died July 18 , 1817 · Winchester, Hampshire, England, UK (Addison's disease)
• Height 5′ 8″ (1.73 m)
• Jane Austen was born on December 16th, 1775, to the local rector, Rev. George Austen (1731-1805), and Cassandra Leigh (1739-1827). She was the seventh of eight children. She had one older sister, Cassandra. In 1783 she went to Southampton to be taught by a relative, Mrs. Cawley, but was brought home due to a local outbreak of disease. Two years later she attended the Abbey Boarding School in Reading, reportedly wanting to follow her sister Cassandra, until 1786. Jane was mostly educated at home, where she learned how to play the piano, draw and write creatively. She read frequently and later came to enjoy social events such as parties, dances and balls. She disliked the busy life of towns and preferred the country life, where she took to taking long walks. In 1801 Jane, her parents and sister moved to Bath, a year after her father's retirement, and the family frequented the coast. While on one of those coastal holidays she met a young man, but the resulting romantic involvement ended tragically when he died. It is believed by many astute Austen fans that her novel, "Persuasion", was inspired by this incident. Following her father's passing in January of 1805--which left his widow and daughters with financial problems--the family moved several times until finally settling into a small house, in Chawton, Hampshire, owned by her brother Edward, which is reminiscent of "Sense and Sensibility". It was in this house that she wrote most of her works. In March of 1817 her health began to decline and she was forced to abandon her work on "Sanditon", which she never completed. It turned out that she had Addisons disease. In April she wrote out her will and then on May 24th moved with Cassandra to Winchester, to be near her physician. It was in Winchester she died, in the arms of her sister, on Friday, 18 July 1817, at the age of only 41. She was buried the 24th of July at Winchester Cathedral. Jane never married. During her formative years, Jane wrote plays and poems. At 14 she wrote her first novel, "Love and Freindship [sic]" and other juvenilia. Her first (unsuccessful) submission to a publisher, however, was in 1797 titled "First Impressions" (later "Pride and Prejudice"). In 1803 "Susan" (later "Northanger Abbey") was actually sold to a publisher for a mere £10 but was not published until 14 years later, posthumously. Her first accepted work was in 1811 titled "Sense and Sensibility", which was published anonymously as were all books published during her lifetime. She revised "First Impressions" and published it entitled "Pride and Prejudice" in 1813. "Mansfield Park" was published in 1814, followed by "Emma" in 1816, the same year she completed "Persuasion" and began "Sanditon", which was ultimately left unfinished. Both "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey" were published in 1818, after her death. - IMDb Mini Biography By: CindyH
• Parents George Austen Cassandra Austen
• Her books have never been out of print since they were first published.
• The film Clueless (1995) is based on her novel "Emma".
• Her brother Edward's descendant married the daughter of Louis Mountbatten (aka Lord Mountbatten; assassinated in 1979 by the IRA), who in turn was a descendant of Queen Victoria .
• Seventh generation aunt (through her brother Edward) of actress Anna Chancellor , who appeared in Jane's favored romance Pride and Prejudice (1995) mini-series and who also narrates the documentary The Real Jane Austen (2002) .
• Between 1900 and 1975, there were more than 60 radio, television and stage productions of Austen novels. The first film adaptation was of "Pride and Prejudice" in 1940, although there had been a television version two years previously.
• If any one faculty of our nature may be called more wonderful than the rest, I do think it is memory. The memory is sometimes so retentive, so serviceable, so obedient--at others, so bewildered and so weak--and at others again, so tyrannic, so beyond control! We are to be sure a miracle every way--but our powers of recollecting and of forgetting, do seem peculiarly past finding out.
• [her last words, when asked by her sister Cassandra if there was anything she wanted] Nothing, but death.
• [when asked why her heroines always flawed] Pictures of perfection make me sick and wicked.
• One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.
• It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Contribute to this page

• Learn more about contributing

More from this person

• View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro

More to explore

Recently viewed

Exploring Jane Austen's timeless writing style

W hen we think of classic literature, one name that invariably comes to our minds is Jane Austen. Born in 1775, this English novelist remains a beloved figure in the world of literature, captivating readers with her insightful portrayals of society, memorable characters, and a writing style that continues to resonate through generations of readers across the world. Here we explore her timeless writing style which has touched many readers' hearts.

The subtlety of social commentary

One of the hallmarks of Jane Austen's writing style is her subtle yet incisive social commentary. Her novels, such as ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Emma,’ are a reflection of the society she lived in, where class and marriage were pivotal. Austen's commentary on these themes is woven seamlessly into her narratives. In ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ Austen introduces us to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, two characters whose initial judgments of each other form the crux of the plot. Through their witty dialogues and the society that surrounds them, Austen dissects the complexities of class, marriage, and personal prejudices. Her writing style allows readers to perceive the underlying critiques without overtly stating them.

Character depth and development

Austen's characters are richly developed, and her writing style allows us to delve deep into their thoughts and emotions. Take ‘Sense and Sensibility,’ for instance, where she explores the contrasting personalities of the Dashwood sisters, Elinor and Marianne. Austen's prose gives life to their distinct characters, enabling readers to empathize with their joys and sorrows. In ‘Emma,’ the eponymous heroine undergoes significant personal growth. Austen's writing style allows us to witness Emma's transformation from a well-meaning but misguided matchmaker to a more self-aware and empathetic individual. The use of free indirect discourse, a technique where the narrator's voice blends with the character's thoughts, helps us understand Emma's inner world intimately.

Narrative wit and irony

Austen's writing is infused with wit and irony, which adds depth and humor to her works. In ‘Northanger Abbey,’ she playfully satirizes the Gothic novel genre, as her heroine, Catherine Morland, allows her imagination to run wild. Austen's use of irony is evident as she gently mocks the sensationalism of these novels, using them as a backdrop to comment on the dangers of excessive romanticism. Moreover, in ‘Persuasion,’ Austen employs irony to emphasize the theme of second chances in love. Anne Elliot's enduring love for Captain Wentworth, despite societal expectations and misunderstandings, is a testament to Austen's ability to craft a story filled with subtle emotional resonance.

Dialogue as a narrative device

Jane Austen's dialogues are masterfully crafted and serve as a pivotal narrative device. Her characters engage in clever exchanges that reveal their personalities and motivations. In ‘Mansfield Park,’ the dialogue between Fanny Price and Henry Crawford highlights the tension between virtue and moral compromise. Austen uses dialogue to underline the characters' conflicting values, enriching the reader's understanding of their inner conflicts. In ‘Persuasion,’ Captain Wentworth's letter to Anne Elliot stands as one of the most poignant moments in Austen's novels. This letter is a testament to Austen's ability to convey deep emotions through the written word. It is a moving declaration of love, where the restrained passion in Wentworth's words resonates with readers, highlighting Austen's mastery of emotional expression.

For more news like this visit TOI . Get all the Latest News , City News , India News , Business News , and Sports News . For Entertainment News , TV News , and Lifestyle Tips visit Etimes

The 15 Best Jane Austen Movies, Ranked

Jane Austen wrote her many masterpieces in the early 19th century, but her work still sweeps viewers off their feet 200 years later.

Jane Austen wrote her many masterpieces in the early 19th century, but her work still sweeps viewers off their feet in new adaptations for the big and small screens 200 years later. Many versions and adaptations of Austen's six novels have come over the decades, and they've only improved with time. The telling of Austen's work has evolved even as the scripts have stayed true to Austen's famous words. To this day, the story of an independent heroine in a man's world holds up more than ever.

It would take a long time to rank all of the best Jane Austen film adaptations, but the versions that have hit theaters within the last 30 years take the cake. On the big screen, Austen adaptations take place in the grand real-life homes and villages where her characters could've lived. They have scores that whisk viewers in, lift emotions higher, and make them feel like they're right there, experiencing and feeling everything much deeper than reading Austen's words . The actors who've played her beloved characters have brought something new and exhilarating. This combined makes an excellent viewing experience for all period drama lovers.

15 'Persuasion' (2022)

Directed by carrie cracknell.

In 2022, Netflix released its own adaptation of the classic Jane Austen novel Persuasion . In the movie, a woman named Anne Elliott ( played by Dakota Johnson ) is forced to end her engagement with her former love due to his social standing. Years later, Anne’s former fiancé comes back into her life as a successful naval officer — and now she must face her past decisions to find happiness and love.

There was also a lot of excitement surrounding the movie as the trailer revealed that Persuasion attempted to modernize its source material while still being a period film . However, critics do note that the movie largely misrepresented the character as she seemed condescending and awkward. Persuasion ’s gimmicky elements like breaking the fourth wall were also panned. While it’s not the best choice for those looking to watch a faithful adaptation, Persuasion is a good movie to watch for viewers who want a modern adaptation of classic literature. – Jom Elauria

*Availability in US

Not available

14 'Austenland' (2013)

Directed by jerusha hess.

Austenland chronicles the journey of a woman named Jane Hayes ( played by Keri Russell ). She has a mild obsession with Austen’s works, especially with the enigmatic and honorable Mr. Darcy. Because she also wants to live a life similar to the protagonists in Austen’s novels, she books a stay at a resort named Austenland, which offers an immersive experience set full of Regency-era elements — including charming love interests and corset-filled costumes.

The enchanting movie isn’t necessarily based on just one of Austen’s works but highlights the tropes and familiar aspects that Austen’s novels employ . Austenland will surely sweep viewers off their feet with its romantic and enchanting story. However, it did receive some flack as its narrative was quite shallow and it didn’t go all out with unpacking its own themes. – Jom Elauria

13 'Bride and Prejudice' (2004)

Directed by gurinder chadha.

Perhaps Bollywood’s most celebrated Austen adaptation is Gurinder Chadha ’s Bride and Prejudice . Instead of being set on a backdrop of Regency-era Britain, Bride and Prejudice is set in 21st-century India. The movie takes a look at a spirited woman named Lalita Bakshi ( Aishwarya Rai ) and her tumultuous relationship with American entrepreneur William Darcy ( Martin Henderson ), with her life unfolding through entertaining and magnificent dance sequences.

The Bollywood approach to the classic novel and the culture-filled infusion of the familiar story is fresh , new, and largely enjoyable. However, it must be noted that the movie did stray away from the sharp wit and astute social observations that define Austen's characters. That said, it’s a dazzling watch thanks to its entertaining sequences, as well as Bride and Prejudice 's interesting creative choices like cutting out the kissing scenes and replacing them with other chemistry-filled interactions. – Jom Elauria

Watch on Hoopla

12 'From Prada to Nada' (2011)

Directed by angel gracia.

Austen’s Sense and Sensibility receives a modern retelling in the movie From Prada to Nada . Affluent sisters Nora ( Camilla Belle ) and Mary ( Alexa Vega ) must move in with their humble aunt after the unfortunate passing of their father leaves them penniless. In the face of change, Nora and Mary find love, grapple with loss, and forge a deeper understanding of the true meaning of family.

The modern adaptation was enjoyed by viewers thanks to its charisma-filled performances as well as its unique take on the classic story . That said, it does stray a little too far for comfort from the source material, enough to dissuade hardcore fans of Austen’s works. However, From Prada to Nada has plenty of entertaining scenes and jokes that will keep viewers interested in the story of Nora and Mary. – Jom Elauria

From Prada to Nada

11 'metropolitan' (1990), directed by whit stillman.

Metropolitan is a delightful comedy of manners that whirls through the lives of affluent Manhattan debutantes and their charmingly complex social circles. Set during debutante season, the film follows Tom Townsend ( Edward Clements ), a middle-class Princeton student, as he is introduced to this esoteric world by his friend Nick Smith ( Christopher Eigeman ). As they navigate parties and soirées, Tom questions the values and traditions of this elite society, leading to a journey of self-discovery.

Metropolitan offers a modern take and loose on the Austen novel Mansfield Park . With its sharp dialogue and elegant setting, Metropolitan is a captivating exploration of identity and personal growth , earning it praise and a cult following reminiscent of Austen's works. While it’s not a Christmas movie, Metropolitan is in Criterion Collection’s Christmas movie selection as it captures the beauty of the aftermath of Christmas Day in New York City. – Jom Elauria

Watch on Max

10 'Love and Friendship' (2016)

Love and Friendship is based on Jane Austen's unpublished novella, Lady Susan , and unlike any of her other work. The story follows Lady Susan Vernon ( Kate Beckinsale ), who has lost her standing at Langford and has been forced to move in with relatives at the less impressive Churchill. Her main goal is to get her daughter Frederica ( Morfydd Clark ) married off to the wealthy Sir James Martin ( Tom Bennett ), but everyone around her gets caught in the complex web that she controls with ease.

Love and Friendship doesn't have Austen's typical independent heroine but an often wicked and conniving woman bent on improving her and her daughters' station, no matter the cost. Beckinsale is perfect, driving the character’s unrelenting self-interest. Susan is totally oblivious to others and knows no boundaries. However, unfortunately, the film fails to inspire as a whole. It doesn't have the decades-long attachment that Pride and Prejudice or Emma have.

Love and Friendship

Watch on Amazon Prime

9 'Fire Island' (2022)

Directed by andrew ahn.

Fire Island is not a conventional Jane Austen adaptation but still pays homage to Pride and Prejudice . The film follows a group of queer best friends who gather at Fire Island Pines for their annual vacation. Noah ( Joel Kim Booster ) puts aside his goal of getting laid to help Howie ( Bowen Yang ) find someone. The friends learn that the vacation home is being sold after this season and decide to have one big final bash. Noah eventually meets Will ( Conrad Ricamora ), his opposite or the Mr. Darcy of the story.

The only resemblance between Fire Island and Pride and Prejudice is that they have a main couple who are worlds apart. The script directly quotes the film’s source material a couple of times, but besides that, it would be pretty impossible to figure out that this is a Jane Austen adaptation .

Fire Island

8 'emma' (1996), directed by douglas mcgrath.

The 1996 version of Emma is one of the most memorable because Gwyneth Paltrow plays the titular heroine. Unmarried and living with her father, Emma Woodhouse occupies herself with matchmaking, although she's often misguided and meddlesome. Meanwhile, she isn't quick to catch that her friend Mr. Knightley ( Jeremy Northam ) is in love with her. She only realizes her love for him when her friend Harriet ( Toni Collette ) shows interest in him, and even when he tells her of his love, she's in disbelief.

The film sticks to the source material and direct quotes almost too well , so it seems stiff sometimes and unoriginal. Meanwhile, the performances aren't awe-inspiring and fall flat, almost like they were acting in a boring, low-budget play. Paltrow could've been more passionate, but she's soft and forgettable. When Mr. Knightley proposes to Emma, there's supposed to be a great deal of passion because his love has been eating him alive and threatening to break free. That's not quite what we see in this adaptation, but it's no less entertaining to watch.

Watch on Amazon

7 'Northanger Abbey' (2007)

Directed by jon jones.

Northanger Abbey follows the Jane Austen model. A young, independent tomboy is in search of a husband. However, this time, Catherine Morland ( played by Dead Shot 's Felicity Jones ) is caught between two brother and sister duos, the Tilneys and the Thorpes. It's an 1800s version of he-said, she-said, and Catherine gets wrapped up in it. Catherine's imagination doesn't help herself find a match either, but ultimately, Henry Tilney ( JJ Feild ), who is not deceitful like John Thorpe ( William Beck ), falls in love with her.

While Northanger Abbey has a complex, juicy storyline, it's not one of Austen's best and certainly not as memorable as her other tales . It's hard not to feel bad for Catherine, being pulled by two families who want her to marry their son (unbeknownst to them, she isn't as wealthy as they think). However, she's not exactly as passionate, headstrong, or charismatic as Emma or Elizabeth Bennet.

Northanger Abbey

6 'bridget jones's diary' (2001), directed by sharon maguire.

Bridget Jones's Diary is what you get when you combine comedy and a modern-day telling of Pride and Prejudice . Bridget ( Renée Zellweger ), the Elizabeth Bennet of the story, is 32 and worried she'll become a spinster, but she's hopelessly oblivious at every turn. She meets Mark Darcy ( Colin Firth ) (they couldn't have been more obvious), who she thinks is stuck up and judgmental but secretly in love with her. Bridget eventually dates Daniel Cleaver ( Hugh Grant ) (Mr. Wickham), Darcy's old friend-turned-enemy, but soon realizes the truth about Daniel and falls in love with Darcy.

Bridget is relatable and endearing, but she's quite the opposite of Elizabeth Bennet, although they're both strong-willed. She often acts like a bumbling fool, but she knows her worth and is brave enough to criticize her own faults. She believes she deserves someone who is her perfect match and will stop at nothing to find someone right. Bridget Jones's Diary gives Pride and Prejudice a modern makeover and is a classic in its own right, but it doesn't quite stand up next to the authentic tellings of Austen's stories.

Bridget Jones's Diary

5 'clueless' (1995), directed by amy heckerling.

Clueless is a modern telling of Emma . Everyone loves Cher ( Alicia Silverstone ) despite her being a spoiled, self-absorbed, rich girl. She suddenly does a selfless act by taking the new girl, Tai ( Brittany Murphy ), under her wing and tries to set her up with Elton ( Jeremy Sisto ), but Elton actually likes Cher. Then, Tai begins to like Cher's step-brother Josh ( Paul Rudd ) instead. This shocks Cher, and she realizes that she's been clueless during her matchmaking. She's been in love with Josh the whole time.

Clueless is a pop culture masterpiece and 90s classic romantic comedy , but most importantly, the perfect modern-day telling of Emma . Like Bridget Jones's Diary , it's not a typical Jane Austen adaptation, but it keeps the story alive while transporting it to another nostalgic generation. Cher is just as clueless and dimwitted as her counterpart. Josh is just as quick to give Cher a reality check as Mr. Knightley, and Elton is just as conniving as Mr. Elton. Clueless is just a 90s version of Emma .

4 'Mansfield Park' (1999)

Directed by patricia rozema.

Mansfield Park , the only film adaptation of Austen’s third novel, follows Fanny Price ( Frances O'Connor ), whose poor family sent her as a child to live with her rich aunt and uncle at their estate, Mansfield Park. Her family wants her to be a full-fledged member of a privileged society, but Fanny is headstrong like most of Austen's heroines and doesn't fit in. She falls in love with Edmund ( Jonny Lee Miller ), but he loves Mary Crawford ( Embeth Davidtz ). Meanwhile, Henry Crawford ( Alessandro Nivola ) falls in love with Fanny, but she refuses him. Once Mary is out of the picture and more drama unfolds, Fanny and Edmund finally get to be together.

The constant swapping of romantic hopefuls in Mansfield Park makes it often difficult to understand. However, it has Austen's tried and true elements. It explores classism within romance and showcases a woman who knows her mind and won't settle for anything less. It's so satisfying once Fanny, who constantly gets pushed aside, finally finds happiness.

Mansfield Park

3 'sense and sensibility' (1995), directed by ang lee.

Sense and Sensibility is another complicated web of romance. Mrs. Dashwood ( Gemma Jones ) and her three daughters, Elinor ( Emma Thompson ), Marianne ( Kate Winslet ), and Margaret ( Myriam François ), are cast out once Mr. Dashwood ( Tom Wilkinson ) dies, and their brother John ( James Fleet ) inherits the estate. John's wife's brother Edward ( Hugh Grant ) comes and forms an attachment to Elinor. Meanwhile, Marianne meets Colonel Brandon ( Alan Rickman ), who falls in love with her, but she loves John Willoughby ( Greg Wise ). Ultimately, Colonel Brandon rescues Marianne, and they marry, while Edward, who was secretly engaged for five years, is released from his engagement and thus free to marry Elinor.

Emma Thompson did double duty on Sense and Sensibility , starring as Elinor and writing the screenplay . She did a remarkable job adapting the novel, even winning an Oscar for her work. Thompson and Winslet bring their characters to work with the utmost skill and passion, making the 1995 version of the period drama memorable.

Sense and Sensibility

2 'emma.' (2020), directed by autumn de wilde.

All the stuffiness of Emma 1999 is absent from Emma . 2020. This most recent adaptation is relatively straightforward, sticking faithfully to the plot and even Austen's words. However, even if you know the story extremely well, Autumn de Wilde 's adaptation brings those moments you didn't realize were there to the forefront. On top of that, the story is brought to vibrant life through fantastic cinematography and a playful, period-authentic score that only adds more feeling and makes the audience experience the full gamut of emotions. Everything about Emma. is beautiful and detail-oriented, right down to the piece of cake on the stunning tiered tray. Every quip is sharp and unexpected; every scene takes viewers' breaths away.

Bill Nighy 's Mr. Woodhouse is hilarious and punchy. Mia Goth stands out for her meek and awkwardly naive Harriet. Anya Taylor-Joy plays the well-meaning young Emma with charisma, flare, and confidence. In an interview, Taylor-Joy said Austen's book "merits re-reading" because every time you go through it, you find something different that "shouts her brilliance." She said it was a gift to "say those witty lines and play around with them," giving it even more brilliance. Meanwhile, Johnny Flynn ’s Mr. Knightley has a deeper character development, making his romance with Emma more authentic. There's a heat and passion between the pair that wasn't present in 1999's version. There's no mistaking it; this is the definitive version of Emma that would've blown Austen away .

1 'Pride and Prejudice' (2005)

Directed by joe wright.

The 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice is the most classic Jane Austen adaptation. It epitomizes romantic period films and Austen's most famous novels. The epic love story follows Elizabeth Bennet ( Keira Knightley ), who seemingly gets her pride crushed by Mr. Darcy ( Matthew Macfadyen ) after he says she's not handsome enough to tempt him. She believes he is prejudiced against people from different backgrounds and detests him even more when she discovers he broke up her sister Jane ( Rosamund Pike ) and Mr. Bingley ( Simon Woods ). While she tries to start a relationship with the snake, Mr. Wickham ( Rupert Friend ), Darcy falls in love with her. Ultimately, Darcy repairs Elizabeth's sister's relationship and gets rid of Wickham to prove himself worthy of Elizabeth.

Pride and Prejudice is so much more than a tale about a middle-class country girl who unintentionally inspires love in a rich, older bachelor. The 2005 adaptation is richer and more passionate than all the previous versions and encompasses the right tone and vibe while breathing new life into it. The cinematography transports you there, and the beautiful score lifts all the emotion up even higher. Knightley was made to play Elizabeth Bennet. Whichever emotion Elizabeth shows, the audience feels it in the pit of their stomachs. They cry when she cries; they get angry when she's angry. A tingle goes up the spine when she's sublimely happy. Matthew Macfadyen nailed Darcy's brooding arrogance perfectly. Yet, behind his mask of indifference, a softness that Macfayden knew how to balance lurks. Undeniably, the 2005 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice is the most accurate representation of how Austen envisioned her novel.

Pride and Prejudice (2005)

Rent on Apple TV

NEXT: The Best Romantic Period Dramas of the 2000s, Ranked