Jane Austen was born the seventh
child in a family of eight to Reverend George and Cassandra Austen on December
16, 1775 in Stephenton, Hampshire England. She wrote six major novels
including Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Emma. Pride
and Prejudice is claimed to be the most popular. Her early writings
began in 1787 and ended in 1793. They consisted of plays, versus,
short novels, a virtual cornucopia of literary expressions. They
were entitled Volume the First, Volume the Second and Volume the Third,
an extravagant display of her wit and literary genus.
Her love life, though filled
with speculation, was believed to be sad and strange. In 1802 it
was rumored that she accepted a proposal of marriage from Mr. Harris Bigg-Wither.
However she later changed her mind and brought much friction between her
family and the family of Mr. Bigg-Wither. This may have been the
influence for the engagement of Edward to Lucy and the chaos involved in
the ending of their relationship.
Furthermore, stories circulated about a man she
fell in love with who died during their acquaintance. This tragedy
in Jane’s life most likely served as the model for the disastrous end to
Marianne and Willoughby’s relationship.
Jane’s first novel, Sense
and Sensibility began as a novel-in-letters called “Elinor and Marianne.”
These letters may reflect the relationship between Jane and her sister
Cassandra. It is well documented that Jane and Cassandra were extremely
close as children. When they grew older the two kept in touch by
writing each other letters on a daily basis. Cassandra destroyed
many of letters of correspondence with Jane to protect her privacy following
her death.
In 1805, Jane’s father died
and relatives housed Jane until her brother Edward found her family a cottage
in the village of Chawton. Jane’s scenario is identical to the Dashwood’s
predicament when Mr. Dashwood died, in that they had to rely on John and
Fanny for lodging until they found Barton Cottage. Once settled in
at the cottage Jane began preparing Sense and Sensibility and Pride and
Prejudice for publication.
By 1811, Jane was already
receiving acclaim for her novels. George IV was one of her largest
fans. Jane even acknowledged his support by “respectfully dedicating”
Emma to him.
In 1817 Jane’s recent run
of good fortune came to an end. Her health grew worse as throughout
the year from what we now know was Addison’s disease, she passed away on
July 18 of that year.