Jane Austen
Jane Austen,
one of England’s foremost novelists, was never publicly acknowledged as a writer
during her lifetime. She 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. She was primarily educated at home, benefiting from her
father’s extensive library and the schoolroom atmosphere created by Mr.
Austen’s live-in pupils. Her closest friend was her only sister, Cassandra,
almost three years her senior.
Though Austen
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.
St. Nicholas Church, Steventon
(Click photos for larger image.)
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 Ł10 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.
4 Sydney Place, Bath
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.
Chawton Cottage
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 Prejudicefollowed 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.”
8 College Street, Winchester
All photos ©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. 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, Austen’s 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. Austen’s novelshave never been out of print and are often included on
lists of readers’ favorites. Her surviving letters are also a source of
entertainment and biographical information (Jane Austen’s Letters,
edited by Deirdre Le Faye, Oxford University Press, 1995). Maps of real and fictional places in Austen’s novels are available on this site.
This information has been taken from http://www.jasna.org/info/about_austen.html
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