Sketch of Jane Austen

Timeline

Lifetime: 1775 - 1817 Passed: ≈ 206 years ago

Title

Novelist

Country/Nationality

England
Wikipedia

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security.

Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775. She was born a month later than her parents expected; her father wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother "certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago". He added that her arrival was particularly welcome as "a future companion to her sister". The winter of 1776 was particularly harsh and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the local church with the single name Jane

Austen has inspired many critical essays and literary anthologies. Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940's Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions like Sense and Sensibility (1995), Emma (1996), Mansfield Park (1999), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Love & Friendship (2016), and Emma. (2020).

Because Austen's novels did not conform to Romantic and Victorian expectations that "powerful emotion [be] authenticated by an egregious display of sound and colour in the writing", 19th-century critics and audiences preferred the works of Charles Dickens and George Eliot. Though the Romantic Scott was positive, Austen's work did not match the prevailing aesthetic values of the Romantic zeitgeist. Her novels were republished in Britain from the 1830s and sold steadily, but they were not best-sellers.

In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill-health, probably due to Addison's disease. She travelled to Winchester to receive treatment, and died there on 18 July 1817.

Books by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice Cover image

Pride and Prejudice

Satire Romance Fiction
Family Marriage Pride

Jane Austen’s classic novel chronicles the events in the lives of the Bennet family. Take a family with five unmarried daughters and a lack of wealth, throw in a new wealthy neighbor or two, plus a whole regiment of soldiers in town, and add a heapin...

Emma Cover image

Emma

Romance Fiction Novel
Children's Literature Romance Novel Comedy Novel of manners

A comedy of manners, Emma portrays the spoilt, snobbish, yet charming Emma Woodhouse as she delightfully interferes in the relationships of others without taking much notice of her own heart. Although quick to make prejudgments and decisions, Emma is...

Mansfield Park Cover image

Mansfield Park

Romance Fiction Novel
Children's Literature Bildungsroman Education

One of the most controversial novels written by Austen, Mansfield Park follows the life of the young heroine Fanny Price as she searches for her place in society. Set in early 19th century England, the classic novel depicts the social issues of the t...

Persuasion Cover image

Persuasion

Romance Fiction Novel
Young adult fiction Class Rigidity Social Mobility

Persuasion is the last completed novel by Jane Austen and it was published posthumously in 1818. Readers have often connected Persuasion with Northanger Abbey as the setting of both stories is in Bath, a highly fashionable health resort with which th...

Northanger Abbey Cover image

Northanger Abbey

Romance Fiction Novel
Gothic Bildungsroman Satire

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. It was completed in 1803, the first of Austen’s novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion. The story concerns Cathe...

Love and Friendship Cover image

Love and Friendship

Satire Romance Fiction Humour
Love Young adult fiction Epistolary Parody

Begun when she was just eleven years old, Love and Friendship is one of Jane Austen's stories that very few readers may have encountered before. Austen experts feel that this story was written, like many others, only for the pleasure of her family a...

Lady Susan Cover image

Lady Susan

Fiction Novel
Epistolary

Lady Susan is a short epistolary novel by Jane Austen, possibly written in 1794 but not published until 1871. This early complete work, which the author never submitted for publication, describes the schemes of the title character.

The Watsons Cover image

The Watsons

Fiction Novel
Family Marriage

The Watsons is an abandoned novel by Jane Austen, probably begun about 1803. There have been a number of arguments advanced why she did not complete it and other authors have since attempted that task. Even before the manuscript fragment was eventual...

The Letters of Jane Austen  Cover image

The Letters of Jane Austen

Biography
Family Autobiography Witty Life Letters Survival

Jane Austen's letters in this are addressed to her sister Cassandra, but there are also letters to her brothers, friends, and towards the end, her nieces and nephews as well as publishers.

Jane Austen's Juvenilia  Cover image

Jane Austen's Juvenilia

Novel
Short Story Comics Epistolary Friendship Classics General Fiction

Before becoming the author of such classics as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma, Jane Austen experimented with various writing styles as a teenager in the early 1790s. This is a collection of her juvenilia, including the epistolar...

Lesley Castle Cover image

Lesley Castle

Novel
Drama Satire Epistolary Letters Castle Melodies

Lesley Castle is a melodramatic epistolary novelette written by Jane Austen when she was sixteen years old. Although the novels Austen became known for were not published until she was in her thirties, she was an active writer from the age of twelve,...

Sense and Sensibility Cover image

Sense and Sensibility

Novel
Love Nature Romance Society Passion Life Emotion Observation Human Relationship

This is a timeless classic that explores the contrasting nature of two sisters and their divergent approaches to life and love. Written by the esteemed author, the novel takes readers on a journey through the complexities of emotions and societal exp...

Love and Freindship Cover image

Love and Freindship

Satire Romance Fiction Humour Novel
Romantic Love Mystery Self-Discovery Friendship Challenges Relationships Expectation

In the world of Regency-era England, where social conventions and courtship rituals reign supreme, a delightful and witty tale unfolds - "Love and Freindship" by Jane Austen. This charming novella takes readers on an unforgettable journey through the...