Though the domain of Jane Austen's novels was as circumscribed as
her life, her caustic wit and keen observation made her the equal
of the greatest novelists in any language. Born the seventh child
of the rector of Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775, she
was educated mainly at home. At an early age she began writing
sketches and satires of popular novels for her family's
entertainment. As a clergyman's daughter from a well-connected
family, she had an ample opportunity to study the habits of the
middle class, the gentry, and the aristocracy. At twenty-one, she
began a novel called "The First Impressions" an early version of
Pride and Prejudice. In 1801, on her father's retirement, the
family moved to the fashionable resort of Bath. Two years later she
sold the first version of Northanger Abby to a London publisher,
but the first of her novels to appear was Sense and Sensibility,
published at her own expense in 1811. It was followed by Pride and
Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815).
After her father died in 1805, the family first moved to
Southampton then to Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Despite this
relative retirement, Jane Austen was still in touch with a wider
world, mainly through her brothers; one had become a very rich
country gentleman, another a London banker, and two were naval
officers. Though her many novels were published anonymously, she
had many early and devoted readers, among them the Prince Regent
and Sir Walter Scott. In 1816, in declining health, Austen wrote
Persuasion and revised Northanger Abby, Her last work, Sandition,
was left unfinished at her death on July 18, 1817. She was buried
in Winchester Cathedral. Austen's identity as an author was
announced to the world posthumously by her brother Henry, who
supervised the publication of Northanger Abby and Persuasion in
1818.
"The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste."—Virginia Woolf
"The wit of Jane Austen has for partner the perfection of her taste."-Virginia Woolf
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