Jane Austen (1775 - 1817) was a British author who portrayed the reality of middle-class women in the early nineteenth century. He wrote six novels of which he published four during his life and the rest of his works reached the public posthumously.
His first work to be published was Sense and Sensibility (1811). He also ventured into other genres apart from the novel, such as poetry, theater and short narrative, but his greatest mark was in literary manners in which he portrayed the English Georgian period of the 19th century..
After his death, an illustrated reissue of his work was produced, which was received in an excellent way. In addition, his novels have had an important influence on popular culture and have been adapted in various formats such as theater, film and television..
Although for a time Austen was considered a classic author, it is also believed that her work was full of social criticism and that she was influenced by the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft, whose thoughts on education and women's rights were a mainstay for feminism..
It is noteworthy that in Austen's novels the protagonists never marry for money or social pressure, but rather try to find true love.
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Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England. His mother was Cassandra Leigh and his father George Austen, a parish rector of the Anglican church. The couple had eight children, six were boys and two girls, of which Jane was the youngest.
George Austen's family was wealthy, but the inheritance was not passed on from the father of the future author. He studied at Oxford and at that time he met Cassandra Leigh, who was a member of an important family..
Young Austen then secured a position as parish priest in Steventon and married Cassandra in 1764. The Austen household encouraged the intelligentsia for both women and men..
The whole family was very interested in the theater; in fact, they staged plays and invited family and friends to serve as audiences. Jane and her sister Cassandra were also great friends. Among the males of the Henry family he was the closest to the English writer.
From 1783 Jane and Cassandra Austen were sent to a boarding school run by Mrs. Ann Cawley, at Oxford. Later when Ann moved to Southampton she did so with both girls, but shortly afterwards Jane was sent back home with her sister, because she contracted typhus and almost died.
From then on it was decided that the girls were educated at home, something that was not very complicated because George Austen served as a tutor for several young people to have a second income. That is why it is known that the educational encouragement in Jane Austen's home was evident.
In any case, the Austens wanted to provide a proper education for their daughters and in 1785 they sent them back to a boarding school called Reading Abbey Girl's School. The young women were there until the end of 1786 and had to leave because the costs were too high for their father..
From the age of 11 Jane Austen had begun to write, but it seems that when she was about 14 she began to write in a more professional way. Between 1787 and 1793 are framed the works of Austen that became known as her "juvenilia".
Thanks to these early works, Austen forged her style and charted her course towards the literary maturity that she achieved years later..
Between 1793 and 1794 Austen wrote an epistolary novel entitled Lady susan (1871), considered her first official work, although it was not published until decades after the death of the writer.
After completing that text, Jane began working on another novel that she originally called "Elinor and Marianne”And that was later published as Sense and Sensibility (written before 1796).
Between 1795 and 1796 a young man visited the small town of Steventon, where Jane Austen and her family lived. That boy's name was Tom Lefroy and he met Jane at a dance, the two hit it off right away.
He was going to prepare to become a litigator (barrister) in London. When the Lefroy family realized the romance that was emerging between Jane and Tom, they decided to shorten the young man's visit and send him soon to the English capital..
The boys did not see each other again, and Jane apparently never received a "proposal" from him. However, Austen came to comment to her sister Cassandra in a letter that she was waiting for an offer from Lefroy..
It is believed that Lefroy may have been the inspiration for the character of Mr. Darcy in Pride and prejudice, which was written around the time Austen met the boy. When he began to draft that paper, he called it “First impressions"Or"First impressions".
Pride and prejudice it was ready in August 1797 and was the favorite work of both Austen and her family. Later he dedicated himself to correcting “Elinor and Marianne”, A task that culminated in 1798.
In December 1800 George Austen resigned as rector of Steventon Parish and moved with his family to Bath. During that time it can be said that Jane suffered from an artistic block.
In those years Austen devoted herself to creating another piece of literature, a novel that at that time was titled "Susan”, Although it was published as Northanger Abbey. In 1803 Henry - Jane's brother - managed to sell the manuscript to a London publisher who never published it..
Although the British did not stop writing completely, it is thought that her time was occupied in leading a more active social life than she had while living together with her family in the countryside. During the Bath period, Austen began writing a novel called The Watsons.
In 1802 Jane received the only marriage proposal ever made to her, or at least the only one for which there are records. Young Harris Bigg-Wither, heir to a large estate in Hampshire and Austen's childhood acquaintance, asked for her hand.
For the benefits a marriage represented for Austen and her family, Jane originally accepted Bigg-Wither's proposal, but the next day she backed off..
Austen put aside her novel project, The Watsons, when his father passed away in 1805 unexpectedly. Although the male siblings promised to help support their mother and unmarried sisters, they faced financial difficulties.
They spent some time visiting relatives and then settled briefly at Stanford Cottage in Wothing, Sussex. Physical losses were common for Austen at the time, as her friend Anne Lefroy had died in 1804..
In 1806 Frank Austen, one of Jane's brothers, invited his sisters and mother to live with him and his new wife in Southampton. They stayed there for several years because they couldn't afford to live independently..
When the Austens had already spent three years in Frank's residence, another of the brothers offered a better accommodation to both their widowed mother and their sisters..
Edward Austen had inherited several properties from the Knight, relatives of his father, who, because they did not have children, took him as heir. Edward offered to let the Austens move into a separate cabin on his property in Chawton Village..
Jane, Cassandra and their mother moved to Chawton in July 1809. The author adjusted well to her new way of life: her days became calmer and the women were engaged in social work, as well as teaching reading and write to some children in the community.
The tranquility she found in Chawton allowed Jane to resume her life as a writer, which she had put aside after the instability that followed her father's death in 1805..
His brother Henry helped him close a deal with a publisher named Thomas Egerton to finalize the publication of Sense and Sensibility. The work was published anonymously, as was customary for English women who were engaged in writing at that time.
Jane Austen's first work was well received by both the public and critics. It generated favorable reviews and became a bestseller: Austen's book performed so well on the market that she saw £ 140 in profit..
That was the main incentive that drove her to continue publishing her novels: knowing that she could achieve for herself, her sister, and her mother some financial independence from her brothers..
After the success of the first publication, Austen signed the rest of her works as "The author of Sense and Sensibility”. In 1813 his second work was published Pride and prejudice, whose rights he sold to his publisher for £ 110.
The second of her works was one of the most popular made by the British author. The following year he published Mansfield Park and at the same time Austen dedicated herself to writing another novel which she titled Emma, which was published in December 1815.
England was then ruled by the Prince Regent, George of Wales, who was the son of George III and who after the death of his father began to officially hold the throne under the name of George IV.
The English regent was a great admirer of Austen's work and, although he did not sympathize with the figure of the Prince of Wales, she dedicated her novel to him Emma.
In 1816 the draft of “The Elliots", Which was later published as"Persuasion”. That same year he recovered the rights of “Susan"Or Northanger Abbey.
In addition, Austen began work on a satirical novel which she titled Plan of a novel, according to Hints from various Quarters (Plan of a novel, according to clues from various barracks).
Jane Austen's health began to deteriorate from 1816, but she did not give it much importance and continued to dedicate herself to the production of her literary work. During the following year he wrote 12 chapters corresponding to a novel that he left unfinished.
He called that last novel Sandition. It was a satire about disability and hypochondria, probably Austen made it as a reference to her own situation during that last year..
Jane Austen stopped writing in March 1817. The author is believed to have suffered from Addison's disease at the time, a hormonal deficiency that causes fatigue, muscle hypofunction, anorexia and general decay in patients..
In May her family members transferred her to Winchester in the hope that more advanced medical treatment could be offered there..
Jane Austen passed away on July 18, 1817, in Winchester. He had endured great pain in his last days, so death seemed a relief in his final moments. The writer was buried in Winchester Cathedral on July 24..
Henry and Cassandra, Jane Austen's brothers, arranged for it to be published in 1817 Persuasion Y Northanger Abbey. Henry was commissioned to write a biography that accompanied the publication of his sister.
In Henry's text that accompanied both works, it was the first time that Jane Austen was publicly awarded authorship of his novels..
Female education in Jane Austen's time used to be limited to certain aspects such as household management, religious customs and some arts such as music, dance, drawing and languages.
All of these were considered useful tools or "talents" to act as good hostesses and thus be ideal wives..
Not only was Austen raised differently, but in her work the heroines were always inclined towards the idea of a liberal feminine upbringing, in which women were allowed to know the same subjects as men.
In addition, the protagonists of Austen's main works, like herself, did not seek to marry as the greatest achievement in their lives, but if they decided to join a man they did it for love.
This is why it is said that Austen echoed the ideals advanced by Mary Wollstonecraft regarding female education and her rights as an individual..
Perhaps Austen's greatest achievement in her work was to make a social criticism, thanks to the satire to which she frequently resorted, without being considered a reactionary author. In fact, his work was admired by Prince Regent George of Wales..
The English author also criticized the firm separation between social classes in 19th century England..
It was Austen's first work to be published, in 1811. It deals with the women of the Dashwood family, especially around Elinor (19) and Marianne (16).
Both young women along with their mother and Margaret, the younger sister, fall into a bad financial situation at the beginning of the story..
After the death of their father, the three sisters and the widow must leave their home because it is inherited by their older half brother. The inheritance passed to the closest man in the family according to the laws and customs of England at that time.
Being stripped of their home, the protagonists move into a modest cabin. There the young women know love and spite thanks to experiences that lead them to reach maturity, but without betraying their principles..
With this 1813 novel, Austen established herself as one of the most acclaimed authors in her country, although her name was not even publicly known..
It tells the story of Elizabeth Bennet, a young woman from the lower middle class, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a single heir to a great fortune..
Both characters have a personal development throughout the plot and learn to appreciate the value of what is in the background and not with the naked eye when it comes to a relationship.
In this work the British author criticizes the preconceptions that exist about social classes.
It is Austen's third book, which was published in 1814. In this the British author showed the story of a young woman named Fanny Price, who at the beginning of the narrative was still a girl.
Her family sent her to live with wealthy uncles, hoping that she would find a better future there, although at the same time they had financial relief. At her uncles' house, Fanny went from being a girl to becoming a woman.
Despite her low expectations if she could not find a husband with money, Fanny demonstrated in her actions moral rectitude rather than interest in a marriage of convenience..
- Emma, 1815.
- Northanger Abbey, 1818 (posthumous).
- Persuasion, 1818 (posthumous).
- Lady susan, 1871 (posthumous).
- The Watsons. Unfinished, written between 1793 and 1794.
- Sandition. Unfinished, written in 1817.
- Sir Charles Grandison. Play, written between 1783 and 1800.
- Plan of a novel, according to clues from various barracks. Written in 1815.
- Poems, 1796 to 1817.
- Cards, 1796 to 1817.
- Prayers, 1796 to 1817.
Some of the works of the training stage of Jane Austen (1787 to 1793) were compiled in an edition that was baptized as Juvenilia. In them you can see the transition and the search for a style of the author from the beginning..
These texts were organized in three volumes and contain works of different genres that, despite containing some beginner errors, have a relevant character in the study of Austen's evolution..
Among the literary pieces that are included in this compendium are:
- The Beautifull Cassandra (sic).
- Love and freindship (sic).
- The History of England.
- Catherine, or The Bower.
- I don't want people to be nice, since it saves me the trouble of liking them a lot.
- I must keep my own style and go my own way; and although I may never succeed at that again, I am convinced that I would totally fail at any other.
- Pictures of perfection, as you know, make me sick and make me sick.
- I hate to hear you talk about all women as if they were good ladies instead of rational creatures..
- He is a gentleman, and I am the daughter of a gentleman. So far we are the same.
- Big income is the best recipe for happiness I've ever heard of.
- There are certainly not as many men of great fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them..
- A woman, especially if she has the misfortune to know something, should hide it as best she can.
- I wish, like everyone else, to be perfectly happy; But, like everyone else, it must be my way.
- A woman with no family was the best furniture curator in the world.
Other phrases by Austen.
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