Another question I would love the answer to, is why she didn’t publish her novels under her own name, rather than merely “a lady” there were several other female writers of that period who did not fear to publish under their own names, Fanny Burney later Madame D'Arblay , 1752-1840, Maria Edgeworth 1Jan 1767 to 22nd of May 1849 and Ann Radcliffe JULY 9th 1764 to Feb 7th 1823 she was considered the, pioneer of the Gothic novel.
Was it a failed publicity ploy, or did she really choose to remain anonymous.
I have always assumed as I am sure do many others that she based the characters of Elizabeth and Jane Bennett in Pride and Prejudice and the sisters Elinor and Marrianne Dashwood in Sense and Sensibility on the relationship she and her sister Cassandra shared, is this really so, or just conjecture and supposition on the part of her fond readers. Which of her published novels did she herself like best and identify most with?
- Sense and Sensibility (1811)
- Pride and Prejudice (1813)
- Mansfield Park (1814)
- Emma (1815)
- Northanger Abbey (posthumously in 1817)
- Persuasion (posthumously in 1817)
For those of you not familiar with what little is known about Jane Austen's personal life and family background , here is a brief overview :-
JANE AUSTEN was born in Steventon, a small village in the north-east of Hampshire at the village Rectory , her father ,the rector, Rev George Austen, and her mother Cassandra Leigh Austen on 1 6 December 1775 . She was their seventh child and second daughter. Of her brothers, two followed in their fathers footsteps and became clergymen, one of whom inherited rich estates in Kent and Hampshire, Jane’s two youngest brothers became Admirals in the Royal Navy; her only sister Cassandra, three years Jane's senior, like Jane herself, never married. Cassandra was not only Jane Austen's only sister, she was her closest friend and only confidante throughout her entire life. Of all Jane's brothers it was her brother Henry she felt closest to , he became a banker and, later after his bank failed, an Anglican clergyman. Henry was also Jane's literary agent. His large circle of friends and acquaintances in London ,provided Jane access to circles of people that living primarily in the back waters of Hampshire she would not otherwise likely to of encountered.
Jane Austen lived her whole life as part of a large and closely connected family ,hanging on to life on the social fringe of the lower ranking classes of English gentry, Her father supplemented their income by farming and by teaching three or four boys at a time, who boarded at his home. She was educated mostly by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The support of her family was to prove critical to Austen's later development as a recognized author.
George Austen apparently gave his daughters unrestricted access to his large and extensive personal library, he was even tolerant of Jane’s more suggestive forays in writing, with the exploits of her “Lady Susan”. He provided both his daughters with never ending supplies of expensive paper and other writing and painting materials for their artistic endeavors. According to Park Honan, a biographer of Austen, life in the Austen home was lived in "an open, amused, easy intellectual atmosphere" where the ideas of those with whom the Austen’s might disagree politically or socially were considered and openly discussed. "A very uncommon environment for young ladies of that period
Austen's works critiqued the overly sentimental novels of the second half of the eighteenth century and play a significant role in the transition to the nineteenth-century's more realistic approach.”Austen's plots, although fundamentally comic, highlights the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Just like those of Samuel Johnson, who was one of the strongest influences on her writing; her works are concerned with moral dilemmas."
The Steventon Rectory was the only home Jane Austen had known up to her reaching twenty five, she occasionally visited to Kent to stay with Edward her brother at his estate at Godmersham Park near Canterbury, she also had some shorter trips to Bath, where she also had relatives. The 1790s was the period where she wrote the first drafts of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey; her trips to Kent and Bath having given her the insight into life on a larger social frame work adding color to the settings of Pride and Prejudice, and Northanger Abbey.
In 1795 the year Jane reached twenty one, she fell in love, with Tom Lefroy, a nephew of neighbors, who was visiting Steventon, from December 1795 to January 1796. He had just completed a university degree and was moving to London to join a firm of lawyers to train as a barrister. Lefroy and Jane were probably introduced at a ball or other local social event, it is clear from Jane's letters to Cassandra that she and Lefroy spent a aconsiderable amount of time together. Their feelings for each other must have been strong and apparent to their friends and neighbors, as the Lefroys intervened and sent him away at the end of January. Marriage was an unrealistic ambition between the love struck pair, as neither had any money; Lefroy was dependent on a distant Irish uncle to finance his education and establish his career as a lawyer. If Tom Lefroy ever again visited Hampshire, he was carefully kept away from the Austen’s, and Jane probably, by well intentioned relatives, Jane was never to see him again. If you have seen the movie Becoming Jane, it depicts one interpretation of what must have been a very sad time in the life of Jane Austen.
The Rev George Austen retired in 1801, taking his wife and daughters to live in Bath. While retirement and travel were perhaps good ideas for the older Austen’s, there is evidence that Jane was greatly upset by the loss of the only home she had ever known. Perhaps one indication of this, and Jane's state of mind, is her lack of productive writing during the period she lived in Bath.
In the December of 1802, Jane was to receive her one and only proposal of marriage. She and Cassandra were visiting old friends their friends younger brother, and long time acquaintance of the Austen girls , Harris Bigg-Wither, had recently completed his degree at Oxford and was for the time being at home. Bigg-Wither proposed to Jane and she accepted. As described by Caroline Austen, Jane's niece, and Reginald Bigg-Wither, a descendant of Harris,"Harris was not attractive—he was a large, plain-looking man who spoke little, stuttered when he did speak, was aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless.”, Jane had known him since early childhood they had grown up together so she was well aware of all his character flaws; the marriage would afford Jane and her family many practical advantages. Harris was the heir to extensive family estates, situated near Jane's much missed Steventon,. With his resources, Jane could offer her parents a comfortable old age give Cassandra a permanent home and assist in the careers of her brothers. But by only the next morning, Jane realizing she could simply not palate the union withdrew her acceptance.
On the 21 st of January 1805 Rev. Austen died after succumbing to a sudden illness, leaving him (as Austen reported to her brother Francis) "quite insensible of his own state", he died quickly. Jane, Cassandra, and their mother were left almost penniless relying solely on their family for financial support, Edward, James, Henry, and Francis Austen pledged to make annual contributions to support their mother and sisters. They lived part of the time in rented quarters in Bath but a greater part of their time they spent visiting between various branches of the family.
In 1809 the Austen women moved to Chawton, where they lived in a cottage that belonged to one of Edward's Hampshire estates. Here Jane once again took up her writing; during this period 1810-1817 she revised her three early works and also composed three new ones - Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion.
in 1816 Jane fell ill - possibly with Addison's Disease – by the summer of 1817 her condition had worsened to the point where she could no longer keep it a private matter her family took her to Winchester to see a doctor . The doctor was unable to do anything for her; she died peacefully on 18th July 1817 and was buried at the cathedral in Winchester. In her will, she left virtually everything to Cassandra her sister. The entire value of her estate was less than £800. Her two novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were posthumously published.
No other female writer has ever captured the hearts and cultural imagination of both the common reader and literary critics like Jane Austen.
Jane's novels reflected the world of the English country gentry in which she lived; she portrayed it just as she herself had lived it. Due to the timeless appeal of her amusing plots, her gentle and subtle use of wit and irony ,her sensitive style, her works have never been out of print since they were first published in the 1800’s, In fact, she's more popular now, than ever before . She has been the inspiration for books and movies such as "Becoming Jane" and "The Jane Austen Book Club" Her novel, Pride and Prejudice, was voted "the book the nation (Britain) can't live without".
Her works are adapted for stage, screen and television on a frequent basis. Considering during her life time she was never recognized for her writing as she published anonymously as “a lady” Jane Austen is one of the best-loved and best-known writers in the entire entire English-speaking world.
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