Transcript Jane Austen’s life & times

Jane Austen’s life & times – her life



Jane Austen was born near Hampshire, England, in 1775, the youngest
of 6 children of an Anglican clergyman & his wife, and died of
tuberculosis in 1817 at age 41. She had 4 brothers but was closest to
her sister Cassandra – both never married but were briefly engaged.
Jane also lived at Bath (England). Her life was quiet, sober, and
reflective, and she came from a middle class family.
From the age of 12, Austin was a prolific writer who produced a wide
variety of work including sketches & tales in many styles, but is best
known for her 6 completed novels. The first of these, Sense & Sensibility,
was originally submitted to a publisher (& rejected) as a series of letters.
It was rewritten & of course published. Austen then wrote Pride &
Prejudice, Northanger Abbey (a Gothic novel), Mansfield Park, Emma,
and Persuasion. She also wrote 2 novels that were never completed.
Jane Austen was not a professional writer and received little money for
her work. Jane’s novels were published anonymously but she enjoyed
critical success as her identity became known. She was a favorite writer
of the Prince Regent (later King George 1V), & the first edition of Emma
was published with a dedication to him at his request (though she is
known to have despised the man).
Jane Austen’s life & times – her times





Jane wrote at a time when the novel was in its infancy as a writing form.
She was influenced by other novelists of her era including Charles
Dickens (who like Austen wrote about social ills). William Makepeace
Thackeray, Charlotte & Emily Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, & George Eliot
(a male pseudonym for a female writer). Austen’s writing is concerned
with exploring and satirizing middle class society & in turn she
influenced other writers.
In Austen’s time (18th/19th century England) social divisions were
sharper than today. Jane wrote in the Romantic period but was also
influenced by the Enlightenment or Age of Reason (18th Century).
She lived during a time of social flux including the Industrial Revolution
which produced many visible social ills. It was also a time of political
revolution: the Napoleonic Wars (France); American War of
Independence; and French Revolution all took place in Austen’s lifetime.
Austen could best be described as a social satirist. Her 4th novel, Emma,
is considered (by the writer below & many other critics) as Austen’s
‘penultimate finished novel’. In other words: her most accomplished
work.
[Precis of Darragh, S, Emma, York Notes Advanced. Pearson,
2005/www.pearson-bookscom/yorknotes]