Austen, Jane (1775-1817), is one of the best-loved English novelists. Austen wrote with a keen sense of irony about the social institutions of her time. In each of Austen’s six novels, a woman meets and marries an eligible man after a series of usually comic difficulties. Overcoming these obstacles helps one or both of the characters gain the self-knowledge required for a happy marriage. Few authors have matched Austen’s sure eye for human weakness. She has also been praised for her affectionate description of everyday life and her witty and elegant prose.
Austen’s first novel, Sense and Sensibility (1811), follows Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, two sisters with differing temperaments. Elinor possesses careful self-control, or “sense.” Marianne permits hasty emotions, or “sensibility,” to rule her decisions. Pride and Prejudice (1813) is Austen’s most famous work. In the novel, the lively Elizabeth Bennet dislikes Fitzwilliam Darcy’s proud behavior and is blinded to his better qualities. Their marriage can take place only after he humbles his pride and she loses her prejudice. In Mansfield Park (1814), the long-suffering and modest Fanny Price grows up mistreated by rich relatives. Her character may seem uninteresting compared with Austen’s more flawed women. However, Fanny is a successful portrait of personal integrity.
The self-satisfied and overly imaginative heroine of Emma (1816) almost ruins her chances for happiness with matchmaking schemes. Northanger Abbey, begun in 1797 and published in 1818, makes fun of the Gothic tales of romance and terror popular in Austen’s time (see Gothic novel). In Persuasion (1818), Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth find love that survives an earlier parting and a disapproving family.
Austen was born in Steventon, a village in Hampshire, on Dec. 16, 1775. Her father was a clergyman. Austen received a better education than most women of her time. She began writing novels in her early 20’s but did not publish them until late in life. Austen never married. She lived happily in the rural, upper middle class society described in her books. She died on July 18, 1817. In 2017, the Bank of England began issuing 10-pound bank notes that feature an image of Jane Austen. Austen is the only woman, other than the queen, to be featured on an English bank note.
See also Emma; Pride and Prejudice.
