About
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire, the seventh of eight children of Reverend George Austen. She began writing in her early teens, producing juvenilia such as Love and Freindship and The History of England. Her six major novels, including Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), and Emma (1815), were published anonymously during her lifetime. She never married and died on 18 July 1817 in Winchester, where she is buried in the cathedral. Her works, which portray with irony the life of the provincial gentry, have become classics of English literature.
* 1775-12-16 — † 1817-07-18
Major works
- Sense and Sensibility (1811)novel
- Pride and Prejudice (1813)novel
- Mansfield Park (1814)novel
- Emma (1815)novel
- Northanger Abbey (1817)novel
Key milestones
- 1802Briefly accepted and then withdrew her acceptance of a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither.
- 1816Sir Walter Scott publishes a laudatory review of Emma, recognizing her mastery of the modern realist novel.
- 1817Dies in Winchester on 18 July; buried in Winchester Cathedral.
Themes
Marriage and social statusIrony and social satireRole of womenMorality and judgmentClass and money
Sources: britannica.com · bl.uk · blogs.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
