Jane Austen was the author of several enduringly popular English novels, including: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park.
Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on December 16, 1775. She was the seventh child in a family of eight children. Her father, George Austen, was a vicar and lived on a reasonable income of £600 a year. However, although they were middle class, they were not rich; her father could not have given much to help his daughters marry. Jane was raised with her 5 siblings and her older sister Cassandra. (Another brother, Edward, was adopted by a wealthy couple of children and went to live with them.) Jane was close to her siblings, especially Cassandra, to whom she was devoted.
Jane was educated at Oxford and later at a boarding school in Reading. In the early 19th century, two of Jane’s brothers joined the navy and went off to fight in the Napoleonic Wars; they would go on to become admirals. The naval connections can be seen in novels like Mansfield Park. After her father’s death in 1805, Jane, with her mother and her sister, returned to Hampshire. In 1809, her brother, Edward, who had been raised by the Knights, invited the family to the property he had inherited in Chawton. It was at the Chawton country house that Jane was able to produce some of her best novels.
His novels are a reflection of his outlook on life. She spent most of her life isolated from certain sections of society. His close friends were mainly his family and those of similar social standing. It is not surprising then that her novels focused on 2 or 3 middle or upper class families. Most of her novels were also based on the country-cottage idyll Jane was so fond of.
His novels also focus on the theme of obtaining a proper marriage. Marriage was a huge problem facing women and men of her time; often financial considerations were paramount in deciding marriages. As an author, Jane often lampooned these economic motivations, for example in Pride and Prejudice her mother is ridiculed for her ambitions to marry off her daughters for maximum financial compensation.
The strength of Jane’s novels lay in their ability to gain insights into character and the nature of human relationships, even from a fairly limited range of settings and characters. In particular, she helped redefine the role and aspirations of middle-class women like herself. Through witty satire on social conventions, she helped liberate contemporary ideas of what women could stand for.
During his lifetime, novels were quite popular. One of the strongest supporters of him was Walter Scott. He said of his novels:
“That young lady has a talent for describing the feelings and characters of everyday life, which for me is the most wonderful thing I have ever known.”
Jane Austen died in 1816, aged just 41. She died of Addison’s disease, a rare disorder of the adrenal glands. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral.