Jane Austen

Jane Austen

  • Submitted By: benbenamanda
  • Date Submitted: 02/04/2014 7:55 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 518
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 43

Jane Austen (1775 – 1817): a brief background Jane Austen was an English novelist who, using wit and social observation, provided astute insights into 19 century life, often praising the virtues of reason and intelligence and highlighting some of the barriers that society erected against the progression of women. Many academics and the public alike consider her to be one of the greatest writers in English history. In a BBC poll in 2002, the British public voted her as one of the "100 Most Famous Britons of All Time". Pride and Prejudice was voted the nation’s second favourite novel in the Big Read in 2004, with a total of three of her works making it into the top 40 (Emma and Persuasion are the other two). In 1875, the Encyclopaedia Britannica lauded her as "one of the most distinguished modern British novelists".
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Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, one of eight siblings. After a short period of formal education, she was home-schooled by her father, Reverend George Austen. During this time she developed a fascination with books. She was close to her family, and their homes and holidays in places such as Hampshire, Kent, Bath and the West Country were influential in her novels. Her brother Edward was adopted by the Austen’s cousins – the Knight’s, whose estate, Godmersham Park in Kent, he later inherited. Jane often visited Godmersham and it is believed that her visits there may have inspired some of the great houses in her novels. Jane began to write in her adolescence and often read her stories aloud to her family. It took time, however, for her novels to be accepted by a publisher and her first works were published anonymously. The first, Sense and Sensibility, was published in 1811, swiftly followed by Pride and Prejudice (originally known as First Impressions, which celebrates its 200th anniversary this year), Mansfield Park and Emma. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey (originally Susan) were published posthumously. While her...

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