The novels of the English author Jane Austen are very popular, especially among young girls and women. Especially in the last decade, the romantic works of the long-dead writer have enjoyed great popularity and achieved considerable success; they have long been among the classics of Anglo-Saxon literature.
But who was Jane Austen and what are her novels about? We introduce you to Jane Austen and her most important novels.
Who Was Jane Austen?
Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in Steventon near Hampshire. She grew up in a middle-class, wealthy and educated family and enjoyed a comprehensive but rather superficial school education. From an early age, young Jane poked her nose into the many books in her father’s library. She improved her level of education, read more and more literature and at some point she became interested in writing lyrics herself. From 1787 the first short stories by Jane Austen, who was just twelve that year, were written.
Later, she liked to visit entertaining institutions such as dance halls, festive events and theaters. This gave her more and more inspiration for her stories. Jane Austen was particularly fond of social, romantic and family drama, often drawing on events and relationship drama in her environment. Although her novels often revolved around love and marriage, Jane Austen herself never married; Although she received an application in 1802, she rejected it.
After the family moved several times and Jane Austen lost her father in 1805, she lived with her mother, sister and brother in Southampton and a few years later in Chawton. There she spent the rest of her life, writing and publishing all of her works there. During her long writing career, Jane Austen traveled extensively and thus had the opportunity to visit many of her relatives, as well as staying in touch with them by letter.
As time went on, however, the writer became increasingly reclusive at her country home in Chawton, eventually falling seriously ill at the age of 40. She died a short time later, on July 18, 1817 in Winchester. A short time later, works such as “Mansfield Park”, which had already been worked out, were published posthumously.
Works by Jane Austen
Some of Jane Austen’s best-known works include Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park.
Although “Mind and Feeling” was written in 1795, it was only published anonymously in 1811. The cover of the book was simply marked “By a Lady”. The successful writer also adopted this approach for her subsequent works. The success and the good reviews of the novel were remarkable, so that Jane Austen was even able to record an income from it: a whopping 140 pounds.
The novel “Mind and Feeling” revolves around two very different sisters, Elinor and Marianne Dashwood. Elinor is calm and more rationally oriented, while her sister Marianne is very lively and spirited. And as if there wasn’t enough drama in the Dashwood family, Elinor and Marianne’s distinct personalities and traits – Elinor embodies the mind and Marianne the feelings – are also revealed in their early romances and love affairs.
When her second novel, Pride and Prejudice, was published, the writer remained anonymous, although her identity was now an open secret. In “Pride and Prejudice” Jane Austen did a particularly good job of depicting English society and the class differences that were still prevalent at the time, and at one point or another made fun of it. The main focus of the novel is the protagonists Elizabeth and Darcy, who find themselves in an exciting, tumultuous love relationship.
Mansfield Park is one of Jane Austen’s later works, along with the novels Emma and Persuasion. From “Mansfield Park” at the latest, the readers recognize the further development of the main character into a much more mature and grown-up protagonist than in the previous works. In addition, Jane Austen concentrated more on socio-political issues in her later works.
“Mansfield Park” is about the young protagonist Fanny Price, who as a growing girl is sent by her parents to her aunt in Mansfield Park and tries to integrate into the family situation there. However, Fanny is excluded and treated in a condescending manner; she has to learn to adopt all the fine manners and customs, and grows up to be a true lady. Here, too, a love story develops in the course of the novel, namely between Fanny and Edmund.
Meaning of Jane Austen today
The works of Jane Austen have enjoyed great popularity among female audiences, especially in recent years. Not only the books themselves are successful, the corresponding film adaptations also brought the writer great success posthumously and also reached an audience that had not read the books before.
The successful film adaptations show that the stories about love, family, marriage and relationship dramas are still very popular and that the literary and film landscape would be inconceivable without them. While Jane Austen’s works tend to fall into the category of romantic love stories and drama, they go well beyond that.
In the course of her novels, Jane Austen developed an extremely sharp and precise power of observation and was thus able to better perceive and describe interpersonal relationships and social conflicts and incorporate them into her stories. Socio-political and socio-critical themes also found a place in her works, such as the arrogance and haughtiness of the British upper class at the time.
What is Jane Austen known for?
Austen, who died on July 18, 1817, at 41, is known for her six completed novels, among them the highly adapted Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Originally published anonymously, the works gained recognition among readers and scholars in the 20th century.
What did Jane Austen do to change the world?
Jane Austen’s novels: Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Northanger Abbey, had the most significant effect on upper-middle class individuals’ attitude towards education, and her novels made many individuals think about education, particularly English education, in a groundbreaking new way.
How did Jane Austen get famous?
Austen didn’t become a household name in her lifetime. Just after her death, her publisher destroyed the copies of her two final books, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. It was in the Victorian era that she began to receive acclaim for her work and was recognized as a great novelist. 56.
What is Jane Austen’s most famous work?
Jane Austen is recognized as one of the most important English writers of her time. She’s probably most famous for her novel Pride and Prejudice, but others like Mansfield Park, are very popular. Her books largely dealt with themes of love and a woman’s role in the home.
What is Jane Austen’s most famous quote?
The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.
What did Jane Austen died from?
Whilst it is impossible now to conclusively establish the cause of her death, the existing medical evidence tends to exclude Addison’s disease, and suggests there is a high possibility that Jane Austen’s fatal illness was Hodgkin’s disease, a form of lymphoma.
What is Jane Austen’s style of writing?
Jane Austen’s (1775–1817) distinctive literary style relies on a combination of parody, burlesque, irony, free indirect speech and a degree of realism. She uses parody and burlesque for comic effect and to critique the portrayal of women in 18th-century sentimental and Gothic novels.
Why did Jane Austen stop writing for a decade?
Cassandra claimed this was to keep her sister’s biting humor and quick temper concealed from her relatives. However, it is clear that by 1801 Jane had already completed three of her novels.
What were Jane Austen’s last words?
On July 18, 1817, Jane Austen slipped away in the early morning. Her last recorded words, the day before, were “God grant me patience, Pray for me Oh Pray for me.” Before she died, her clergyman-brothers Henry and James had “administered the services suitable for a Christian’s death-bed” (Memoir of Jane Austen).
What are three interesting facts about Jane Austen?
Jane Austen served in war.
Charlotte Brontë and Mark Twain were definitely not fans.
There are interesting speculations about her true identity.
There were only three people in her will.
Austen lived with a so-called “vampire.”
Her best friend was her only sister, Cassandra Austen.
Did Jane Austen marry?
Jane Austen was never married, but it seems she had her chances. At 19, Austen met Thomas Lefroy, an Irish nephew of a family friend. Jane and Tom attended several parties together and she wrote her sister Cassandra that they flirted and danced frequently.
Who was Jane Austen’s true love?
Becoming Jane is based on a chapter in Jon Spence’s 2003 critical biography, Becoming Jane Austen. In the book, Spence does identify Tom Lefroy as the love of Austen’s life and her relationship with him as the origin of her genius.
What age was Jane Austen when she died?
The spectre of disease and early death hung over Jane Austen in the final 2 years of her life, as she continued to work on her novels, whilst her body weakened and wasted and ultimately failed her at the age of 41.
What is considered Jane Austen’s best novel?
Pride and Prejudice (1813) Oh of course Pride and Prejudice takes the top spot! Well received at the time of publication, the novel’s popularity hasn’t dwindled with time.
