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Jane Austen


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Jane Austen (1775-1817), English author wrote numerous influential works contributing to the Western literary canon including Pride and Prejudice (1813) which starts;

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered as the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.” —Chapter 1

Austen had rejected suitor Harris Bigg Wither at the last minute and never ended up marrying, but still she expresses a keen grasp of the traditional female role and the ensuing hopes and heartbreaks with her memorable protagonists including Emma Woodhouse, Fanny Price, Catherine Morland, Anne Elliot, and Elizabeth Bennett of Pride and Prejudice. Writing in the romantic vein, Austen was also a realist and has been lauded for her form and structure of plot and intensely detailed characters who struggle with the issues of class-consciousness versus individualism: self-respecting men were supposed to become lawyers or join the church or military, and respectable women married to improve their station in life.

Jane had started writing at an early age and her family were highly supportive, though as was done at the time her works were published anonymously. Her combination of irony, humour, and sophisticated observations of the societal and cultural machinations between the classes epitomise the often absurd problems of inheritance, courtship, morals, and marriage in Regency England. Modestly successful during her life, her works have gone on to inspire adaptations to the stage and film and have endured the test of time even into the 21st century.

Born on 16 December, 1775 Jane Austen was the daughter of Cassandra (née Leigh) (1739–1827) and the reverend George Austen (1731–1805). The Austens were a very close-knit family; Jane had six brothers and one sister, Cassandra, who would later draw a famous portrait of Jane. They lived in the village of Steventon in Hampshire county, England, where George was rector. Young Jane was tutored at home and attended the Abbey School in Reading, Berkshire.

Jane was inseparable from her older sister Cassandra. They sang and danced and attended balls together. When George retired around 1801, he moved his family to Bath where he died in 1805. Adjusting to the ensuing financial difficulties, Jane, Cassandra and their mother then moved to Southampton for a time before settling in a cottage on the estate of Edward Austen in the village of Chawton, Hampshire in 1809, which is now a museum. Austen had missed Steventon life and now returning to the Hampshire countryside she wrote in earnest, revising and writing new works including Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815).

Possibly suffering from Addington’s disease, Jane Austen died on 18 July, 1817. She lies buried in the north aisle of the nave in Winchester Cathedral in Winchester, England.


In the Memory of
Jane Austen
youngest daughter of the Late
Rev.d George Austen
formerly rector of Steventon in this County
She departed this Life on the 18th of July, 1817,
Aged 41, after a long illness supported with
the patience and the hopes of a Christian

Posthumous publications were Persuasion (1817) and Northanger Abbey, a satirisation of Ann Radcliffe’s Gothic novels like The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794). Although Austen had many critics, among them Charlotte Bronte, Mark Twain and Lionel Trilling, she also had many admirers during her life and since, including the Prince Regent, Andrew Lang, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Virginia Woolf, and Sir Walter Scott who wrote;

“That young lady has a talent for describing the involvements of feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with.”

Biography written by C.D. Merriman for Jalic Inc. Copyright Jalic Inc. 2006. All Rights Reserved.

The above biography is copyrighted. Do not republish it without permission.

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Recent Forum Posts on Jane Austen

need help

i need help with the following: compare the characters of thr five bennet sisters, in relation to elements of: 1. characterisation 2. themes 3. plot you should refer in detail to conversations and events thanks stacey81

Posted By stacey81 at Fri 12 Jun 2009, 8:19 AM in Austen, Jane || 0 Replies

English Extended Essay

I've chosen to write an English Extended Essay, but I'm completely lost as to where to go from there. I read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, and Emma awhile ago, and I loved them all, so I would really like to use them. The thing is, by 'awhile ago' I actually mean a couple of years ago, so everything is kind of rusty. Additionally, my school is pretty intense. we have just started writing our World LIterature essays annnnd exams are in two weeks (mocks) and the EE outline is due on the last day of exams, and there are a variety of other projects/essays I have to write for other subjects that are due in before exams start... so everything is just so hectic, it's hard to find time for anything, let alone going through all the books to find a research question. Soo yes :) I was wondering if anyone had any ideas/suggestions? that would be amazing I mean, I did think of a couple of research questions but they were all very basic and I'm sure have all been done before... many times. I really want to find something that's interesting but 'unique' I guess? just because a lot of people have written about Jane Austen for their EE's so yess well thank you

Posted By flicka at Thu 28 May 2009, 2:52 AM in Austen, Jane || 1 Reply

marxism within pride and prejudice

hello, i'm new here and i hope i'm doing this right, i'm currently trying to write a paper on marxism within pride and prejudice and would be grateful for any thoughts or theories regarding this. thanks Dawn

Posted By dawn schofield at Fri 1 May 2009, 2:00 PM in Austen, Jane || 0 Replies

Jane Austen & Feminism- Would Really Appreciate Opinions!

Hey, I'm writing a report on Jane Austen & Feminism for my lovely Journalism course in Notting Hill (gorgeous!) & I really need some opinions for primary research. Any contributions would be SO SO appreciated. Let's see how clever you cats are. Now that that’s cleared up, let’s carry on: The questions are just to get you to think, don’t answer them one by one or anything. Try to give me a couple sound bytes for the report. Ha, ha. To place this report in context, it is for my Contextual studies class. Statement: The portrayal of women in “Chick Lit” inspired by the works of Jane Austen actually indicates a back-pedalling on the forward-thinking Feminist ideals espoused in Austen’s novels. (I must work on reshaping that sentence, what’s with all the forwards-backwards stuff?) Questions/considerations: List recent media inspired by the works of Jane Austen that you are familiar with. eg. Twilight, Bridget Jone’s Diary (Or, of course, the true classics such as The Man Who Loved Jane Austen (right...), Sex and Sensibility (yikes!), or Jane Austen in Boca/Scarsdale (take your pick)) Feel free to discuss film adaptations as well (Clueless, That Mormon One) What would a Feminist think of these pieces of media? Analyze as a Feminist. (Now that I think about it, wasn’t Elizabeth in the Mormon movie writing a book about Feminist robots or something? Clearly ahead of her time or else I really don’t get that film.) How are women portrayed in these pieces of media? What would a Feminist think of the works of Jane Austen? Analyze as a Feminist. How are women portrayed in the works of Jane Austen? And, inevitably, how are women portrayed in the works of Jane Austen as compared to the works she inspired? Consider: The time at which Austen was writing, societal views on marriage then and today, the novels in context. You probably get the idea so whatever you can think of; have fun with it. This is assignment isn’t due for about two weeks but I would like to finish it this week to be honest because it’s the last week of term and I would love to enjoy a luxurious vacation. If you can’t be bothered, just give me permission and I will take the liberty of furnishing you with a veritable potpourri of suitable quotations with your name attached at no extra cost to you. Thanks in advance to anyone who responds. You guys are the bee’s knees!

Posted By cb3mod at Fri 27 Mar 2009, 10:28 AM in Austen, Jane || 2 Replies

The Jane Austen hero vote

So, all of us are different, and not all of us like the same books to most. So this is my question, which Jane Austen Hero was your favourite and Why? Mine is Captain Wentworth. Why? Do i need to explain! what a heart! and the letter! (Why cant men really be like that.)

Posted By Niamh at Tue 17 Feb 2009, 4:52 PM in Austen, Jane || 74 Replies

Happy Birthday Jane Austen,

Happy Birthday Jane Austen, Thank you for the pleasure you have given.

Posted By Peripatetics at Tue 16 Dec 2008, 9:02 AM in Austen, Jane || 1 Reply

Darcy and Wickham

Compare Elizabeths first meeting of darcy and Wickham. What hints does Jane Austen give that Wickham isnt the ideal partner for her? I just cant do this essay ... I have to write it for an As essay and im soo stuck... Never been so stuck before hah any help would be soo much appreciated ? like what points should I make? thankyou

Posted By smile_yay456 at Thu 16 Oct 2008, 5:27 PM in Austen, Jane || 0 Replies

"Equivalent" characters in Austen's novels?

I thought it might be interesting to draw parallels between Austen's various characters, comical or not. Do you consider Mr Collins to P&P what Mrs Elton is to Emma? Mrs Bennet and Mr Woodhouse? Edward Bertram and Mr Knightley? I'd be interested to know what people think. Obviously no two characters are the same, but what similarities do you see?

Posted By BreakawayChloe at Mon 13 Oct 2008, 4:18 PM in Austen, Jane || 1 Reply

Lady Catherine de Bourgh

I have a bit of fondness for Lady Catherine, having played her part, some yeas ago, in a duo speech with a friend of mine. We acted out the argument between her and Elizabeth, and now every time I come across that part when I'm flipping through P&P I laugh. What do you think of Lady Catherine? Do you think that, perhaps, she may have respected (not quite admired, I think) Elizabeth's spurning of society mores? I think I've read somewhere that she eventually grew acclimated to Elizabeth and grudgingly accepted her as Darcy's wife. What's Lady Catherine's story?

Posted By andave_ya at Thu 10 Jul 2008, 10:10 PM in Austen, Jane || 3 Replies

Question (JA's Legacy)

We all know that Jane Austen is still a very influential author. In my research on finding more authors who write about the same topics she does, I've come across the fact that contemporary authors write fiction books set in the time of Jane Austen, called "historical romance". What is your opinion on these types of books? Do you think they portray the era correctly, respect the rules back then and so on?

Posted By antonia1990 at Wed 25 Jun 2008, 7:27 PM in Austen, Jane || 2 Replies

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