This article was written by Niki Esmaili of Richard Montgomery High School
The early life of Jane Austen
Jane Austen was born on Dec. 16, 1775 in Steventon, United Kingdom. She was born to Reverend George Austen of the Steventon rectory and Cassandra Austen of the Leigh family. She was the seventh child of the family and the second daughter. Jane had an older sister, Cassandra, who shared the same name as their mother, and also five older brothers. Jane and her sister were both sent to a boarding school at the age of eight where they studied subjects like French, music and dancing. Jane’s father kept a large collection of literature in his home library, which Jane and her sister made extensive use of. Mr. Austen fueled Jane’s writing interests by providing books, paper and writing tools to allow her to dive deep into her creative nature.
In 1787, Jane started to take more of an interest in creating her own works and began to keep them in notebooks. In 1789, she put pen to paper and wrote the comedy, Love and Friendship. In four years’ time, she took to playwriting in the form of Sir Charles Garandison or the Happy Man, a comedy that was centered around the works she read at school. This idea, however, was eventually replaced by an epistolary novel, Lady Susan.
Jane’s only romance was with the nephew of one of her nearby neighbors. His name was Tom Lefroy, a student who was studying in London to become a barrister. The two spent long whiles together and Jane confessed to her sister several times of falling in love with him. Unfortunately, the pair was soon split after Lefroy’s family intervened and sent him away. That was the last time Jane would ever see her lover again.
Jane Austen died of an unidentifiable disease on July 18, 1817 in Winchester at the age of 41. Some scholars believe she died of cancer or tuberculosis. However, recent evidence from the British Library shows that Austen may have died of arsenic poisoning from three pairs of glasses that are all believed to have been owned by her. This evidence, however, has not been proved yet and the early death of Jane Austen shall continue to remain a mystery for the time being.
The works of Jane Austen
Jane Austen has written, in total, six novels. Among these are Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Mansfield Park, Persuasion, and Northanger Abbey. Henry Austen, Jane’s brother and literary agent, helped her publish Sense and Sensibility by London publisher Thomas Egerton in October of 1811. Jane got the same publisher to publish Pride and Prejudice in January of 1813. The novel was an instant success with both the public and critics. Following these two was the publication of Mansfield Park. At the time, it became the best-selling and the most profitable of Jane’s works.
After getting her first three novels published, Jane moved to a more well-known publisher in London, John Murray. With Murray, Jane managed to publish Emma, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion, all of which were booming successes as well.
It has been said that Pride and Prejudice is Jane Austen’s most famous novel. It was published in January of 1813 and is loved for its witty depiction of romantic relationships in the 19th century. Since its publication, the novel has been adapted into many different films and TV shows which sustain its popularity to this day.
Jane Austen’s impact on the literary world
While Jane Austen’s novels have been written hundreds of years ago, they still prove to be very popular and influential in the world of literature to this day. Her works have been translated into approximately 40 different languages and have been adapted into many shows and films all across the world. It has been said that Jane’s writing style is characterized by “economy, brevity, and wit,”and that she has transformed the genre of the modern novel from the 19th century onward.
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