Jane Austen • 16 Dec. 1775- Steventon, Hampshire. • 7th of 8th siblings. • Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. • Oxford school ( until the age of 10). • Wrote and performed plays and charades. • Voracious reader. • Lady Susan Lady Susan – her first epistolary novel (19).
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Jane Austen
• 16 Dec. 1775- Steventon,
Hampshire.
• 7th of 8th siblings.
• Reverend George Austen and
Cassandra Leigh.
• Oxford school ( until the age of
10).
• Wrote and performed plays
and charades.
• Voracious reader.
• Lady SusanLady Susan – her first
epistolary novel (19).
Jane Austen• Elinor & Marianne , 1795. Re-
wrote it as Sense & Sensibility.
• Enjoyed dancing & attended
balls with the proper escort.
(Assembly Rooms, Bath)
• Flirted decorously with eligible
young men.
• Loved the country and long
walks.
• Family moved to Bath.
• After her father’s death, Jane,
Cassandra and their mother
were helped by Jane’s
brothers with an annual
income.
• She fell in love but he died.
• Met Harris Bigg-Wither.
Jane Austen• 1809: moved back to
Chawton, invited by her
brother Edward.
• 1810: Sense & Sensibility
was accepted for
publication
( anonymously- “By a Lady”).
She paid for its publication but
it sold well.
• Her brother Henry became
her literary agent.
• Biggest fan: the Prince
Regent!
• May 1817: very ill – rented
rooms in Winchester to be
near her doctor.
• Died in Cassandra’s arms,
Jul. 18, 1817.
Jane Austen• Buried in Winchester
Cathedral. • Cassandra wrote this epitaph:
“ I have lost a treasure, such a
Sister, such a friend as never
can be surpassed. She was the
sun of my life, … the soother of
every sorrow. I had not a
thought concealed from her,
and it is as if I had lost a part of
myself…”
Jane AustenRomanticism ( 1800-1850)Romanticism ( 1800-1850)
• New ideas (French Revolution, etc).
• Imaginative element in writing: Gothic novels.
• Innovation in form / poetry.
• Individuality.
• Interest in legend and History (Sir Walter Scott).
• AUSTEN: Augustan in topic ( life of the landed gentry; Bath;
balls; walks; the usual pursuits of the upper classes).
Jane AustenAusten bridges the gap between Neoclassicism and RomanticismAusten bridges the gap between Neoclassicism and Romanticism.
• Common-sensical novels.
• Heroine: controls her feelings; doesn’t give way to excesses of