Introduction
Who was Jane Austen; a Closer look
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid."
Short Biography of Jane Austen
Much could be said about Jane Austen, and in fact, much has been. We have loved and cherished her very few novels for nearly two hundred years.
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Jane Austen lived during the Regency period in England, both of which served as the setting to most of her novels. This was a period of little stability; the monarchy was continuously changing, and English society was growing uncomfortable with the French Revolution.
Jane Austen was born to George and Cassandra Austen. Her father was a local clergyman (Kelly 4), and it is presumed that being “a clergyman’s daughter, Austen would have done parish work and was certainly aware of the poor around her” (Yu 678). This is interesting, with consideration that Jane “wrote about her own world, not theirs” (Yu 678). Though her works typically criticize the upper class for their follies, prejudices, manners, and pride, nonetheless, she hardly mentions classes lower than her own. Her mother was of a higher class than her father before their marriage (Kelly 4), and had to adjust quickly to middle class expectations.
The Life of Jane Austen:
a short documentary
[Can you think of a character in Pride and Prejudice in a similar position to Jane's mother?
**Yes! Mrs. Bennet is also presumed to possess more money than Mr. Bennet prior to their marriage.]
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Jane was also a sister to six brothers, and one sister, Cassandra (Kelly 4). Her brother Edward was adopted by the childless Knight family, and became their sole heir. Her other brother, George, was born handicapped and very little is actually known about his life (Kelly 4). Henry was the “liveliest, most adventurous” of all the brothers, and was consequently closest to Jane (Kelly 4). It was, however, her sister Cassandra who was her closest companion and most avid fan. Cassandra, like Jane, never married.
In case you would like to know more, this is a fairly short and informative documentary
She was a source of aw and inspiration to Jane, and consequently many of Austen’s novels explore the relationships between two sisters (Pride and Prejudice is not an exception of this). She helped edit and critique Jane’s work, and shared her sister’s enthusiasm for her writing. It was, in fact, a tradition at the Austen household to read books modern to their time, and “reading aloud was considered a highly valuable professional and social skill” that led the siblings to read to each other frequently (Kelly 7).
[You may see here how a character like Mr. Collins, who confesses his dislike for books, would be ridiculed and criticized by the Austens]
Jane was a unique individual, particularly for her time. She was witty and very family orientated. Jane “wrote her first stories for the amusement of her family”, and was very close to them (Clark 111). The period known as Jane’s ‘Juvenilia’, which she wrote between the ages of 11-18, was accordingly written for her family. She criticized famous historical figures, including Queen Elizabeth and Mary Queen of Scotts, and dared to criticize “the assumptions and prejudices of upper-class England” (Yu 678). While this feature is more tamed in her more mature novels, it is still somewhat evident throughout her writing career. Jane makes a point in distinguishing “between internal merit (goodness of person) and external merit (rank and possessions)” (Yu 678). She also makes a stylistic point in drafting her first novels, Susan (later known as Northanger Abbey), Marrianne and Elinor (later known as Sense and Sensibility), and First Impressions (later known as Pride and Prejudice), in the epistolary form. This writing form was commonly used by several of Jane’s most beloved authors.
[Epistolary: in letters format]
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In her Juvenilia, she also wrote another epistolary novel, Lady Susan, which depicts women and society radically differently than her later works (Kelly 11). For that reason it is presumed Jane never saw it fit to publish Lady Susan; it seems most her relatives agreed. While the Austens had possession of the novel, it took decades until her nephew Edward published the work in her memoire. She began writing several novels in the middle part of 1970; specifically, Marianne and Elinor in 1975, and First Impressions between 1795-1797 (Kelly 11). As she matured, and re-edited several works to become what they are today, she begun to explore what became known as free-indirect discourse (Kelly 11).
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[Free indirect discourse- “this device sustains the readers sympathetic identification with the character while retaining distance, control, and “objectivity” from the narrator. We discuss in great detail the place of the Narrator in this novel)]
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Jane lived in Steveston until 1801, spending the majority of her time writing, socializing, and entertaining her family (Kelly 10). With the French Revolution taking place too close to home, Jane was repeatedly exposed to the English militia, and the uncomfortable tensions of war (Kelly 10).
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[Note: Several of her characters, such as Wickham, are accordingly in the militia. Austen’s society would have viewed this as normal, and the constant presence and departure of the militia in Pride and Prejudice would have been far better understood during Austen’s time than it is today]
In 1795, it is believed Jane experienced a romance herself, which as you may guess by the date, led to the composition of First Impressions. Much alike her heroine, “Jane was twenty years old, the age for attending balls at the Basingstoke Assembly rooms, the age for falling in love” (Fullerton 11). This love story, however, ends quite differently than Elizabeth and Darcy’s. His name was Thomas Lefroy, and Jane was well aquiented with his family. Unfortunately, Jane “had no portion and could not afford a handsome dowry, which apparently prevented [this] attraction from becoming anything serious” (Gao 385). It is speculated that his family threatened to cut him off financially, if he were to make an offer to such an impoverish young lady such as Jane. Lefory “at the time could not afford to marry Jane" (Shneider), and Madame Lefroy quickly dismissed the affection by sending her nephew away (Kelly 11).
Jane wrote Pride and Prejudice in Chawton on this table.
It does seem tragic for one of the greatest love stories of the English language to be written under such disappointing circumstances, but regardless, our lively author did not allow Darcy and Elizabeth to suffer as she did. Her next novel, Marianne and Elinor, was written under in happier occasions. Austen edited the novel from the epistolary form, to free indirect discourse, and renamed it Sense and Sensibility (Kelly 11). Strangely, it gets published before First Impressions. In 1797, George Austen attempted to publish his daughter’s First Impressions, and even hinted he was willing to pay in order to aid the process. Sadly, however, “Mr. Austen may have been an excellent clergyman, but he was no salesman” (Fullerton 12); he failed to even summarize what the novel was about (Kelly 12). Consequently, the manuscript was rejected, and Jane returned First Impressions to the shelf, disappointed. Of course ther bright author was born to write and did not give up her passion after one failure. In 1898-1899 she wrote the novel Susan, which later became known as Northanger Abbey (Kelly 11).
The tragedy in Jane’s love life did not end with Lefroy. In 1801 Devon, it is speculated that she fell in love with a young clergyman. Her family was, in fact, optimistic about him making Jane an offer when the young man died suddenly of uncertain reasons (Kelly 11). It was not but a year later, when Jane did receive a marriage proposal from a promising young man of her acquaintance (Kelly 11). The young man was “fairly prosperous” (Gao 385), which would have permitted Jane to live the rest of her life comfortably. She accepted the marriage proposal, which was, in fact, most expected for her to do. Though her reasoning remains unclear, she returned to reject the young man the following morning. Critics have attempted endlessly to interpret her reasoning for rejecting him. Perhaps she was unable to surrender her writing, as would have been expected for her to do had she got married, as the documentary below suggests; perhaps, similarly to Elizabeth’s rejection of Mr. Collins, she simply decided she “would rather prefer to live alone than get married without love” (Gao 384); or perhaps, her "strong sense of independence and pursuit for spiritual happiness did not lead her to make a vulgar decision” (Gao 385). What is to be sure, Jane “didn’t comprise to reality”, and similarly Elizabeth, she fought for what she believed in (Gao 384). She did not, however, “find her ideal man during these past years”, or ever (Gao 385). This incident led to the start of another novel, The Watsons, which remained unfinished for unknown reasons (Kelly 11).
For the remainder of her life, Jane, Cassandra, and her mother, were depended upon the men of the family to support them. Jane’s father died in 1805, and several years later, the girls moved to Chawton with one of Jane’s brothers (Kelly 15). They humbly lived in a small cottage, where most of Jane’s notable pieces were composed. It is believe that in 1808-1809, Jane begun editing Marianne and Elinor, and as previously mentioned, the novel was later published as Sense and Sensibility. At last, Jane’s luck was changing.
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Notice in the image on left of a first edition of Pride and Prejudice, that the novel is not signed with Austen’s own name, but by a Lady. While Jane does not name herself, she does maintain a gender and a certain class standard associated with the term ‘lady’. Throughout her life she chose to remain anonymous. It must be understood, that Jane’s time were much different than our own, particularly for women. Whereas today many of the most notable
figures in literature are women, Jane’s “English society associated a female’s entrance into the public sphere with a reprehensible loss of femininity.” (Yu 678). Basically, being a woman and a celebrity writer, which she would have been had she revealed her name, was not deemed a worthy accomplishment by society. Thus, “publishing anonymously prevented her from acquiring an authorial reputation”, and prevented the world from appreciating who will later become one of the greatest authors of British Literature whilst she lived (Yu 678).
Sense and Sensibility sold quite well, which gave the author confidence in rewriting First Impressions and trying again to get it published (Kelly 21). In fact, it is noteworthy to mention that “has the reception of [Sense and Sensibility] been a poor one, the world would probably never have known Pride and Prejudice”, for Jane Austen was too poor to have been unable to afford another failure (Fullerton 14). In 1813, Jane rewrote Pride and Prejudice, and finally the world met Darcy and Elizabeth. As of today there are no surviving copies of First Impressions before it became Pride and Prejudice. Perhaps one day the world will be fortunate enough for someone to find a copy hidden in their basement. In a letter to Cassandra, Jane says “[she] must confess that [she] think[s] [Elizabeth] as delightful a creature as ever appeared in print” (Gao 385). This novel is seen as “Austen’s earliest work and in some sense also one of her most mature works” (Gao 384), and with reference to her previous novel, it is signed by “‘By the Author of “Sense and Sensibility”, in other words by a lady already published.” (Clark 180). Jane often amused herself by reading visitors her novels, and not admitting to be their author (Kelly 21). In the following several years, Jane wrote and published both Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815) (Kelly 27). While the exact situation and dates are unknown, “before long [Prince Regeant] was a devoted fan of [Jane]” (Fullerton 19), and though she never appeared to be too fond of him, Emma was dedicated to him.
From here, begins the years Jane’s health failed her. In 1816, she began showing symptoms of the disease that ultimately killed her (Kelly 30). There are speculations that she may have had Addison’s disease, but nothing is confirmed (Kelly 30). The story of her death is a sad but realistic one. Ignoring her symptoms, she continued to write. She wrote twelve chapters of what unfortunately was her last novel, Sandition, and critics reflect her illness must have prevented her from completing it. In her lifetime, then, “four of her novels published- Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma” (Fullerton 21). It is important to remember though, that during her life, “only her immediate family knew of her authorship of these novels” (Yu 678)
If you should learn anything from that, is Austen’s love for writing. She wrote to her last able breath. She wrote stories of an ugly society, and of different people in it. She ridicules, mocks, terrorizes, teaches, and falls in love with her characters. She died in 1818, and society unknowingly buried one of the most notable figures in British Literature history. Ironically her eulogy (shown above) merits her amiable qualities but mentions nothing of the woman who became one of the world’s most beloved authors.
After her death, her closest brother Henry, and sister Cassandra got Northanger Abbey and Persuasion published. At last Henry decided to uncover the author’s identity, and the world finally knew Jane Austen as a writer. Sad to think, that she died without any sense of understanding of the success and recognition her novels receive today. Her nephew, Edward, published Sandition decades later in his Memoire of Jane Austen (Kelly 30). After her death, her novels lost recognition with time, and it was not until 1833 when they were reprinted, that they became re-established as “classics” (Kelly 33)
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Jane was modest, humble, and beyond anything she treasured her writing. She may have died long before her time, and a true lover of her novels will forever mourn the beauty that she may have produced had she lived longer, but the mark she left in literature is undeniable. I daresay the Regency period will hardly be remembered for its nobility, but for its literature, and with that for an unmarried, satirical, and stubborn young lady who knew how to capture society’s essance and her reader’s heart.
This is a first edition copy of Pride and Prejudice, written by a Lady.
Jane Austen is one of the best known authors of all time, and yet her eulogy [above] mentions absolutely nothing of her writing. Tragic.