| Jane Austen was born on December 16th 1775 at Steventon, Hampshire, England, the seventh of eight children. Having been encouraged by her parents and her lively loving family to read books of all kinds, she grew up to an informed young lady with a natural gift for describing the relations she witnessed in the society of those days. That is why, by her thirteen's, she was already familiar with the most important fiction works of the époque and had been making several literary and critical compositions. |
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| In 1801, and as soon as Jane's father had retired, the family moved to Bath and, by that time, Jane had already
written three novels: "Elinor and Marianne", "First Impressions" and "Susan", also
a fragment titled 'Lady Susan'. These early works are believed to have been modified by the author later in her
life to finally be published as 'Sense and Sensibility' (1811), 'Pride and Prejudice' (1813)- the second of the
list- and as 'Northanger Abbey' the last one. These three volumes were all of them published anonymously. The years spent in Bath until the death of her father, and their decision to move, first, to Southampton in 1805 and, then, to Chawton, Hampshire, in 1809, were specially remembered in Jane's novel Northanger Abbey (published posthumously in 1818). In her last residence, the home where she would live until she ceased to be in 1817, she is believed to have written her last three novels: Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1816) and Persuasion (posthumously, also in 1818). Mansfield park, her most ambitious work, narrated the story of three families- two from an upper middle class, one of more humble aspirations- and a widow and shows the intricate family relations of each of the characters to finally show the consequences of their behaviour. It is also a love story that shows different ways of showing different degrees of affection and both the selfish and the true forces that may push human beings to act or convince one girl to try to pass unnoticed. Persuasion is sometimes seen as a more mature novel, perhaps because it was done while the writer's health was deteriorating the fastest. Her last unfinished novel, Sandition, was made public a long time after her death, as well as several incomplete creations of Jane as 'The Watsons' (1923) and 'Fragment of a Novel', among other works. The correspondence of Jane had also been published. Jane's life had as the main characteristic a sensible lack of events. She never married and she had, as best friend and confident, her elder and only sister Cassandra, who never married either. Sir Walter Scott said once that it was amazing how Jane Austen anaged to turn the daily happenings of her life into interesting facts. She was also praised to the ability of making the reader feel captured by her narrative. |
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