The first Austen biography was Henry Thomas Austen's 1818 "Biographical Notice". Cassandra meant to protect the family's reputation from her sister's penchant for forthrightness in the interest of tact she omitted details of family illnesses and unhappinesses.
Her older sister Cassandra burned or destroyed the bulk of letters she received in 1843, to prevent their falling into the hands of relatives and ensuring that "younger nieces did not read any of Jane Austen's sometimes acid or forthright comments on neighbours or family members". During her lifetime, Austen may have written as many as 3,000 letters, but only 161 survive. Little biographical information about Jane Austen's life exists except the few letters that survived and the biographical notes her family members wrote. Last page of letter from Austen to her sister, Cassandra, 11 June 1799 Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940's Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions like Sense and Sensibility (1995) and Love & Friendship (2016). In 1869, fifty-two years after her death, her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience.Īusten has inspired a large number of critical essays and literary anthologies. They gradually gained wider acclaim and popular readership. Her six full-length novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published anonymously and brought her moderate success and little fame during her lifetime.Ī significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1833, when her novels were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series, illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering, and sold as a set. She also left behind three volumes of juvenile writings in manuscript, the short epistolary novel Lady Susan, and another unfinished novel, The Watsons. She wrote two other novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. With the publication of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. Her use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary, have earned her acclaim among critics and scholars. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic security. Jane Austen ( / ˈ ɒ s t ɪ n, ˈ ɔː s-/ 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century.