English Literature. Jane Austen.

Jane Austen (1775 – 1817)

(Project by Daria KRASNOVYCH)

Biography

Jane Austen was born in the village of Steventon, Hampshire in 1775, within five years of Wordsworth and Scott. She was the seventh of eight children. Her father, George, had been a Fellow of St. John's College, Oxford and lately Rector of Steventon Parish. Her mother, Cassandra, nee Leigh, came from an ancient family, linked to the Leighs of Stonehill Abbey in Warwickshire. Jane and her sister, also Cassandra, were sent to school in Oxford and Southampton, before attending the Abbey School in Reading, and were encouraged to write from an early age. Jane started writing novels in 1790, at the age of only 14, while she was living in Steventon, although her first novel to be published, Sense and Sensibility, did not appear until 1811.

Although her early life appeared secure enough, it was touched by tragedy. Her cousin, Eliza Hancock, married a French nobleman, who was arrested and guillotined on his return to Paris soon after the French Revolution. Her aunt, Mrs. Leigh Perrot, was arrested when falsely accused of theft, and suffered eight months imprisonment, before she was able to prove her innocence.

On her father's retirement, in 1801, the family moved to Bath. Jane's years in Bath were not happy. The family made acquaintances, but few friends. Their stay in Bath was broken up by annual excursions to the seaside: to Sidmouth, Dawlish and Lyme Regis. As was the custom, the sons of the family pursued careers (two of Jane's brothers joined the Navy), while the daughters stayed at home, awaiting marriage and involving themselves with domestic affairs. A neighbour from their Hampshire days, Harris Bigg-Wither asked Jane to marry him in the winter of 1802 but she turned down his proposal.

Soon after the death of Jane's father in 1805, the family left Bath to stay with Jane's brother, Frank, who was stationed at the Naval Dockyard, in Southampton.

Jane's brother, Edward, had been formally adopted by a rich and childless relative, which led to his elevation as a country gentleman. Cassandra had been sent to assist with his domestic arrangements at Godmersham Park, near Canterbury. He also owned Chawton House, Hampshire and in 1809 offered a home to his mother and sisters on the estate there. The family settled happily and it was here that Jane was to enjoy the success of the publication of her first novel. Initially, the secret of their authorship was kept, the author being referred to only as "a lady", but later, her proud brother, Henry, let it be known and she became instantly famous.

Her last completed novel, Persuasion, was not published until after her death. By the time of its completion, she was seriously ill and not expected to live. During the last few weeks of her life, she lived in College Street, Winchester, to be close to her physician. She died in Cassandra's arms in Winchester at the age of 41. The family exercised the right, as members of a clergyman's family, that she should be buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Today, the museum at Chawton is visited by Jane Austen admirers from across the Globe. There are many mementoes of her life on display. Jane's mother and her beloved sister, Cassandra are buried in the churchyard.

Novels
Sense and Sensibility: published 1811
Pride and Prejudice: published 1813
Mansfield Park: published 1813
Emma: published 1816
Persuasion: published 1818
Northanger Abbey: published 1818.

Jane Austen started to write at a time when the Romantic Movement was expressing its passionate involvement with the landscape, in particular, the melancholic aspects of gothic ruins, and the natural world in general. She was one of the few writers to adopt an irreverent attitude to this obsession. Edward Ferrars, speaking to the impressionable Marianne, in Sense and Sensibility, admits his confusion when attempting to describe a picturesque landscape and when Henry Tilney decides to lecture on the picturesque to Catherine, in Northanger Abbey, she “was so hopeful a scholar that when they gained the top of Beechen Cliff, she voluntarily rejected the whole city of Bath, as unworthy to make part of a landscape".

In many ways, Jane Austen's detached, ironic style was an antithesis of the Romantic ideal. Many people have commented on the modernity of her novels. Elizabeth Bowen in the English Novelists (Collins, 1946), suggests this comment is "an agreeable way of saying that she is still some distance ahead of us".

She followed in the wake of the success of Fielding and Richardson and her sense of comedy and style has been likened to that of Fielding. She is noted for the precision of her observations. Her attention to detail is a means to enlighten a subject. As Elizabeth Bowen notes, "she applies big truths to little scenes".

Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice is a novel of manners* by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education, and marriage in the society of the gentry of early 19th-century England. Elizabeth is the second of five daughters of a country gentleman living near the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, near London.

*The novel of manners is a literary genre that deals with aspects of behavior, language, customs and values characteristic of a particular class of people in a specific historical context. The genre emerged during the final decades of the 18th century. The novel of manners often shows a conflict between individual aspirations or desires and the accepted social codes of behaviour.

Though the story is set at the turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of "most loved books".  It has become one of the most popular novels in English literature and receives considerable attention from literary scholars.

Plot Summary

The arrival of the wealthy Mr. Bingley to the estate of Netherfield Park causes a commotion in the nearby village of Longbourn. In the Bennet household, Mrs. Bennet is desperate to marry Bingley to one of her five daughters—Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, or Lydia. When Bingley meets Jane at a ball, he seems immediately smitten with her. Yet Bingley's snobby friend Darcy is rude to Elizabeth. Through the next few social gatherings, Jane and Bingley grow closer, while Darcy, involuntarily, finds himself becoming attracted to Elizabeth's beauty and intelligence.

When Jane is caught in the rain while traveling to visit Bingley, she falls ill and must stay at Netherfield. Elizabeth comes to Netherfield to care for Jane, and though Bingley's sisters are rude and condescending to her (Caroline Bingley wants Darcy for herself), Darcy's attraction to her deepens. Elizabeth, however, continues to consider him a snob. Meanwhile, Mr. Collins, a pompous clergyman and Mr. Bennet's cousin and heir, visits the Bennets in search of a marriageable daughter. At about the same time, the Bennet sisters also meet Wickham, an army officer Elizabeth finds charming, and who claims Darcy wronged him in the past. Elizabeth's prejudice against Darcy hardens. Soon after, at a ball at Netherfield, Mrs. Bennet, much to Darcy's annoyance, comments that a wedding between Jane and Bingley is likely to soon take place. Collins, in the meantime, proposes to Elizabeth, who declines, angering her mother, but pleasing her father. Collins then proposes to Elizabeth's friend Charlotte Lucas, who accepts out of a desire for security rather than a need for love.

Bingley suddenly departs for London on business, and Caroline informs Jane by letter that not only will they not be returning, but moreover her brother is planning to wed Georgiana, Darcy's sister. Jane is crushed. Elizabeth is sure Darcy and Caroline are deliberately separating Bingley and Jane. The sisters' aunt and uncle, Mr. Gardiner and Mrs. Gardiner, invite Jane to London hoping that she will get over her disappointment, but after she arrives Caroline snubs her and she regrets having met Bingley. Elizabeth visits Charlotte and Mr. Collins, where she encounters Collins' patron and Darcy's relative, the wealthy and formidable Lady Catherine. Darcy arrives and surprises Elizabeth by joining her for long intimate walks. She grows angry, however, when she learns that Darcy advised Bingley against marrying Jane. Oblivious, Darcy announces his love for her and proposes marriage. Elizabeth refuses his proposal, accusing him of ruining Jane's marriage and mistreating Wickham. In a letter Darcy explains that he intervened because he felt Jane did not truly love Bingley. Wickham, he writes, is a liar and a scoundrel. Elizabeth begins to feel she has misjudged Darcy and may have been rash in turning him down. 

Returning home, Elizabeth finds that Lydia has become smitten with Wickham. She urges her father to intervene, but he chooses to do nothing. Elizabeth soon accompanies the Gardiners on a trip. During the trip, Elizabeth visits Pemberley, Darcy's magnificent estate. She fantasizes about being his wife there and is further impressed when he unexpectedly shows up and introduces her to his charming sister, Georgiana. Bingley also arrives and reveals that he is still in love with Jane.

 

Elizabeth's trip is cut short by a letter from Jane announcing that Lydia has eloped with Wickham. Fearing a scandal that will ruin all the daughters' futures, the Bennets search for Lydia in London. When Mr. Gardiner tracks them down, Wickham demands his debts be paid off in return for marrying Lydia. The Bennets assume that Gardiner gives in to the demand, since Lydia and Wickham soon return, playing the happy newlyweds. (Mrs. Bennet is happy that at least one of her daughters is married.) Elizabeth soon discovers that Darcy, not Gardiner, paid off Wickham's debts, out of love for her. Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield and Bingley finally proposes to an overjoyed Jane. While Darcy goes to London on business, Lady Catherine visits Elizabeth, warning her not to marry Darcy. Elizabeth refuses to promise. On his return, Darcy asks Elizabeth again to marry him. This time she accepts, telling him her prejudice against him had made her blind. Darcy acknowledges that his pride made him act rudely. Both couples are married and the Bennet family rejoices in their daughters' happiness.