Jane austen biography sparknotes fahrenheit

Modern biographers include details excised from the letters and family biographies, but the biographer Jan Fergus writes that the challenge is to keep the view balanced, not to present her languishing in periods of deep unhappiness as "an embittered, disappointed woman trapped in a thoroughly unpleasant family". Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire on 16 December Her father wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother "certainly expected to have been brought to bed a month ago".

He added that the newborn infant was "a present plaything for Cassy and a future companion". Her father, George Austen — , served as the rector of the Anglican parishes of Steventon and Deane. As each generation of eldest sons received inheritances, George's branch of the family fell into poverty. He and his two sisters were orphaned as children and had to be taken in by relatives.

In , at the age of fifteen, George Austen's sister Philadelphia was apprenticed to a milliner in Covent Garden. Her father was rector at All Souls College, Oxford , where she grew up among the gentry. Her eldest brother James inherited a fortune and large estate from his great-aunt Perrot, with the only condition that he change his name to Leigh-Perrot.

George Austen and Cassandra Leigh were engaged, probably around , when they exchanged miniatures. After the living at the nearby Deane rectory had been purchased for George by his wealthy uncle Francis Austen, [ 21 ] the Austens took up temporary residence there, until Steventon rectory, a 16th-century house in disrepair, underwent necessary renovations.

Cassandra gave birth to three children while living at Deane: James in , George in , and Edward in In , the family finally took up residence in Steventon. Henry was the first child to be born there, in He had seizures and may have been deaf and mute. At this time she chose to send him to be fostered. According to the biographer Park Honan the Austen home had an "open, amused, easy intellectual atmosphere", in which the ideas of those with whom members of the Austen family might disagree politically or socially were considered and discussed.

The family relied on the patronage of their kin and hosted visits from numerous family members. Walter and her daughter Philly. Cassandra Austen's cousin Thomas Leigh visited a number of times in the s and s, inviting young Cassie to visit them in Bath in The first mention of Jane occurs in family documents upon her return, " Never were sisters more to each other than Cassandra and Jane; while in a particularly affectionate family, there seems to have been a special link between Cassandra and Edward on the one hand, and between Henry and Jane on the other.

From until , George Austen supplemented his income by farming and by teaching three or four boys at a time, who boarded at his home. During this period of her life, Jane Austen attended church regularly, socialised with friends and neighbours, [ e ] and read novels—often of her own composition—aloud to her family in the evenings. Socialising with the neighbours often meant dancing, either impromptu in someone's home after supper or at the balls held regularly at the assembly rooms in the town hall.

In Austen and her sister Cassandra were sent to Oxford to be educated by Ann Cawley who took them to Southampton later that year. That autumn both girls were sent home after catching typhus , of which Jane nearly died. The sisters returned home before December because the school fees for the two girls were too high for the Austen family.

Her education came from reading, guided by her father and brothers James and Henry. Together these collections amounted to a large and varied library. Private theatricals were an essential part of Austen's education. From her early childhood, the family and friends staged a series of plays in the rectory barn, including Richard Sheridan 's The Rivals and David Garrick 's Bon Ton.

Austen's eldest brother James wrote the prologues and epilogues and she probably joined in these activities, first as a spectator and later as a participant. From at least the time she was aged eleven, Austen wrote poems and stories to amuse herself and her family. Among these works is a satirical novel in letters titled Love and Freindship [ sic ], written when aged fourteen in , [ 53 ] in which she mocked popular novels of sensibility.

Austen's History parodied popular historical writing, particularly Oliver Goldsmith 's History of England When she was around eighteen years old, Austen began to write longer, more sophisticated works. In August , aged seventeen, Austen started Catharine or the Bower , which presaged her mature work, especially Northanger Abbey , but was left unfinished until picked up in Lady Susan , which Todd describes as less prefiguring than Catharine.

This was a short parody of various school textbook abridgements of Austen's favourite contemporary novel, The History of Sir Charles Grandison , by Samuel Richardson. When Austen became an aunt for the first time aged eighteen, she sent new-born niece Fanny Catherine Austen Knight "five short pieces of For Jane-Anna-Elizabeth Austen also born in , her aunt wrote "two more 'Miscellanious [ sic ] Morsels', dedicating them to [Anna] on 2 June , 'convinced that if you seriously attend to them, You will derive from them very important Instructions, with regard to your Conduct in Life.

Between and aged eighteen to twenty , Austen wrote Lady Susan , a short epistolary novel , usually described as her most ambitious and sophisticated early work. Austen biographer Claire Tomalin describes the novella's heroine as a sexual predator who uses her intelligence and charm to manipulate, betray and abuse her lovers, friends and family.

Tomalin writes:. Told in letters, it is as neatly plotted as a play, and as cynical in tone as any of the most outrageous of the Restoration dramatists who may have provided some of her inspiration It stands alone in Austen's work as a study of an adult woman whose intelligence and force of character are greater than those of anyone she encounters.

According to Janet Todd, the model for the title character may have been Eliza de Feuillide , who inspired Austen with stories of her glamorous life and various adventures. Eliza's French husband was guillotined in ; she married Jane's brother Henry Austen in He had just finished a university degree and was moving to London for training as a barrister.

Lefroy and Austen would have been introduced at a ball or other neighbourhood social gathering, and it is clear from Austen's letters to Cassandra that they spent considerable time together: "I am almost afraid to tell you how my Irish friend and I behaved. Imagine to yourself everything most profligate and shocking in the way of dancing and sitting down together.

Austen wrote in her first surviving letter to her sister Cassandra that Lefroy was a "very gentlemanlike, good-looking, pleasant young man". My tears flow as I write at this melancholy idea". Halperin cautioned that Austen often satirised popular sentimental romantic fiction in her letters, and some of the statements about Lefroy may have been ironic.

However, it is clear that Austen was genuinely attracted to Lefroy and subsequently none of her other suitors ever quite measured up to him. Marriage was impractical as both Lefroy and Austen must have known. Neither had any money, and he was dependent on a great-uncle in Ireland to finance his education and establish his legal career. If Tom Lefroy later visited Hampshire, he was carefully kept away from the Austens, and Jane Austen never saw him again.

Her sister remembered that it was read to the family "before " and was told through a series of letters. Without surviving original manuscripts, there is no way to know how much of the original draft survived in the novel published anonymously in as Sense and Sensibility. Austen began a second novel, First Impressions later published as Pride and Prejudice , in She completed the initial draft in August , aged 21; as with all of her novels, Austen read the work aloud to her family as she was working on it and it became an "established favourite".

Cadell returned Mr. Austen's letter, marking it "Declined by Return of Post". Austen may not have known of her father's efforts. During the middle of , after finishing revisions of Elinor and Marianne , Austen began writing a third novel with the working title Susan —later Northanger Abbey —a satire on the popular Gothic novel.

Jane austen biography sparknotes fahrenheit

Crosby promised early publication and went so far as to advertise the book publicly as being "in the press", but did nothing more. In December , George Austen unexpectedly announced his decision to retire from the ministry, leave Steventon, and move the family to 4, Sydney Place in Bath , Somerset. She was able to make some revisions to Susan , and she began and then abandoned a new novel, The Watsons , but there was nothing like the productivity of the years — The years from to are something of a blank space for Austen scholars as Cassandra destroyed all of her letters from her sister in this period for unknown reasons.

She and her sister visited Alethea and Catherine Bigg, old friends who lived near Basingstoke. Their younger brother, Harris Bigg-Wither, had recently finished his education at Oxford and was also at home. Bigg-Wither proposed and Austen accepted. As described by Caroline Austen, Jane's niece, and Reginald Bigg-Wither, a descendant, Harris was not attractive—he was a large, plain-looking man who spoke little, stuttered when he did speak, was aggressive in conversation, and almost completely tactless.

However, Austen had known him since both were young and the marriage offered many practical advantages to Austen and her family. He was the heir to extensive family estates located in the area where the sisters had grown up. With these resources, Austen could provide her parents a comfortable old age, give Cassandra a permanent home and, perhaps, assist her brothers in their careers.

By the next morning, Austen realised she had made a mistake and withdrew her acceptance. Anything is to be preferred or endured rather than marrying without Affection". All of her heroines In , while living in Bath, Austen started, but did not complete, her novel The Watsons. The story centres on an invalid and impoverished clergyman and his four unmarried daughters.

Sutherland describes the novel as "a study in the harsh economic realities of dependent women's lives". Her father's relatively sudden death left Jane, Cassandra, and their mother in a precarious financial situation. Edward, James, Henry, and Francis Austen known as Frank pledged to make annual contributions to support their mother and sisters.

They spent part of the time in rented quarters in Bath before leaving the city in June for a family visit to Steventon and Godmersham. They moved for the autumn months to the newly fashionable seaside resort of Worthing , on the Sussex coast , where they resided at Stanford Cottage. In , the family moved to Southampton , where they shared a house with Frank Austen and his new wife.

A large part of this time they spent visiting various branches of the family. On 5 April , about three months before the family's move to Chawton , Austen wrote an angry letter to Richard Crosby, offering him a new manuscript of Susan if needed to secure the immediate publication of the novel, and requesting the return of the original so she could find another publisher.

She did not have the resources to buy the copyright back at that time, [ 94 ] but was able to purchase it in Around early , Austen's brother Edward offered his mother and sisters a more settled life—the use of a large cottage in Chawton village [ i ] which was part of the estate around Edward's nearby property Chawton House. Jane, Cassandra and their mother moved into Chawton cottage on 7 July The Austens did not socialise with gentry and entertained only when family visited.

Her niece Anna described the family's life in Chawton as "a very quiet life, according to our ideas, but they were great readers, and besides the housekeeping our aunts occupied themselves in working with the poor and in teaching some girl or boy to read or write. Like many women authors at the time, Austen published her books anonymously. During her time at Chawton, Austen published four generally well-received novels.

Through her brother Henry, the publisher Thomas Egerton agreed to publish Sense and Sensibility , which, like all of Austen's novels except Pride and Prejudice , was published "on commission", that is, at the author's financial risk. If a novel did not recover its costs through sales, the author was responsible for them. Reviews were favourable and the novel became fashionable among young aristocratic opinion-makers; [ ] the edition sold out by mid Austen's novels were published in larger editions than was normal for this period.

The small size of the novel-reading public and the large costs associated with hand production particularly the cost of handmade paper meant that most novels were published in editions of copies or fewer to reduce the risks to the publisher and the novelist. Even some of the most successful titles during this period were issued in editions of not more than or copies and later reprinted if demand continued.

Austen's novels were published in larger editions, ranging from about copies of Sense and Sensibility to about 2, copies of Emma. It is not clear whether the decision to print more copies than usual of Austen's novels was driven by the publishers or the author. Since all but one of Austen's books were originally published "on commission", the risks of overproduction were largely hers or Cassandra's after her death and publishers may have been more willing to produce larger editions than was normal practice when their own funds were at risk.

Editions of popular works of non-fiction were often much larger. While Mansfield Park was ignored by reviewers, it was very popular with readers. All copies were sold within six months, and Austen's earnings on this novel were larger than for any of her other novels. Without Austen's knowledge or approval, her novels were translated into French and published in cheaply produced, pirated editions in France.

Austen learned that the Prince Regent admired her novels and kept a set at each of his residences. Though Austen disapproved of the Prince Regent, she could scarcely refuse the request. In mid Austen moved her work from Egerton to John Murray , a better-known publisher in London, [ k ] who published Emma in December and a second edition of Mansfield Park in February Emma sold well, but the new edition of Mansfield Park did poorly, and this failure offset most of the income from Emma.

These were the last of Austen's novels to be published during her lifetime. She completed her first draft in July In addition, shortly after the publication of Emma , Henry Austen repurchased the copyright for Susan from Crosby. Austen was forced to postpone publishing either of these completed novels by family financial troubles.

Henry Austen's bank failed in March , depriving him of all of his assets, leaving him deeply in debt and costing Edward, James, and Frank Austen large sums. Henry and Frank could no longer afford the contributions they had made to support their mother and sisters. Austen was feeling unwell by early , but ignored the warning signs. By the middle of that year, her decline was unmistakable, and she began a slow, irregular deterioration.

Austen continued to work in spite of her illness. Dissatisfied with the ending of The Elliots , she rewrote the final two chapters, which she finished on 6 August In the novel Austen mocked hypochondriacs , and although she describes the heroine as "bilious", five days after abandoning the novel she wrote of herself that she was turning "every wrong colour" and living "chiefly on the sofa".

Austen made light of her condition, describing it as "bile" and rheumatism. As her illness progressed, she experienced difficulty walking and lacked energy; by mid-April she was confined to bed. In May, Cassandra and Henry brought her to Winchester for treatment, by which time she suffered agonising pain and welcomed death. Henry, through his clerical connections, arranged for his sister to be buried in the north aisle of the nave of Winchester Cathedral.

The epitaph composed by her brother James praises Austen's personal qualities, expresses hope for her salvation, and mentions the "extraordinary endowments of her mind", but does not explicitly mention her achievements as a writer. Tomalin describes it as "a loving and polished eulogy". Although Austen's six novels were out of print in England in the s, they were still being read through copies housed in private libraries and circulating libraries.

Austen had early admirers. The first piece of fiction using her as a character what might now be called real person fiction appeared in in a letter to the editor in The Lady's Magazine. In , Richard Bentley purchased the remaining copyrights to all of her novels, and over the following winter published five illustrated volumes as part of his Standard Novels series.

In October , Bentley released the first collected edition of her works. The next year she wrote The History of England These notebooks, encompassing the novels as well as short stories, poems and plays, are now referred to as Austen's Juvenilia. Austen spent much of her early adulthood helping run the family home, playing piano, attending church, and socializing with neighbors.

Her nights and weekends often involved cotillions, and as a result, she became an accomplished dancer. On other evenings, she would choose a novel from the shelf and read it aloud to her family, occasionally one she had written herself. She continued to write, developing her style in more ambitious works such as Lady Susan , another epistolary story about a manipulative woman who uses her sexuality, intelligence and charm to have her way with others.

Austen also started to write some of her future major works, the first called Elinor and Marianne , another story told as a series of letters, which would eventually be published as Sense and Sensibility. She began drafts of First Impressions , which would later be published as Pride and Prejudice , and Susan , later published as Northanger Abbey by Jane's brother, Henry, following Austen's death.

In , Austen moved to Bath with her father, mother and Cassandra. Then, in , her father died after a short illness. As a result, the family was thrust into financial straits; the three women moved from place to place, skipping between the homes of various family members to rented flats. It was not until that they were able to settle into a stable living situation at Austen's brother Edward's cottage in Chawton.

Now in her 30s, Austen started to anonymously publish her works. In the period spanning , she pseudonymously published Sense and Sensibility , Pride and Prejudice a work she referred to as her "darling child," which also received critical acclaim , Mansfield Park and Emma. In , at the age of 41, Austen started to become ill with what some say might have been Addison's disease.

She made impressive efforts to continue working at a normal pace, editing older works as well as starting a new novel called The Brothers , which would be published after her death as Sanditon. Another novel, Persuasion , would also be published posthumously. At some point, Austen's condition deteriorated to such a degree that she ceased writing.

She died on July 18, , in Winchester, Hampshire, England. Later, she produced an epistolary story , Lady Susan , presenting the life of a female who manipulates others using her sexuality and intelligence. Marked with the techniques of letter writing, her other major work, Elinor and Marianne, which was later drafted as Sense and Sensibility, appeared in She produced many masterpieces throughout her life including, Pride and Prejudice , Mansfield Park, and Emma.

Jane Austen stands among the most influential figures of world literature. With the help of her unique style , she beautifully portrayed her ideas in her literary pieces. Her distinctive literary style relies mainly on a blend of parody , free indirect speech, irony , and presentation of literary realism. Jane used burlesque and parody in her writings to critique the portrayal of women in the 18 th century.

Her pieces are far from the world of imagination as she focused on presenting the ordinary people realistically. Moreover, her ironic style presents a keen insight into the English culture. Concerning characterization , she focused on the conversation allow the characters to develop themselves. The recurring themes in most of her literary pieces are cultural, identity, love, marriage, and pride.

Jane Austen, with her unique abilities, left a profound impact on global literature, and even after hundred years of her demise, she continues to win love for her biting approach on diverse tangles of this passion. Her witty ideas, along with distinct literary qualities, won applause from the audience , critics, and other fellow writers.