Jane Austen: Seven Novels (Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions)

Jane Austen grew up in a middle-class household in rural England. Although her formal education was brief, she was impressed at an early age with the importance of reading and began writing in her teenage years. Her first published novel, Sense and Sensibility (1811), was largely self-financed, and, like her second novel, Pride and Prejudice (1813), published anonymously. Both novels were expansions of her youthful writings, and their depictions of the class-consciousness and social rituals attendant on courtship and marriage were drawn partly from the personal experiences of Austen and her family. The publication of Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (1815), and Persuasion (1818) enhanced her reputation as a leading writer on social manners, class and gender dynamics, and the distinctions between city and country life. Northanger Abbey, her witty satire of the sensation novel, which she had completed in 1803, was published shortly after her death.

Biography

In 1801, George Austen retired from the clergy, and Jane, Cassandra, and their parents took up residence in Bath, a fashionable town Jane liked far less than her native village. Jane seems to have written little during this period. When Mr. Austen died in 1805, the three women, Mrs. Austen and her daughters, moved first to Southampton and then, partly subsidized by Jane's brothers, occupied a house in Chawton, a village not unlike Jane's first home. There she began to work on writing and pursued publishing once more, leading to the anonymous publication of Sense and Sensibility in 1811 and Pride and Prejudice in 1813, to modestly good reviews.

Known for her cheerful, modest, and witty character, Jane Austen had a busy family and social life, but as far as we know very little direct romantic experience. There were early flirtations, a quickly retracted agreement to marry the wealthy brother of a friend, and a rumored short-lived attachment -- while she was traveling -- that has not been verified. Her last years were quiet and devoted to family, friends, and writing her final novels. In 1817 she had to interrupt work on her last and unfinished novel, Sanditon, because she fell ill. She died on July 18, 1817, in Winchester, where she had been taken for medical treatment. After her death, her novels Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published, together with a biographical notice, due to the efforts of her brother Henry. Austen is buried in Winchester Cathedral.

Author biography courtesy of Barnes & Noble Books.