Jane Austen生平简介

Jane Austen

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works can fully show life in England. She is not a productive writer—she simply has six books published including two published posthumously. But her works are appreciated highly and gain the affection of scholars and famous people, for instance, the Prince Regent. She devoted in romantic fiction but she was never married, which makes everyone sentimental. This paper will narrate Jane’s whole life in chronological order. It will helpful for knowing more about her and comprehending her works.

Jane Austen was born on December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshirelived. Her family is landed gentry and she had six brothers and one sister among which she had a good relationship with the two years elder sister, Cassandra Elizabeth Austen. Her father, Rev. George Austen was the rector of Deane parish at that time. He was born in a woolen manufacturers’family. Her mother, Cassandra, came from substantial gentry families. In 1783, their parents sent Jane and Cassandra to Oxford to be educated. Unfortunately, they both caught typhus and Jane suffered a lot. During this time, Jane learned private theatricals. She watched some plays and later acted in them. Maybe it is the experience of this period of life that cultivated her writing style—comedic and satirical. In December 1786, because of financial factor, two girls went back home. The good family environment made it possible for them to learn themselves at home.

In 1787, she began to show her writing talents and to write some poets, stories and plays. Later, she compiled Juvenilia, containing these pieces of work between 1787 and 1793. In 1791, The History of England was finished. The book was the combination of two Austen girls. Jane wrote in early her fifteen while Cassandran gave full play to her drawing skills. In 1793, Jane began the play,Sir Charles Grandison or the happy Man, a comedy in 6 acts,then abandoned. It was between 1793 and 1795 that she wrote the epistolary novel, Lady Susan. It told about an intelligent girl who was good at manipulating her friends, lovers and even families. It was before 1796, she read her first full-length novel, Elinor and Marianne, to her families. Later, it was published as Sense and Sensibility in 1811.

In December, 1795, a man named Tom Lefroy changed Austen’s life. He is the nephew of neighbors. He came there to study. Lefroy and Austen met at a social gathering, maybe a ball. Because of a promising future, Lefroy’s family did not approve this love affair and sent him away in January. After this, they never saw each other. At the same time, Austen began to write her second novel, First Impressions. The initial draft was completed in August 1797. It is deduced from time that the work was partially influenced by her love affair with Lefroy. The book once was refused by the publisher because of their financial risk and special request. Finally, it became an “established favorite” as Pride and Prejudice.

Then, Austen revised Elinor and Marianne from November 1797 until mid-1798. She changed the epistolary format into third-person narration. After revision of her first novel, she began to write her third novel, Susan, for a year. Though this book she satirize the popular Gothic novel. She sent it to publisher for £10 for the copyright. However, the publisher chased her and did not publish it until she repurchased the work from him 18 years later.