Jane Austen

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Standard Name: Austen, Jane
Birth Name: Jane Austen
Pseudonym: A Lady
Styled: Mrs Ashton Dennis
JA 's unequalled reputation has led academic canon-makers to set her on a pedestal and scholars of early women's writing to use her as an epoch. For generations she was the first—or the only—woman to be adjudged major. Recent attention has shifted: her balance, good sense, and humour are more taken for granted, and critics have been scanning her six mature novels for traces of the boldness and irreverence which mark her juvenilia. Her two unfinished novels, her letters (which some consider an important literary text in themselves), and her poems and prayers have also received some attention.
Photograph of a colourized print of Jane Austen, from a drawing by a Mr Andrews commissioned by Austen's nephew James Edward Austen Leigh as frontispiece to his "Memoir of Jane Austen", 1870 (fifty years after she died). She is shown seated, with a book on her lap, wearing a blue dress and light brown bonnet.

Connections

Connections Author name Excerpt
Anthologization Eudora Welty
EW 's essay The Radiance of Jane Austen was reprinted in 2009 in Susannah Carson's A Truth Universally Acknowledged : 33 great writers on why we read Jane Austen.
Birth Catharine Macaulay
Catharine Sawbridge (later CM ) was born at her father's estate of Olantigh, in the parish of Wye in Kent.
This is just across the River Stour from Godmersham Park, which was later...
Birth Catherine Hubback
Her parents were married at St Laurence, Ramsgate, Kent, on 24 July 1806.
“FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service”. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Her aunt Jane Austen had lived with her parents for some months early in their marriage, and later wrote verses to celebrate...
Cultural formation Mary Russell Mitford
MRM 's parents came from the same class as Jane Austen : people of the gentry whose menfolk did professional work, with family links to the nobility. Her comments on the middling classes
Mitford, Mary Russell. The Life of Mary Russell Mitford: Told by Herself in Letters To Her Friends. Editor L’Estrange, Alfred Guy Kingham, Harper and Brothers, 1870, 2 vols.
2: 160
death Charlotte Yonge
She was buried at the foot of John Keble 's memorial cross in Otterbourne churchyard (despite a suggestion that she should be buried beside Jane Austen in Winchester Cathedral).
Nadel, Ira Bruce, and William E. Fredeman, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 18. Gale Research, 1983.
18: 322
Dedications Emma Tennant
ET moved into the field of Austen iana with Pemberley, A Sequel to Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen , dedicated to her mother .
Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. http://Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk.
Tennant, Emma. Pemberley. St Martin’s Press, 1993.
prelims
Dedications Catherine Hubback
CH had heard the Austen fragment read aloud in her youth, but did not have access to it as she wrote, which she did on a long visit to Wales. She dedicated her work...
Education Bernice Rubens
At university, she was President of both the student Music and Socialist societies, as well as a member of the Students' Union Council.
Gilbert, Sarah. “Bernice Rubens”. Cardiff University Magazine, Vol.
1
, No. 1.
BR later found that her education slowed her development as a writer...
Education Edna Lyall
Since the cousin with whom she shared lessons was three years older, Ada Ellen read a good many books at that time which must have been far beyond . . . [her] powers. At twelve...
Education Susan Tweedsmuir
She was, however, always reading as a child: she and her sister had few books, but knew by heart whole chapters of the ones they did have. As a child Susan hated Mrs Mortimer 's...
Education J. K. Rowling
Formative early reading included Richard Scarry and Kenneth Grahame 's The Wind in the Willows. Joanne Rowling did not care for Enid Blyton as a young child but acquired a taste for her later...
Education Frances Arabella Rowden
FAR was taught until she was about eighteen by her schoolmistress aunt Arabella . In 1792 she was enrolled as a boarder at the Abbey School in Reading, where Jane Austen had spent a...
Education Elizabeth Taylor
Her first school, where she went at the age of six, was a little private establishment called Leopold House, which gave a grounding in English and maths and team games.
Beauman, Nicola. The Other Elizabeth Taylor. Persephone Books, 2009.
12-13
When Betty was eleven...
Education Nell Dunn
ND was educated at a convent school, which she left at the age of fourteen. Reading of some texts which were vital to her experience—Jane Austen and Jean-Paul Sartre —came after she had left...
Education Harriet Shaw Weaver
HSW 's family encouraged her in the regular pursuits of a young, middle-class Victorian woman. From her father she inherited an enthusiasm for poetry—she especially liked Shakespeare , Coleridge , and Whitman —and she read...

Timeline

Early August 1591: Sir John Harington's translation of Ariosto's...

Writing climate item

Early August 1591

Sir John Harington 's translation of Ariosto 's heroic romance Orlando Furioso (which means something like Roland Run Mad) was published.
Sidney, Sir Philip. “Critical Materials”. The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, edited by William A., Jr Ringler, Clarendon Press, 1962, p. various pages.
563
Munby, Alan Noel Latimer. “Jane Austen’s Ariosto”. The Private Library, Vol.
4
, No. 3, July 1962, p. 46.
46

17 August 1759: In the Seven Years' War, the British navy...

National or international item

17 August 1759

In the Seven Years' War, the British navy won a crucial victory over the French fleet at the battle of Lagos, West Africa.

1765: The didactic History of Little Goody Two-Shoes...

Writing climate item

1765

The didactic History of Little Goody Two-Shoes was published by John Newbery: the most popular children's book of its period. It had fourteen reprints before 1814.
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680-1780. University of California Press, 1996.
75
Fergus, Jan. “The Gothic Moan”. Jane Austen Society of North America (JASNA) Conference, Quebec City, QC, 10 Oct. 1998.
Wilkes, Joanne. “’Without Impropriety’: Maria Jane Jewsbury on Jane Austen”. Persuasions, Vol.
13
, 1991, pp. 33-8.
15: 3, 25
Brownstein, Rachel M. “Review of Jane Austen by Deirdre LeFaye”. JASNA News: The Newsletter of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Vol.
15
, No. 3, 1999, p. 25.
25
Yonge, Charlotte, editor. A Storehouse of Stories. Macmillan, 1870–1872, 2 vols.
1: vi

About 1766: Printer and engraver John Spilsbury perfected...

Building item

About 1766

Printer and engraver John Spilsbury perfected the dissected map which became the forerunner of the jigsaw puzzle.
Drabble, Margaret. “A Day Out in Kew”. Jane Austen Sings the Blues, edited by Nora Foster Stovel, University of Alberta Press, 2009, pp. 57-65.
58-9

By June 1766: James Fordyce anonymously printed his Sermons...

Building item

By June 1766

James Fordyce anonymously printed his Sermons to Young Women. It went through ninety-five British reprints by 1850, plus half as many again in the USA.
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680-1780. University of California Press, 1996.
75
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
22: 18-31
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
23: 61
Fleeman, John David, and James McLaverty. A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson. Clarendon Press, 2000, 2 vols.
2: 1154
Hunt...

About 27 March 1782: Eliza Hancock, aged nineteen, married Jean-François...

Building item

About 27 March 1782

Eliza Hancock , aged nineteen, married Jean-François Capot de Feuillide , a Frenchman who claimed to be a count and who inaccurately supposed her to be a wealthy heiress.
Tomalin, Claire. Jane Austen: A Life. Penguin Viking, 1997.
49, 51

April 1792: The Marseillaise was composed in France as...

National or international item

April 1792

The Marseillaise was composed in France as a revolutionary song.
Sandock, Mollie. “’I Burn with Contempt for my Foes’: Jane Austen’s Music Collections and Women’s Lives in Regency England”. Persuasions, Vol.
23
, 2001, pp. 105-17.
115

By August 1794: The Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black...

Writing climate item

By August 1794

The Necromancer, or The Tale of the Black Forest, translated by Peter Teuthold from the German of Karl Friedrich Kahlert , appeared: it was one of the gothic horrid novels of Austen 's Northanger Abbey.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press, 2000, 2 vols.
Garside 1: 616-17

1796-1815: Throughout these war years the Bibliothèque...

Writing climate item

1796-1815

Throughout these war years the Bibliothèque britannique, published in Geneva, kept open cultural relations between France and England.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.

23 July 1796: Horrid Mysteries. A Story, translated by...

Writing climate item

23 July 1796

Horrid Mysteries. A Story, translated by P. Will from Karl Friedrich August Grosse (one of the gothic horrid novels of Austen 's Northanger Abbey), was advertised as just out.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press, 2000, 2 vols.
Garside 1: 675

26 April 1798: Francis Lathom's The Midnight Bell, A German...

Writing climate item

26 April 1798

Francis Lathom 's The Midnight Bell, A German Story, one of the gothic horrid novels mentioned in Jane Austen 's Northanger Abbey, was advertised as newly published.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press, 2000, 2 vols.
Garside 1: 749-50

25 June 1798: A new tax on the upper classes came into...

National or international item

25 June 1798

A new tax on the upper classes came into effect, levying two guineas for the privilege of running a coach or carriage with armorial bearings (that is, a coat of arms) painted on it.
Le Faye, Deirdre. A Chronology of Jane Austen and her Family. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
211

10 May to 14 August 1813: The British Institution held a retrospective...

Building item

10 May to 14 August 1813

The British Institution held a retrospective exhibition of 141 paintings by Sir Joshua Reynolds at its Pall Mall Picture Galleries: a major event of the social season, both cultural and patriotic.
Barchas, Janine. What Jane Saw. 2013, http://www.whatjanesaw.org.

9 June 1819: The library of the late Queen Charlotte was...

Building item

9 June 1819

The library of the late Queen Charlotte was auctioned by Christie's ; it included Jane Austen 's works, plus titles by Catherine Cuthbertson , Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire , Christian Isobel Johnstone , Alethea Lewis

9 December 1826: The Literary Gazette printed a Key to Marianne...

Women writers item

9 December 1826

The Literary Gazette printed a Key to Marianne Spencer Hudson 's silver-fork novel, Almack's (titled after the well-known elite gentlemen's club of the same name), which had already reached its second edition this year. The...

Texts

Austen, Jane. Northanger Abbey; and, Persuasion. John Murray, 1818.
Austen, Jane. Emma. 1st ed., John Murray.
Austen, Jane. “Introduction”. Jane Austen, edited by Lady Margaret Sackville, Herbert & Daniel, 1912, p. ix - xvi.
Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Editor Chapman, Robert William, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, 1952.
Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Letters. Editor Le Faye, Deirdre, Third, Oxford University Press, 1995.
Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s Manuscript Letters in Facsimile. Editor Modert, Jo, Southern Illinois University Press, 1990.
Austen, Jane. Jane Austen’s the History of England and Cassandra’s portraits. Editors Upfal, Annette and Christine Alexander, Juvenilia Press, 2009.
Austen, Jane, and G. K. Chesterton. Love & Freindship. Chatto and Windus, 1922.
Austen, Jane. Mansfield Park. 1st ed., T. Egerton.
Austen, Jane, and Monica Dickens. Mansfield Park. Reprint, Pan Books, 1972.
Austen, Jane. Minor Works. Editor Chapman, Robert William, Revised, Oxford University Press, 1965.
Austen, Jane. Pride and Prejudice. 1st ed., T. Egerton.
Austen, Jane. Sense and Sensibility. 1st ed., T. Egerton.