Jane Austen

Biography

Jane Austen was born at Steventon, near Basingstoke, on December 16, 1775, as the seventh child of the parish rector. Her family resided in Steventon until her father retired in 1801 and they relocated to Bath. She wandered about with her mother after his death in 1805, eventually settling in Chawton, Hampshire, in 1809. Except for a few trips to London, she stayed in this town until May 1817, when she went to Winchester to be closer to her doctor. On July 18, 1817, she died there.

Jane Austen began writing stories as a child, including burlesques of famous romances. Her writings were only released after extensive revisions, and she only had four books published throughout her lifetime. Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816) are among them.

Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, her other books, were published posthumously in 1818 with a biographical introduction by her brother, Henry Austen, which was the first formal announcement of her authorship. In 1815-16, Persuasion was composed in a race against declining health. She also left two earlier works, Lady Susan, a brief epistolary book, and The Watsons, an unfinished novel. She was writing on a new book, Sanditon, at the time of her death, of which only a fragmented manuscript exists.

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