|
|
| |
|
|
Life And Works Of Jane Austen
|
 |
|
|
Jane Austen was born on 16th December, 1775 at the rectory in the
village of Steventon, near Basingstoke, England. She was one of
seven children and the second daughter born to the Rev. George and
Cassandra Austen. Her father was the local rector and has a fairly
comfortable income of six hundred pounds a year which he further
supplemented by privately tutoring pupils who came to live with him.
But he was never a rich man and could never give his daughters much
to marry on.
Jane had a pleasant childhood, which she
often describes in her novels. Jane and her elder sister Cassandra
were mostly educated at home, except for a brief period in 1783 when
she was sent away with her sister. The two of them were taught by a
Mrs. Cawley, who was a distant relation settled in
Southampton. However their education was interrupted when an
epidemic broke out. Then in 1785-86 the girls were sent to the Abbey
boarding school even though Jane was thought too young to benefit,
because she was very fond of her elder sister and the two were
inseparable. This was the only formal education that the girls ever
received and the rest they learned at home. |
|
| |
|
The entire family were avid readers and their father had an
extensive library containing more than five hundred books. Jane was
fond of reading serious and light literature. To amuse themselves
the children wrote and performed plays and Jane was encouraged to
write even as a child. All the reading she did served to ignite her
imagination and provided the material she required for the stories
she wrote as a child. Her first novel was written at the age
of fourteen and was titled ‘Love and Friendship’. This was followed
by ‘A history of England by a prejudiced and ignorant historian’.
In 1782 and 1784, the Austen family first staged plays in the
Steventon rectory and later on more elaborate productions were
staged under the direction of their sophisticated cousin Eliza de
Feuillide. Jane wrote her novels ‘Sense and Sensibility’, ‘Pride and
Prejudice’ and ‘ Northanger Abbey’ in the period from 1795 to 1799
though under different titles and these were published only
much later after they were reworked.
As a young lady, Jane loved long walks and country life. She also
loved to dance and attended many balls in her neighborhood. In 1801,
much to her dismay the family decided to move to Bath where Mr.
Austen planned to spend his retired life with his wife and
daughters. Jane disliked town life and spent four difficult years
there. After the death of their father in 1805, the girls and their
mother moved to Southampton to live with their brother and his
wife. Jane fell in love with a young man while on holiday and was
heartbroken when he died. Later she accepted a marriage proposal
from Harris Bigg Wither, the wealthy brother of close friends, but changed her mind the
following morning.
She wrote very little while she lived in Bath and Southampton. It
was only when her brother Edward offered them a permanent home in
his Chawton Estate in her beloved Hampshire that she was once again
able to write. This was a period of intensive writing and she wrote
Mansfield Park, Emma etc. However she developed Addison’s Disease, a
disease of the kidneys and since it was incurable at that time, died
on 18th July, 1817, at the early age of 41 and was buried in
Winchester Cathedral. |
|
|
|
|
|
|