Memorable Quotations: Jane Austen

Jane Austen (1775-1817) was an English novelist, noted for her witty studies of early-19th-century English society. With scrupulous detail, Austen depicted the quiet, day-to-day life of representatives of the upper middle class. Her works blend romantic comedy with social satire and psychological awareness. Because of her understanding of universal archetypes of human conduct, many persons consider Austen as one of the greatest novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries. Jane spent her first 25 years at her father's Hampshire vicarage, penning novels published much later. Northanger Abbey appeared posthumously (with Persuasion) in 1818. Books published in her lifetime were Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), comedies of manners, portraying the self-contained world of the English counties. Supplying husbands for marriageable daughters is a dominant theme. Jane Austen's work is renowned for refined irony, moral resolve, and rich characterization. She received minor notice during her lifetime, but nowadays she is regarded as one of the geniuses of the English novel.