Jane Austen
In 1775, Jane Austen was born at a rectory in Steventon, Hampshire, one of two daughters of the Rev. George Austen (17311805) and his wife Cassandra (ne Leigh) (17391827). In 1783, she was educated briefly by a relative in Oxford, then in Southampton, and finally in 17851786 attended the Reading Ladies boarding school in the Abbey gatehouse in Reading, Berkshire. This uncommonly advanced level of education may have contributed to her early proclivity towards writing, and she began her first novel in 1789. Her family life was also conducive to writing; the Austen family often enacted plays, which gave Jane an opportunity to present her stories. They also borrowed novels from the local library, which influenced Austen's writing. She was encouraged to write especially by her brother Henry, who wrote a little himself.
Austen's best-known work is Pride and Prejudice, which is viewed as an exemplar of her socially astute comedies of manners. Austen also wrote a satire of the popular Gothic novels of Ann Radcliff, Northanger Abbey, which was published posthumously. Austen's comedies of manners, especially Emma, are often cited for their perfection of form.
Pride and Prejudice has been the most reproduced of her works, with six films, the most recent being the 2005 adaptation directed by Joe Wright, starring Keira Knightley (Elizabeth Bennet), Donald Sutherland (Mr. Bennet), Matthew Macfadyen (Mr. Darcy), and Dame Judi Dench (Lady Catherine de Bourgh).
Novels
Sense and Sensibility (published 1811)
Pride and Prejudice (1813)
Mansfield Park (1814)
Emma (1816)
Persuasion (1818) posthumous
Northanger Abbey (1818) posthumous