Jane Austen, English Author

Posted by Tel Asiado Dec 16, 2008

This day, December 16 (1775), English novelist Jane Austen is born in Hampshire, England. She is considered by many to be the first outstanding woman novelist to ever describe ordinary people in a realistic, believable way.

Many Jane Austen Societies must be busy celebrating her worldwide.

Austen published her books anonymously with a byline simply as "a Lady." She died in 1817. It was many years later, after her nephew published A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869, that great interest in Jane Austen was generated. This led to reprints of her novels.

In the 1940s, apparently, more than a century after she died, Austen's work became very popular and eventually became a focus for academic studies. Her books are now a mainstay, standard reading in high school and college literature curricula. She has dry humour, at the same time, an elegant style that endears her to readers.

One memorable quote from her:

"Happiness in marriage is entirely a matter of chance."

Related link: Jane Austen, Life and works