Emma

About Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born on December 16 1775 in Steventon Hampshire in England. Her father an Anglican clergyman encouraged her literary pursuits from a young age and by her mid-twenties Austen had drafted three novels. Following the success of Sense and Sensibility in 1811 she went on to publish Pride and Prejudice (1813) Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1815). Northanger Abbey and Persuasion were published posthumously in 1818. Despite her fondness for marriage plotsall six of her novels end in weddingsAusten never married living with her mother and sister in the years leading up to her death. She died on July 18 1817 in the city of Winchester. Over two centuries later Austens novels remain beloved classics and she is considered one of the foremost writers in English literary history. Stephanie Insley Hershinow is an associate professor of English at Baruch College CUNY where she specializes in novel theory and eighteenth-century culture. She is the author of Born Yesterday: Inexperience and the Early Realist Novel. She lives with her family in Jersey City New Jersey.