Pride and Prejudice (The Norton Library)

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. Jenny Davidson is Professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. She has published four books of literary criticism four novels several other editions and numerous articles and essays. She is currently at work on two book projects: a handbook on career pathways for humanities doctoral students and an intellectually wide-ranging and highly personal account of what it means to read Edward Gibbons History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (originally published between 1776 and 1789) from the vantage point of the twenty-first century.