Jane Austen was an English novelist in the late 18th/early 19th century known for her works of romantic fiction set among the gentry class. She began writing at a young age and produced major works like Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma between 1811-1816. Though she lived a relatively short life from 1775-1817 and never married, she drew from her close family relationships and access to her father's library to become a widely read author. One of her early works was The History of England, a burlesque written at age 15 that poked fun at traditional histories through exaggerated accounts and fictional sources.

1. Jane Austen

2. Writing Life and Education
• An English novelist
• Wrote works of romantic fiction set among
the gentry (nearly rich landowners just below
nobility class)
• One of the most widely read writers in English
literature
• 1811-16 Released Sense and Sensibility, Pride
and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma;
achieved success as published writer

3. •Lived Dec 1775 - Jul 1817 (41 years), never
married
•Raised by a nurse the first 1.5 years of life
•Began education in Oxford at 8 years,
nearly died of typhus
•Continued education at home; at 10 went
to boarding school for a year
•Schools at that time focused girls’
education on needlework, drama, and the
like

4. Political & Social Events
• 1775-1783 War of Independence
• 18th-19th C. Industrial Revolution
• Owning land was main form of wealth, political
power and influence
• 18th C. Campaigns to end slavery
• 1807 Slave Trade Act (slaves still held, but not sold)
• Early 19th C. era of political and social unrest
• May 1812 British Prime Minister assassinated
• 1811-16 Textile workers broke factory machines to
save their jobs; named “Luddites” and if caught
would be hung

5. Personal Life Influences
• Close-knit, supportive family was critical to her
development as professional writer
• Austen self-educated by reading books
• Father gave access to his large library, was tolerant of
Austen’s risqué experiments in writing, and provided
her with expensive paper for writing
• Austen home was open, amusing, and intellectual
• Sister Cassandra was her closest friend and confidante
• From 7 to 13, family staged plays—comedies, which
suggests one way in which Austen’s comedic and
satirical gifts were cultivated

6. Literary Themes and Styles
• Realism and biting social commentary
cemented her historical importance among
scholars and critics
• Plots are fundamentally comic and highlight
the dependence of women on marriage to
secure social standing and economic security
• Used combination of parody, burlesque, irony,
free indirect speech and a degree of realism

7. • Little narrative or scenic description; dialogue
rich
• Each character has a distinctive voice
• Themes of education, self-reflection and morality
(manners, duty to society, religious seriousness)
• Focus on economic situation of women in the
18th and 19th Centuries
• Contain fairytale elements (e.g. Pride and
Prejudice follows Cinderella theme)
• Structured around a pair of characters

8. The History of England
• Part of compilation of poems, stories and plays
referred to as Juvenalia—called “boisterous” and
“anarchic;” compared to work of 18th C. novelist
Laurence Sterne and 20th C. comedy group Monty
Python
• Austen wrote at age 15
• Burlesque, pokes fun at widely used schoolroom
history books
– Namely Oliver Goldsmith’s The History of England from the
Earliest Times to the Death of George II
• Mockingly imitates the style of textbook histories of
English monarchs, while ridiculing historians’
pretensions to objectivity

9. • Cites as sources fictional works such as
Shakespeare plays, a novel by Charlotte
Turner, and opinions of Austen’s family and
friends
• Accounts of English kings and queens contain
little factual information but great deal of
comically exaggerated opining about their
characters and behavior
• Work includes charades and puns on names
• Illustrated by Austen’s sister Cassandra, to
whom the work is dedicated

10. The History of England
from the reign of Henry the 4th
to the death of
Charles the 1st.
By a partial, prejudiced & ignorant Historian
To Miss Austen, eldest daughter of the Rev. George
Austen, this book is inscribed with all due respect by
The Author
N.B. There will be very few Dates in this History.

11. Mary
This woman had the good luck of being advanced to the
throne of England, inspite of the superior protentions, Merit
& Beauty of her Cousins Mary Queen of Scotland & Jane
Grey. Nor can I pity the Kingdom for the misfortunes they
experienced during her Reign, since they fully deserved
them, for having allowed her to succeed her Brother—which
was a double piece of folly, since they might have foreseen
that as she died without Children, she would be succeeded
by that disgrace to humanity, that pest of society, Elizabeth.
Many were the people who fell martyrs to the protestant
Religion during her reign; I suppose not fewer than a dozen.
She married Philip King of Spain who in her Sister’s reign was
famous for building the Armadas. She died without issue, &
then the dreadful moment came in which the destroyer of all
comfort, the deceitful Betrayer of trust reposed in her, & the
Murderess of her Cousin succeeded to the Throne.

12. Queen Mary I of England
• Fourth crowned monarch of Tudor dynasty
• Succeeded her short-lived half-brother Edward VI
to the throne
• Remembered for restoring England to Roman
Catholicism
• Had almost 300 religious dissenters burned at the
stake in the Marian Persecutions, earning her the
name “Bloody Mary”
• Her re-establishment of Roman Catholicism was
reversed by her successor and half-sister
Elizabeth I

13. Relation to Broader Work
• Less serious than her later writing
• Deals with political figures and social
structures
• Follows her theme of morality
• Not published during her lifetime
• Perhaps an experimentation with characters
and development of stories