简·奥斯汀
Jane Austen
【作家生平】简·奥斯汀（1775年12月16日～1817年7月18日）英国女小说家。生于乡村小镇斯蒂文顿，父亲是当地教区牧师。奥斯汀没有上过正规学校，但受到较好的家庭教育，主要教材就是父亲的文学藏书。奥斯汀一家爱读流行小说，多半是庸俗的消遣品。她少女时期的习作就是对这类流行小说的滑稽模仿，这样就形成了她作品中嘲讽的基调。她20岁左右开始写作，共发表了6部长篇小说。1811年出版的《理智与情感》是她的处女作，随后又接连发表了《傲慢与偏见》（1813）、《曼斯菲尔德花园》（1814）和《爱玛》（1815）。《诺桑觉寺》（又名《诺桑觉修道院》）和《劝导》（1818）是在她去世后第二年发表的，并署上了作者真名。
奥斯汀终身未婚，家道小康。由于居住在乡村小镇，接触到的是中小地主、牧师等人物以及他们恬静、舒适的生活环境，因此她的作品里没有重大的社会矛盾。她以女性特有的细致入微的观察力，真实地描绘了她周围世界的小天地，尤其是绅士淑女间的婚姻和爱情风波。她的作品格调轻松诙谐，富有喜剧性冲突，深受读者欢迎。
从18世纪末到19世纪初，庸俗无聊的“感伤小说”和“哥特式小说”充斥英国文坛，而奥斯汀的小说破旧立新，一反常规地展现了当时尚未受到资本主义工业革命冲击的英国乡村中产阶级的日常生活和田园风光。她的作品往往通过喜剧性的场面嘲讽人们的愚蠢、自私、势利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱点。奥斯汀的小说出现在19世纪初叶，一扫风行一时的假浪漫主义潮流，继承和发展了英国18世纪优秀的现实主义传统，为19世纪现实主义小说的高潮做了准备。虽然其作品反映的广度和深度有限，但她的作品如“两寸牙雕”，从一个小窗口中窥视到整个社会形态和人情世故，对改变当时小说创作中的庸俗风气起了好的作用，在英国小说的发展史上有承上启下的意义，被誉为地位“可与莎士比亚平起平坐”的作家。
【作家评述】Janeite这个词大概有100多年的历史了。据说，最早在1894年，当时的一位著名批评家George Edward Bateman Saintsbury，在给《傲慢与偏见》写序的时候，就自豪地宣称自己是个Janite。这大概就是“简迷”这个词的来源。
不过“简迷”的历史要比这个词更长久。简小姐的同代人，大名鼎鼎的“历史”小说家司各特（其实他是奥斯汀的前辈了，《劝导》里面Anne就很喜欢他的小说）就对她相当推崇，而且认定，喜欢奥斯汀的就一定非常喜欢，要么就根本不喜欢。1831年（奥斯汀小姐过世刚刚14年），著名的英国历史学家麦考莱（Thomas Macaulay）就在信中提到，在一次Party上，人人都将简小姐吹上了天。有个人说，人人都喜欢《曼斯菲尔德庄园》，但是否真是简小姐的信徒，是不是她的真正“选民”，得看一个人能不能欣赏爱玛。麦考莱本人就是个“简迷”，而且还把简和莎士比亚相提并论。想想100多年后，这仍然被大部分人看作是言过其实的大话，就知道麦考莱的趣味了。
到了1900年前后，简迷已经不再象司各特设想的那样，属于少数人了。据说在一站后的英国医院里，就推荐用奥斯汀的小说来辅助治疗战后创伤综合症。不过，“简迷”这个名字真正流行起来，要归功吉普林1924年发表的短篇小说“The Janeites”（这个拼法，而不是Saintsbury最初的Janite，成了辞典认定的标准用法）。这部有趣的小说讲了一帮英国士兵靠奥斯汀的小说度过了一战的疯狂和残酷。象吉普林的许多小说一样，“简迷”写得聪明而有人情味。从此，“简迷”的说法就广为人知了。
20世纪简迷的数量似乎仍在增加，其中不乏一些有趣的人。比如看过《看得见风景的房间》的人大概都能感受到其中的“简”味。而E.M.Forster就是一位极为推崇奥斯汀的作家。他在1923年为Chapman博士的牛津版奥斯汀小说集（大概在剑桥注释版出来前，这仍将是最广泛使用的奥斯汀作品版本）写评论的时候，就说自己是Jane Austenite。简的欣赏者中我们还可以加上从沃尔芙，奥登、Edmund Wilson到C.S. Lewis（看过今年的新片Narnia的人大概会记得这个著名的基督教作家）的名字。70年代，Lionel Trilling在哥伦比亚大学开奥斯汀课的时候，就被蜂拥而至的选课学生折磨得不知所措。
不过，有简迷，自然也就有简的反对派。最著名的自然就是对奥斯汀非常不买帐的夏洛特·勃朗特。她在私人信件里曾经极为严厉地批评过奥斯汀。考虑到我们的读者的感情，就不引用她的原话了。简的另一个著名的敌人是马克·吐温。不过，也有人专门写论文证明马克·吐温并非真的不喜欢简。不过大概奥斯汀小姐不大会真的在乎这个是非吧。
真正奇怪的是亨利·詹姆斯。吉普林的小说中，那帮简迷在提到简小姐没有结婚也没有孩子时，就有人说，谁说奥斯汀没有后裔，她的后裔就是亨利·詹姆斯。后来，利维斯在研究英美小说的大作《伟大的传统》中，还真的把从奥斯汀经乔治·艾略特到詹姆斯看作英语小说最重要的谱系。不过詹姆斯很少提到奥斯汀。他最著名的论述出现在有关巴尔扎克的演讲中。那里他刻薄地说，这种简·奥斯汀的崇拜是商业投机加上感伤的幻觉和自欺的迷恋。詹姆斯的态度，很快就得到了进一步的响应。1940年，D. W. Harding发表了一篇著名的文章 “Regulated Hatred: An Aspect of the Work of Jane Austen”。其中的著名论断就是，喜欢奥斯汀小说的人，绝大多数都是奥斯汀非常不喜欢的那种人，既市侩又感伤。这篇十几页的小文章现在被公认是奥斯汀研究的真正开端。从此之后，奥斯汀研究和简迷就互不买帐，暗自相互嘲讽，甚至公开诋毁。利维斯在《伟大的传统》中对Cecil爵士这个简迷抱着一副娱乐消闲的态度读奥斯汀就大大不以为然。60年代以后，特别是1968年Marvin Mudrick出版的Jane Austen: Irony as Defense and Discovery，以及1979年Sandra Gilbert和Susan Guhar的《阁楼上的疯女人》，已经使奥斯汀的形象与我们这些普通老百姓读到的大相径庭，再加上最近20年的修正主义传记，奥斯汀后人努力想创造的一个纯洁的天使形象，已经被破坏得差不多了，取而代之的倒是一个女权主义的先锋，文化批评的前驱，甚至刻薄刁钻的小妇人。
不过，简迷并不太在乎这些学术的潮流，她们关心的不是文化与帝国主义的关系，或者奥斯汀笔下的女性自觉意识，而是奥斯汀自己最直截了当提到的问题，那些男婚女嫁里面的道德、心理、经济和政治。简迷的热情从似乎一部接一部的奥斯汀改编电影电视中，从无数奥斯汀小说的续集和仿作（这些续集和仿作从浪漫爱情小说，侦探小说到色情小说，无一不有。这里最有名的大概是Bridget Jones’s Diary了）里，大概仍然可以看得到。或许，这只能表明，奥斯汀关心的问题仍然是我们生活最重要的问题，而奥斯汀的洞察力，即使不能帮我们找到理想的爱人，建立幸福的婚配，但至少能让我们从中获得一些人性的知识。
【文字特色】1）讽刺手法的运用
奥斯丁的讽刺艺术，不仅表现在某些人物的喜剧性格上，也不仅表现在众多情节的喜剧性处理上，而且还融汇在整个故事的反讽构思中，让现实对人们的主观臆想进行嘲讽。男主角达西最初断定，贝内特家有那么多不利因素，几个女儿很难找到有地位的男人，可后来恰恰是他娶了伊丽莎白。而伊丽莎白呢，她曾发誓决不嫁给达西，可最后还是由她做了达西夫人。再看看那个不可一世的凯瑟琳·德布尔夫人，为了阻止伊丽莎白与她外甥达西攀亲，她不辞辛劳，亲自出马，先是跑来威吓伊丽莎白，继而跑去训诫达西，殊不知正是她这次奔走为两位默默相恋的青年通了信息，促成了他们的美满结合。更令人啼笑皆非的是，就在这几位“智者”受到现实嘲弄的同时，书中那位最可笑的“愚人”贝内特太太，最后却被证明是最正确的。她认为：“有钱的单身汉总要娶位太太，这是一条举世公认的真理。”这种荒谬与“真理”的滑稽转化，尽管超越了一般意义上的是非观念，但却体现了作者对生活的深刻思索。
2）对话的运用
对话，是文学创作塑造人物形象的基本材料和基本手段。奥斯丁在创造人物对话时，一方面注意运用对话来刻画人物形象，另一方面又善于利用说话人、听话人、读者在动机和理解上的差异，制造多层次语调，致使她的对话具有既鲜明生动、富有个性，又含意丰富、耐人寻味两大特色。例如第一卷第十章，达西趁宾利小姐弹起一支苏格兰小曲的当儿，邀请伊丽莎白跳舞：“贝内特小姐，你是不是很想抓住这个机会跳一曲里尔舞？”达西这话说得虽然有些傲慢（“很想抓住”四个字足以表明这一点），但他主观上还是想讨好伊丽莎白。可是伊丽莎白听起来却不以为然。她认为里尔舞是一种乡土舞，达西请她跳这种舞，是想蔑视她的“低级趣味”，于是正颜厉色地说道：“我压根儿不想跳里尔舞——现在，你是好样的就蔑视我吧。”达西回答了一声：“实在不敢。”这句答话可能做出多层解释：伊丽莎白仅仅看作对方是在献殷勤，宾利小姐可能理解成想结“良缘”的表示，而读者只要多读几段便会发现，达西心里可能在想：“这位迷人的小姐着实厉害，我这次只得认输，以后可得谨慎从事。”类似这种微妙的对话，在小说里还有很多。奥斯丁在《诺桑觉寺》第五章，曾用饱含热情的语言赞扬了新小说：“……总而言之，只是这样一些作品，在这些作品中，智慧的伟力得到了最充分的施展，因而，对人性的最透彻的理解，对其千姿百态的恰如其分的描述，四处洋溢的机智幽默，所有这一切都用最精湛的语言展现出来。”
【作品年表】1794－95 《初次印象（傲慢与偏见）》动笔。
1796 《初次印象（傲慢与偏见）》完成，《埃莉诺和玛丽安（理智与情感）》动笔
1798－99 《诺桑觉寺（苏姗）》完成。
1803 《苏姗（诺桑觉寺）》以10镑价格卖给理查.克罗斯比，但未被出版。《沃森一家》动笔（1818年出版）
1805 《沃森一家》放弃。
1811 《曼斯菲尔德庄园》动笔。《理智与情感（埃丽诺和玛丽安）》出版。
1813 《傲慢与偏见（<第一印象> 修订版）》出版。《曼斯菲尔德庄园》完成。
1814 《曼斯菲尔德庄园》出版。《爱玛》动笔。
1815 《爱玛》完成并出版。《劝导》动笔。《苏姗（诺桑觉寺）》从出版商理查.克罗斯比手中买回。
1816 《劝导》完成。《苏姗（诺桑觉寺）》修订。
1817 《沙地屯》动笔
1818 《诺桑觉寺（<苏姗>修订版）》和《劝导》出版。
【作家地位】——奥斯汀之光环
简·奥斯汀是世界上为数极少的著名女性作家之一，介于新古典主义和浪漫运动的抒情主义之间的“小幅画家”和“家庭小说”家，文学评论家眼里堪与莎士比亚在不朽性方面相提并论的英国作家。
2000年，BBC做过一个“千年作家评选”活动，结果奥斯丁紧随莎士比亚之后，排名第二，而且，她是前十位里唯一的女性作家。这位女性堪称英国之骄傲。她创造出了一大批的人物，开启了19世纪30年代的现实主义小说高潮。
英国文学史上出现过几次趣味革命，文学口味的翻新几乎影响了所有作家的声誉，唯独莎士比亚和奥斯汀经久不衰。而这位伟大的女性一生只走过了42个春夏秋冬。
【简的未婚之谜】
英国小说家简·奥斯汀对爱情生活栩栩如生的描述一直为读者称道。她终生未婚，却对爱情有着深刻洞察力，这让人们迷惑不解。
将于13日在英国发行的一本有关奥斯汀的新书告诉读者，当年一位名叫塞缪尔·比克纳尔的年轻牧师曾与奥斯汀倾心相爱，这段经历为奥斯汀的文学创作提供了重要素材。
两个恋人
先前广为人们所接受的说法是，奥斯汀家邻居的侄子，后来成为爱尔兰最高法院首席法官的汤姆·勒弗罗伊是奥斯汀一生至爱。但是新书《简·奥斯汀：没有报答的爱》称，比克纳尔是比勒弗罗伊重要得多的奥斯汀恋人。
1796年，时年20岁的奥斯汀与勒弗罗伊相识，两人随后坠入爱河。可惜，勒弗罗伊终因贫穷放弃了这段恋情，令奥斯汀备感惆怅。勒弗罗伊离开后，奥斯汀投入写作，不久就写出《傲慢与偏见》的草稿。
1798年，曾把勒弗罗伊介绍给奥斯汀的那位邻居又把比克纳尔带到奥斯汀面前。
按照书中描述，比克纳尔性格外向、聪明、前途光明。奥斯汀感觉比克纳尔很爱她，但比克纳尔表现得太理智，不够满足年轻女孩的梦想。
在经历过一次失败爱情后，奥斯汀不再像过去那样高调公开恋情。因此，只有很少与奥斯汀关系近的人，包括大她两岁的姐姐卡桑德拉才知道她的“秘密”。
姐姐作梗？
奥斯汀在家中排行最小，上面有6个哥哥和1个姐姐。姐妹俩关系非常亲密。她们上同一所寄宿学校，只要一分开，奥斯汀总是先给姐姐写信。
然而，新书称，破坏奥斯汀与比克纳尔姻缘的可能就是卡桑德拉。
奥斯汀去世后，家人整理她的文稿时，奥斯汀姐妹的侄女回想起卡桑德拉谈到对比克纳尔的印象。
侄女说，卡桑德拉形容比克纳尔“非常迷人”，“我从来没听卡桑德拉姨妈用这种仰慕的口气说过任何其他人”。
卡桑德拉当时还告诉这个侄女，“他（比克纳尔）与简的关系正在发展。他们分别时，他清楚地表明他们还要约会”。
然而，奥斯汀这段爱情又以失败告终。书中说，她后来据说收到一封信称比克纳尔已去世。
英国《每日邮报》网站3日引述新书内容报道，这封信的细节仍是个谜，但有种说法是，卡桑德拉伪造了这封信以阻挠妹妹与比克纳尔相爱，原因是卡桑德拉的未婚夫刚刚去世，而她也爱比克纳尔。
这种说法的根据为，比克纳尔与奥斯汀分开后，奥斯汀姐妹的书信来往突然减少。有学者推测，两人因为都爱比克纳尔而失和，或是因为卡桑德拉在妹妹去世后销毁了那些暴露她背叛妹妹的信件。
书中说，这第二段爱情结束后，奥斯汀有至少10年没写过什么重要作品。
追求完美
比克纳尔之后又有其他人追求过奥斯汀，但都不能打动芳心。她在一封信中写道：“什么事都能忍受，除了没有爱情的婚姻。”
1813年，奥斯汀在报纸上读到比克纳尔与刘易斯小姐的结婚启事时才知道自己所爱还在人世。三年后，她开始感到身体不适，1817年去世，终年41岁。
尽管奥斯汀似乎是因为姐姐的背叛与幸福婚姻擦肩而过，但是新书作者安德鲁·诺曼认为，即便没有姐姐的破坏，结局可能依然如此，原因是奥斯汀浪漫、挑剔、不肯妥协的性格。
奥斯汀曾借作品中角色表达自己追求完美婚姻的理想。
诺曼说，奥斯汀初次遇到比克纳尔时，视他为“一件完美作品”。但在发现他并不完美后，她放走他，之后将所有对幸福的憧憬寄于笔端。
【相关影片】已经有多个版本的《傲慢与偏见》，07年上映了《Becoming Jane》则是讲述简·奥斯汀的爱情故事的影片。
主演：安妮·海瑟薇詹姆斯·麦卡沃伊茱莉·沃尔特斯詹姆斯·克伦威尔玛吉·史密斯Joe (VI) Anderson Lucy Cohu劳伦斯·福克斯伊安·理查森(I) Anna Maxwell Martin
导演：朱里安·杰拉德
类型：传记剧情爱情
地区：英国
首映：2007-03-02
影片讲述的正是简·奥斯汀与汤姆·勒弗罗伊的爱情故事
【剧情介绍】
简·奥斯汀（安妮·海瑟薇饰）用她的文字、聪明与智慧照亮了整个世界。而且她的生活同样充满了激情与爱情。1796年，二十岁的简遇到了汤姆·勒弗罗伊（Tom Lefroy，詹姆斯·麦卡沃伊饰）。他们的感情成为了现实生活中的传奇，而爱情故事也成为她毕生最伟大的著作。
在当时的英国社会，为了爱情而结婚是一个愚蠢的游戏。金钱决定了整个等级分明世界的运转。奥斯汀夫妇，在把他们最小的女儿嫁出去的时候，对这一点非常清楚。只是简心意已决，精神上的独立自主和桀骜不逊，再加上年轻人的傲慢与偏见，她决定要为爱而婚。
即使如此，父母还是希望为简挑选一个富裕且有远大前程的丈夫。瓦斯莱先生就是最理想的选择,当地贵族、声名显赫而且非常富有的格瑞莎姆夫人（玛吉·史密斯饰）的侄子。虽然他们千方百计要促成此事，但还是被简直接了当地拒绝了。
后来，她遇到了年轻的爱尔兰人汤姆·勒弗罗伊。他是一位律师实习生，和简的哥哥亨利一起从伦敦来汉普郡游玩。他长相英俊、聪明过人但也十分拮据。他对简单纯朴的乡村生活毫无兴趣。但是不久就发现了与自己心灵相通的简·奥斯汀。两个人彼此找到了无数共同的兴趣爱好。他们在小树林里唇枪舌战，他们在人群拥挤的舞会上翩翩起舞。她在玩板球上技高一筹，而他则送《汤姆·琼斯》给她阅读。两个人陷入了爱河之中。
但是他们一直被人监视着。格瑞莎姆夫人对此冷眼相看，而瓦斯莱则一直心存希望。父母以及亲戚的反对，让两人必须做出决定。汤姆提议私奔，导致的后果很显然将会是灾难性的。简的家庭经济状况不好，而她也将面临贫困和蒙羞。勒弗罗伊在爱尔兰的家庭也指望他能够出人头地。如果他们选择了逃跑，所有的一切都将毁于一旦：家人、朋友和财富。在他们这个充满感性和冲动的年纪，他们真的会走上这一步吗？
<剧评介绍转自狗狗>
【英文简介】Jane Austen (1775-1817)
English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character through the treatment of everyday life. Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is courtship and finally marriage. Austen herself never married. Her best-known books include PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1813) and EMMA (1816). Virginia Woolf called Austen "the most perfect artist among women."
"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife." (from Pride and Prejudice, 1813)
Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, where her father, Rev. George Austen, was a rector. She was the second daughter and seventh child in a family of eight. The Austens did not lose a single one of their children. Cassandra Leigh, Jane's mother, fed her infants at the breast a few months, and then sent them to a wet nurse in a nearby village to be looked after for another year or longer.
The first 25 years of her life Jane spent in Hampshire. On her father's unexpected retirement, the family sold off everything, including Jane's piano, and moved to Bath. Jane, aged twenty-five, and Cassandra, her elder sister, aged twenty-eight, were considered by contemporary standards confirmed old maid, and followed their parents.
Jane Austen was mostly tutored at home, and irregularly at school, but she received a broader education than many women of her time. She started to write for family amusement as a child. Her parents were avid readers; Austen's own favorite poet was Cowper. Her earliest-known writings date from about 1787. Very shy about her writing, she wrote on small pieces of paper that she slipped under the desk plotter if anyone came into the room. In her letters she observed the daily life of her family and friends in an intimate and gossipy manner: "James danced with Alethea, and cut up the turkey last night with great perseverance. You say nothing of the silk stockings; I flatter myself, therefore, that Charles has not purchased any, as I cannot very well afford to pay for them; all my money is spent in buying white gloves and pink persian." (Austen in a letter to her sister Cassandra in 1796)
Austen's father supported his daughter's writing aspirations and tried to help her get a publisher. After his death in 1805, she lived with her sister and hypochondriac mother in Southampton and moved in 1809 to a large cottage in the village of Chawton. Austen never married, but her social life was active and she had suitors and romantic dreams. James Edward Austen-Leigh, her nephew, wanted to create another kind of legend around her and claimed that "of events her life was singularly barren: few changes and no great crises ever broke the smooth current of its course... There was in her nothing eccentric or angular; no ruggedness of temper; no singularity of manner..." Austen's sister Cassandra also never married. One of her brothers became a clergyman, two served in the navy, one was mentally retarded. He was taken care of a local family.
Austen was well connected with the middling-rich landed gentry that she portrayed in her novels. In Chawton she started to write her major works, among them SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, the story of the impoverished Dashwood sisters, Marianne and Elinor, who try to find proper husbands to secure their social position. The novel was written in 1797 as the revision of a sketch called Elinor and Marianne, composed when the author was 20. According to some sources, an earlier version of the work was written in the form of a novel in letters, and read aloud to the family as early as 1795.
Austen's heroines are determined to marry wisely and well, but romantic Marianne of Sense and Sensibility is a character, who feels intensely about everything and loses her heart to an irresponsible seducer. "I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings; the same with books, the same music must charm us both." Reasonable Elinor falls in love with a gentleman already engaged. '"I have frequently detected myself in such kind of mistakes," said Elinor, "in a total misapprehension of character in some point or another: fancying people so much more gay or grave, or ingenious or stupid than they really are, and I can hardly tell why or in what the deception originated. Sometimes one is guided by what they say of themselves, and very frequently by what other people say of them, without giving oneself time to deliberate and judge."' When Marianne likes to read and express her feelings, Elinor prefers to draw and design and be silent of his desires. They are the daughters of Henry Dashwood, whose son, John, from a former marriage. After his death, John inherits the Norland estate in Sussex, where the sisters live. John's wife, the greedy and selfish Fanny, insists that they move to Norland. The impoverished widow and and her daughters move to Barton Cottage in Devonshire. There Marianne is surrounded by a devious heartbreaker Willoughby, who has already loved another woman. Elinor becomes interested in Edward Ferrars, who is proud and ignorant. Colonel Brandon, an older gentleman, doesn't attract Marianne. She is finally rejected by Willoughby. "Marianne Dashwood was born to an extraordinary fate. She was born to discover the falsehood of her own opinions, and to counteract, by her conduct, her most favorite maxims."
In all of Austen's novels her heroines are ultimately married. Pride and Prejudice described the clash between Elisabeth Bennet, the daughter of a country gentleman and an intelligent young woman, and Fitzwilliam Darcy, a rich aristocratic landowner. Their relationship starts from dislike, but Darcy becomes intrigued by her mind and spirit. At last they fall in love and are happily united. Austen had completed the early version of the story in 1797 under the title "First Impressions". The book went to three printings during Austen's lifetime. In 1998 appeared a sequel to the novel, entitled Desire and Duty, written by Teddy F. Bader, et al. It followed the ideas Jane Austen told her family.
Emma was written in comic tone. Austen begun the novel in January 1814 and completed it in March of the next year. The book was published in three volumes. It told the story of Emma Woodhouse, who finds her destiny in marriage. Emma is a wealthy, pretty, self-satisfied young woman. She is left alone with her hypochondriac father. Her governess, Miss Taylor, marries a neighbor, Mr. Weston. Emma has too much time and she spends it choosing proper partners for her friends and neighbors - blind to her own feelings. She makes a protégée of Harriet Smith, an illegitimate girl of no social status and tries to manipulate a marriage between Harriet and Mr. Elton, a young clergyman, who has set his sight on Emma. Emma has feelings about Mr. Weston's son. When Harriet becomes interested in George Knightley, a neighboring squire who has been her friend, Emma starts to understand her own limitations. He has been her moral adviser, and secretly loves her. Finally Emma finds her destiny in marriage with him. Harriet, who is left to decide for herself, marries Robert Martin, a young farmer.
Austen focused on middle-class provincial life with humor and understanding. She depicted minor landed gentry, country clergymen and their families, in which marriage mainly determined women's social status. Most important for her were those little matters, as Emma says, "on which the daily happiness of private life depends." Although Austen restricted to family matters, and she passed the historical events of the Napoleonic wars, her wit and observant narrative touch has been inexhaustible delight to readers. Of her six great novels, four were published anonymously during her lifetime. Austen also had troubles with her publisher, who wanted to make alterations to her love scenes in Pride and Prejudice. In 1811 he wrote to Thomas Egerton: "You say the book is indecent. You say I am immodest. But Sir in the depiction of love, modesty is the fullness of truth; and decency frankness; and so I must also be frank with you, and ask that you remove my name from the title page in all future printings; 'A lady' will do well enough." At her death on July 18, 1817 in Winchester, at the age of forty-one, Austen was writing the unfinished SANDITON. She managed to write twelve chapters before stopping in March 18, due to her poor health.
Austen was buried in Winchester Cathedral, near the centre of the north aisle. "It is a satisfaction to me to think that [she is] to lie in a Building she admired so much," Austen's sister Cassandra wrote later. Cassandra destroyed many of her sister's letters; one hundred sixty survived but none written earlier than her tentieth birthday.
Austen's brother Henry made her authorship public after her death. Emma had been reviewed favorably by Sir Walter Scott, who wrote in his journal of March 14, 1826: "[Miss Austen] had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I have ever met with. The Big Bow-Wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch, which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and the sentiment, is denied to me." Charlotte Brontë and E.B. Browning found her limited, and Elizabeth Hardwick said: "I don't think her superb intelligence brought her happiness." It was not until the publication of J.E. Austen-Leigh's Memoir in 1870 that a Jane Austen cult began to develop. Austen's unfinished Sanditon was published in 1925.
For further reading: Memoirs by J.E. Austen-Leigh (1870); Jane Austen and Her World by Mary Lascelles (1939); Jane Austen and Her Art by M. Lascalles (1941); Jane Austen by R.W. Chapman (1948); The Novels of Jane Austen by Robert Liddell (1963); The Language of Jane Austen by N. Page (1972); The Double Life of Jane Austen by Jane Hodge (1972); The Critical Heritage, ed. by B. Southam (1987); Jane Austen by Claudia L. Johnson (1990); Erotic Faith by Robert M. Polhemus (1990); Jane Austen's Novels by Roger Gard (1992); The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen, ed. by Edward Copeland, Juliet McMaster (1997); Jane Austen, Obstinate Heart by Valerie Grosvenor Myer (1997); Jane Austen: Her Life by Park Honan (1997); Jane Austen: A Life by David Nokes (1998); Jane Austen: A Life by Claire Tomalin (1998); A History of Jane Austen's Family by George Holbert Tucker (1998); Critical Essays of Jane Austen, ed. by Laura Mooneyham (1998); Jane Austen by Deirdre Le Faye (1998); The Author's Inheritance: Henry Fielding, Jane Austen, and the Establishment of the Novel by Jo Alyson Parker (1998); Pride & Promiscuity: The Lost Sex Scenes of Jane Austen by Arielle Eckstut, Dennis Ashton (2001); Jane Austen by Carol Shields (2001) - See also: J.F. Cooper - Museum: Jane Austen's House, Chawton, Alton, GU34 ISD. - Austen wrote Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion while living in this house.