Jane Austen

Austen, Jane 

Born Dec. 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire; died July 18, 1817, in Winchester. English writer. Daughter of a country pastor.

Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey (1797–98; published 1818) is a parody of the Gothic novel. In the novels Sense and Sensibility (vols. 1–3, 1811) and Pride and Prejudice (vols. 1–3, 1813; Russian translation, 1967) the way of life and manners of the provincial gentry and clergy are depicted realistically, without any moralizing. The broad range of humor and profound psychologism in her novels, including the later works Mansfield Park (1814), Emma (vols. 1–3, 1816), and Persuasion (published 1818), make her a forerunner of critical realism in English literature.

WORKS

The Works. [Bristol, 1968.]
Letters. London-New York, 1955.

REFERENCE

Kettl, A. Vvedenie v istoriiu angliiskogo romana. Moscow, 1966.
Bel’skii, A. A. Angliiskii roman 1800–1810-kh godov. Perm’, 1968. Pages 47–107.
Jane Austen: The Critical Heritage. Edited by B. C. Southam. London-New York, 1969.
Mansell, D. The Novels of Jane Austen. London, 1973.
Chapman, R. W. Jane Austen: A Critical Bibliography, 2nd ed. London, 1969.
Hardwick, M. The Osprey Guide to Jane Austen. [Reading] 1973.

A. A. BEL’SKII