Jane Austen - Back to Her Roots

Jane Austen - Back to Her Roots
By Lexi Jewlgia

Jane Austen, born in village of Steventon in Hampshire, was one of eight children. Her father chose homeschooling as method of education. He had a extensive library which led to Jane's constant reading. As a child, she and her older sister Cassandra danced and performed plays to amuse themselves. At the young age of fourteen, Jane wrote her first novel, Love and Friendship.

During her twenties Jane Austen wrote the novels that were later to be re-worked and published as Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice and Northanger Abbey. Though she never married, she is said to have been in love once with a gentleman she met at the seashore, however he died immediately thereafter without even leaving his name. There are many who claim her novel, Persuasion was about this mysterious lover.

When her parents were ready to retire they decided to move to Bath, away from the countryside she had grown accustomed to. In Bath, Jane found life pretty difficult. She didn't feel the creative inspiration that she had while living in Steventon. Being surrounded by the busy town and crowded streets made it hard for Jane to write. While living there she accepted a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither, a wealthy landowner, but she changed her mind overnight. It's said that she may have only accepted the proposal in the first place because she lived in a society where marriage was the only possible goal for a woman.

In 1801 Austen's father passed away leaving Jane's brothers responsible for financial matters. The Austen women had to reside with Jane's naval brother Frank and his wife Mary in Southampton. Jane's creative writing was nonexistant there.

In 1809 Jane's brother, Edward offered his mother and sisters a permanent home on his Chawton estate close to her beloved homeland of Hampshire. The Austen ladies decided to accept his offer and move to the estate. Jane's inspiration seemed to return while residing in Hampshire. In the next seven and a half years, she revised Sense and Sensibility (1811) and Pride and Prejudice (1813) and published them, followed by a period of intense productivity. Mansfield Park came out in 1814, followed by Emma in 1816. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey were published posthumously.

While Jane Austen was alive, she chose to publish her books anonymously. "By a Lady" replaced Jane's name on her published works. Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Mansfield Park have all been made into movies.

For many years, Austen struggled with finding the right words, even though she was a very talented writer. She needed the right setting to get her mind moving. It wasn't until she returned home that she was able to rediscover a way to express herself comfortably through her stories.

Lexi is an author on http://www.Writing.Com which is a site for Creative Writing.

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