What Can Jane Austen Teach Writers Today?

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birthday, we’ve included a post on how obscurity made Jane Austen famous. We’ve also asked the question: What Can Jane Austen Teach Writers Today?

How Obscurity Made Jane Austen Famous

A rather unknown author of only six novels was born 250 years ago on the 16th of December 1775.

She died on the 18th of July 1817 in a house on College Street, in Winchester, England. She was 41.

She had never been outside of Britain. In fact, she had never travelled more than 150 miles from her birthplace in Steventon, Hampshire.

Not for her were bullfights in Spain, civil wars, or world wars. She never graced bars or fashionable writing groups in Paris, caught swordfish off Cuba, or holidayed on safari in Africa. She certainly never shot elephants. She never married or had children. She had never been a drunk. No scandal had touched her or her family. Her social circle was small, including only her family, her neighbours, and the congregation of the church she attended. Her best friend was her sister. She attended dinners and balls at the Assembly rooms at Steventon.

Her life was not in any way Dickensian. She was not a ‘self-made’ woman. She was very much a product of a loving, witty, open family that lived in the countryside, and rejoiced in an easy and intellectually enriching environment. As an Anglican rector, her father was neither wealthy nor well connected. Which all goes to prove that writers don’t need to have had a hard life, a difficult upbringing, or be world weary and cynical to write good books. Nor does an author have to write a large number of books.

Despite this seeming lack of adventure and drama in her own life, and the fact that she was only ‘privately known’ as opposed to famous, she wrote books that are still studied at schools, colleges, and universities across the world. Which sounds awfully high-brow, but belies the fact that they are witty, intelligent, filled with well-observed social commentary, realism, and irony. Many of her characters became the blueprints for other authors. Even those writing today. Think of the young, intelligent, witty, attractive, spirited young woman, and the well-born, rich, good-looking, seemingly rude but just shy, quietly heroic, young man. How many of those have we seen in the last two hundred years?

Her name was Jane Austen

Before she was 22, Jane Austen had written four of her six novels: Sense and Sensibility, Emma, Pride and Prejudice, and Mansfield Park. None of which were published until she was thirty-five.

Six years later, in 1817, she was dead. Her final two books, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion were published afterwards in the same year.

Jane Austen And The Ten Pound Note

So, if she wasn’t famous in her own lifetime how did Jane end up on the British £10 note, and with numerous TV and film adaptations, and many spin-offs including zombies, Bollywood, and blue-string soup?

It was, in fact, the very normality of her life, and obscurity in which she lived, and possibly her father’s profession, that provided Jane with the opportunity to put her keen observation skills to great use. People are the same the world-over, but in a small community their foibles, eccentricities, small crimes, humanity, good and bad personality traits are in sharper relief than in a large, bustling city. And with a rector as a father, Jane would have known more about her neighbours’ foibles, small crimes, and scandals than she would have if he’d been a baker.

Did Wealthy Friends Help Make Jane Famous?

While Jane may have lived in relative obscurity, compared to later authors like Charles Dickens who wouldn’t have known obscurity if it introduced itself and left a gold-edged calling card, Jane and her family had some extremely wealthy acquaintances. They helped Jane in the sense that she named some of her characters after their homes – the colossal Wentworth Woodhouse, one of Europe’s largest houses, gave its name to two characters. It was owned by the incredibly wealthy, the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam. He was one of the wealthiest men in the UK at the time, was greatly admired by Jane, and who is believed to be the inspiration for Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride And Prejudice. Darcy’s home, Pemberly, is apparently based on Wentworth Woodhouse.

Clearly, as most authors do, Jane based her characters on people she knew, including her own family. Apart from the 4^th Earl Fitzwilliam, her stable of characters, possibly because of her father’s profession, included people from all walks of life, and all levels of wealth from real-life Mr Darcys to Miss Bates, Mrs Eltons, Mr Wickhams, and Lydias.