Love Is Not By Halves
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.”
― Jane Austen,
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| Jane Austen |
16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817, was an English novelist
known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment
upon the British landed gentry at
the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots often explore the dependence of
women on marriage in the pursuit of favourable social standing and economic
security. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half
of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary
realism.
With
the publications of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma(1815), she achieved success as a
published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion,
both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion.
Her novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published
anonymously and brought her little fame during her lifetime.
A
significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1833, when her
novels were republished in Richard Bentley's Standard Novels series,
illustrated by Ferdinand Pickering, and sold as a set.[4] They gradually gained
wider acclaim and popular readership. In 1869, fifty-two years after her death,
her nephew's publication of A Memoir of Jane
Austen introduced a compelling version of her writing
career and supposedly uneventful life to an eager audience.
Austen
has inspired a large number of critical essays and literary anthologies. Her
novels have inspired many films, from 1940's Pride and
Prejudice to more recent productions like Sense and
Sensibility (1995) and Love & Friendship(2016).
Jane
Austen's use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary have
earned her great and historical importance to critics and scholars.
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