Austen, Jane, 1775-1817

Jane Austen (1775–1817) was an English novelist. Details of her life are limited in publicly available sources, yet her works have circulated widely, and nineteen of them are held in this collection. Her best-known novel is Pride and Prejudice; others include Sense and Sensibility (held here in the French translation Raison et sensibilité, ou les deux manières d'aimer) and Persuasion, along with collected editions circulating in several languages. Her novels mostly draw on the daily life of the landed gentry, centering on marriage, property, and social manners, and are distinguished by fine psychological portrayal, restrained irony, and witty dialogue, revealing character and circumstance through ordinary events. Her style has influenced the later development of the English novel, and her works have been repeatedly translated and adapted, retaining a wide readership today.