Jane Austen

Jane Austen
English author Jane Austen crafted satirical romances set within the confines of upper-middle-class English society. Her books were known for their sharp attention to the details of everyday life, and her skillful treatments of character and situation marked Austen as an astute observer of human nature. Pride and Prejudice (1813), one of her best-known works, follows Mrs. Bennet’s attempts to find a suitable husband for each of her five daughters. Here, an actor recites the novel’s famous first lines.

Two common themes in Austen’s books are the loss of illusions—usually leading characters to a more mature outlook—and the clash between traditional moral ideals and the everyday demands of life. In most of her novels, her characters correct their faults through lessons learned as a result of tribulation. Because of her sensitivity to universal patterns of human behavior, many people regard Austen as one of the greatest novelists of the 19th and 20th centuries