Jane Austen

Jane Austen was born 16 December 1775 into the English landed gentry she would spend her career dissecting. She'd written major novels before turning 22, but none saw print until she was 35. Sense and Sensibility appeared anonymously in 1811, followed by Pride and Prejudice in 1813, Mansfield Park in 1814, and Emma in 1816 — moderate successes that earned her no public recognition in her lifetime. She died 18 July 1817, leaving two more novels published posthumously that same year and an unfinished manuscript titled Sanditon. The shift came in 1833 when her six novels were republished as a set…