4 Things I Learned about Jane Austen

Jane Austen: A Literary Life by Jan Fergusis a great look at Austen's life through her work and the publishing industry at the time. As an Austen fan (Austenian? Austen-head?) I've done my fair share of researching her life, and of course reading a lot of her work. But I had never picked up a biography, until now. Although this is only the first bio I've read, I already feel like it's one of the best and will probably continue to be my favourite. Why? Because no other words can describe it like 'interesting' and 'informative'.

So without further ado here are 4 things I learned about Jane Austen:

1. Her earlier works

Obviously every writer gets their start somewhere, but Jane Austen's was not at all what I was expecting. Austen was encouraged to write by her father and wrote volumes of short works for her family's entertainment. If you've read an Austen book or two you may have noticed that they reflect the society of the time and (in my opinion) are never very dramatic (except for maybe Northanger Abbey). This, however, is far from what Austen writes about in her earlier works.

...the early juvenilia present in bolder, more outrageous terms the unconventional behaviour and the critique of conventional notions of women that are embodied more subtly and realistically in the novels. Austen goes from picturing women who literally get away with murder in the juvenilia, to women who figuratively do so in the novels... (52)

Yes, you read that correctly. Some of Austen's early works she wrote focused on women who got away with murder (literally) and had switched gender roles, a society where the women pursued the men (even after they were rejected... now that sounds familiar).

2. Austen loved Mary Queen of Scots

That's right! Jane Austen loved Mary Queen of Scots. She saw Mary, very much, as a hero and Queen Elizabeth as a villain. I found this particularly interesting as Austen herself is English and because I also love Mary Queen of Scots (I find her story fascinating). If you have seen the Mansfield Park movie from 1999 you may have noticed that it includes an actual Austen quote about the queens:

“And then that disgrace to humanity [Queen Elizabeth], the pest of society, Elizabeth, who, Murderess and Wicked Queen that she was, confined her cousin, the lovely Mary Queen of Scots for 19 YEARS and then brought her to an untimely, unmerited, and scandalous Death. Much to eternal shame of the Monarchy and the entire Kingdom.”

3. Order of books loved by her society at the time

As we go through Austen’s life, going through all of her major works/novels Fergus adds in what her friends and family, and fans or critics thought about her novel. Surprisingly, Mansfield Park was a favourite of many, preferred over Pride and Prejudice and Emma. I say surprisingly because nowadays I think Pride and Prejudice is often the favourite, followed by Emma, and I think in many cases (based on my own) Mansfield Park would be one of the least favourites, if not the least. I find it almost amusing how feelings towards something like books can change over years, decades, centuries.

4. Addison's disease

Nearing the end of the book, I knew Austen was going to die, obviously. And if you didn't know that, spoiler alert? but it's been over 200 years now so I think if you need a spoiler alert... yikes. Austen died fairly young at the age of 41. And I had known she'd been sick but I had always imagined she just had TB (tuberculosis). Although there is possible evidence that Austen had Addison's disease and that maybe her brother Henry also suffered with it (as it is a hereditary disease).

"...Austen's own health, evidently first affected when she nursed Henry through his serious illness in October 1815. Symptoms of Addison's disease, probably the condition that killed her, may have shown themselves early in 1816." (163).

In the end

I gave this biography 5 out of 5 stars because I love how it dives into analyzing Austen’s work in correlation with her life and what was happening at the time. For anyone looking to learn about Austen, whether you’re a great lover of her writing or not, I highly suggest reading Jane Austen: A Literary Life just to learn something new, even if it’s about the publishing industry of the time.

Link to the book from the publisher website: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9780333447017

Link to the book on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/5023879