Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors, in fact, this blog could easily have been called Austen & Poe in Wonderland. It was a bit wordy and I wanted to focus more on an eclectic blend of topics. I know quite a bit about her life, and I've read a majority of her 6 novels (haven't gotten around to Northanger Abbey). However, I freely admit I don't know everything. Jane Austen was certainly unique in her time period and remains so today. I picked up 30-Day Journey with Jane Austen today. I bought it months ago but hadn't read it. Well, I only made it through the introduction and day one of the book before I decided I HAD to share excerpts from it with you. If you enjoy history, hopefully, you'll like these Austen facts.
“Austen was writing with an ironic edge from an early age, contributing at least one satirical piece to her older brother James’s monthly magazine, The Loiterer, and constructing outrageously comic narratives in private notebooks. Within her early writing, Austen’s laughter at the ridiculous includes her own foibles, as evidenced by the title of her History of England from the reign of Henry VI to the Death of Charles I: By a Partial, Prejudiced & Ignorant Historian. This was a collaborative project for which Cassandra (sister) painted caricatures of monarchs the sisters disliked, such as Edward I and Queen Elizabeth I.”
AFP PHOTO/Stan HONDA (Photo credit should read STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)
Jane was fortunate to have a father, the Rev. George Austen, who staunchly encouraged her mind and writing similar to Mr. Bennet in her beloved novel. I mean it was the 1700's so how many fathers would actually have behaved this way?
“Hers was definitely not a puritan upbringing, Rev. George Austen was a progressive, latitudinarian clergyman who took pride in his daughter’s intellectual gifts. He bought her expensive paper and writing tools to encourage her. On November 1, 1797, Rev. Austen wrote publisher Thomas Cadell to present his daughter’s novel First Impressions, an early draft of affiliates and disclaimers here.
