| | '''Jane Austen''' (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist, who was born December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire. Her works of romantic fiction, set amongst the gentry, made her one of the most widely read writers in English literature.<ref>Southam, "Criticism, 1870–1940", The Jane Austen Companion, 102.</ref> Austen spent the first 25 years of her life in the Parsonage House, in Stevento, Hampshire. Her father, the Reverend George Austen, the rector of Steventon, and her mother, Cassandra Austen, were both members of the lower gentry. Though by no means wealthy, the Austens enjoyed a comfortable, social life, that is reflected in the tone of her works. During her lifetime, Austen experienced the effects of war, the American and French revolutions, industrializations, but did not make them center pieces of her work, preferring to instead focus on the effects of her immediate surroundings - the gentry lifestyle. | | '''Jane Austen''' (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist, who was born December 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire. Her works of romantic fiction, set amongst the gentry, made her one of the most widely read writers in English literature.<ref>Southam, "Criticism, 1870–1940", The Jane Austen Companion, 102.</ref> Austen spent the first 25 years of her life in the Parsonage House, in Stevento, Hampshire. Her father, the Reverend George Austen, the rector of Steventon, and her mother, Cassandra Austen, were both members of the lower gentry. Though by no means wealthy, the Austens enjoyed a comfortable, social life, that is reflected in the tone of her works. During her lifetime, Austen experienced the effects of war, the American and French revolutions, industrializations, but did not make them center pieces of her work, preferring to instead focus on the effects of her immediate surroundings - the gentry lifestyle. |