Jane Austen, Emily Brontë, Virginia Woolf: Literary Insights
Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose books, set among the English middle and upper classes, are notable for their wit, social observation, and insights into the lives of early 19th-century women.
Jane Austen was born on 16 December 1775 in the village of Steventon in Hampshire. She was one of eight children of a clergyman and grew up in a close-knit family. She began to write as a teenager. In 1801, the family moved to Bath. After the death of Jane’s father in 1805, Jane, her sister Cassandra, and their mother moved several times, eventually settling in Chawton, near Steventon.
Jane’s brother Henry helped her negotiate with a publisher, and her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, appeared in 1811. Her next novel, Pride and Prejudice, which she described as her “own darling child,” received highly favorable reviews. Mansfield Park was published in 1814, then Emma in 1816. Emma was dedicated to the Prince Regent, an admirer of her work. All of Jane Austen’s novels were published anonymously.
In 1816, Jane began to suffer from ill health, probably due to Addison’s disease. She traveled to Winchester to receive treatment and died there on 18 July 1817. Two more novels, Persuasion and Northanger Abbey, were published posthumously, and a final novel was left incomplete.
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Born on July 30, 1818, in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë is best remembered for her 1847 novel, Wuthering Heights. She was not the only creative talent in her family—her sisters Charlotte and Anne enjoyed some literary success as well. Her father had published several works during his lifetime, too.
Emily was the fifth child of Reverend Patrick Brontë and his wife, Maria Branwell Brontë. The family moved to Haworth in April 1821. Only a few months later, Brontë’s mother died of cancer; her death came nearly nine months after the birth of her sister, Anne. Her mother’s sister, Elizabeth Branwell, came to live with the family to help care for the children.
At the age of 6, Emily was sent to the Clergy Daughters’ School at Cowan Bridge with Charlotte and her two oldest sisters, Elizabeth and Maria. Both Elizabeth and Maria became seriously ill at school and returned home, where they died of tuberculosis in 1825. Brontë’s father removed both Emily and Charlotte from the school as well.
At home in Haworth, Brontë enjoyed her quiet life. She read extensively and began to make up stories with her siblings. The surviving Brontë children, which included brother Branwell, had strong imaginations. They created tales inspired by toy soldiers given to Branwell by their father. In 1835, the shy Emily tried leaving home for school. She went with Charlotte to Miss Wooler’s school in Roe Head, where Charlotte worked as a teacher, but she stayed only a few months before heading back to Haworth.
Coming from a poor family, Brontë tried to find work. She became a teacher at the Law Hill School in September 1837, but she left her position the following March. Brontë and her sister Charlotte went to study in Brussels in 1842, but the death of their aunt Elizabeth forced them to return home.
A Room of One’s Own – Virginia Woolf
Born into a privileged English household in 1882, writer Virginia Woolf was raised by free-thinking parents. She began writing as a young girl and published her first novel, The Voyage Out, in 1915. Her nonlinear, free-form prose style inspired her peers and earned her much praise. She was also known for her mood swings and bouts of deep depression. She committed suicide in 1941, at the age of 59.