Jane Austen is one of the most prominent literary figures in the English-speaking world. Despite releasing only four anonymous novels during her short life, she has left a lasting impact on pop culture and her works have been canonized into western literary hegemony.

Austen was born on December 16th, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire. Her father was a reverend, and she had seven siblings. The Austens were a loving family of modest means; the father, George Austen, provided for the family through work in a rectory, tutoring, and farming. Theirs was a household full of books, discourse, music, dancing, and plays. Austen began writing plays at a young age and fostered a love of literature with the help of her supportive father.

When Austen was a teen, she completed her first work titled Love and Friendship, a dark satirical comedy. Soon after, she composed a play, Charles Garandison or the Happy Man, and began the first drafts of her novels Sense and Sensibility, and, Northanger Abbey. Once Austen finished boarding school, she returned home and continued her writing. By 1799 had completed the first draft of First Impressions, which would later become her most known work, Pride and Prejudice. George Austen, the ever supportive father, tried to have Pride and Prejudice published but the manuscript was rejected without consideration.

During the winter of 1800, Austen’s father announced his retirement from the clergy, and the family decided to downsize and move to Bath. While in Bath, Austen received her first and only marriage proposal from a family friend, Mr. Bigg-Wither, the heir to a sizable estate. Austen initially accepted the proposal but rejected it the next day as she felt indifferent about Mr. Bigg-Wither. She’d decided she would only marry for love. Unfortunately, that would never happen for Austen; she remained unmarried, a risky scenario for a woman of her modest station during the early 19th century.

During her time in Bath, Austen struggled to fit in and keep up with the haughty social culture of the cosmopolitan town. The noisy area left her little peace to write, and the long evening dinners and afternoon teas often left Austen feeling bored. That boredom didn’t last as the life of Austen, Cassandra, and their mother became quite precarious after the sudden death of George Austen in 1805. With no inheritance or husbands between the three of them, they had to move out of Bath and into modest rented quarters until they were able to settle in a cottage in Chawton with the financial assistance of Austen’s brothers.

On the bright side, the quiet cottage in Chawton allowed Austen the peace she needed to write. She made strides in her writing, not giving up on her goal of being a published author despite her first attempt at publishing Northanger Abbey failing. She turned in Sense and Sensibility for publication in 1811 under the pen name “A Lady”, the name she would use for all her novels thereafter. By 1813, her debut novel completely sold out and she earned 140 pounds from the sale of the copyright. This provided some much needed financial success for Austen and her family. In 1813, Pride and Prejudice was published and was met with favorable reviews becoming another hit for Austen. However, her prosperity would not last, as her next two novels, Mansfield Park and Emma, were self-published in hopes of making more money than her publisher was willing to offer. Unfortunately for Austen, she lost most of her profits from her first novels on selling her later books. This great loss made the grand total of the profits for all her books published while she was alive around 650 pounds. Around the same time, the Austen brothers lost a considerable amount of their money on a banking venture and this put the women in an even more precarious situation. Still, Austen continued to write, dedicating even more time to her writing than before, hoping to regain her previous success.

That unfortunately would never happen; in 1816 Austen’s health began to decline. Austen tried to ignore her condition and continue writing. She managed to finish a manuscript of The Elliots, a novel that was never published. Her condition only worsened. On July 18th, 1817 Austen died at the age of 41, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Cassandra and Henry worked to publish the last of their sister’s works. Persuasion and Northanger Abbey was published in 1818 as a collection, and included a foreword by Henry finally revealing his sister’s identity as the author of the collection and each of her other works.

Today, Austen is one of the world’s most loved authors, and her works are some of the most studied. The words and world of Austen’s works have captured imaginations for two hundred years. Her characters, wit, satire, razor sharp observation and dialogue have been her trademarks. Though she did not receive lasting success or financial gain in her lifetime, the acclaim she has gathered since her death is more than enough for many lifetimes.