JA
1775–1817
Jane Austen
Hampshire novelist of courtship, money, and moral intelligence. Her irony is so fine it can feel like weather in a room.
Perfected free indirect style and the marriage plot as a study of judgment.
Primary works
Novel · 1813
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Austen
Elizabeth Bennet misreads Mr. Darcy, and he misreads her family. A courtship plot becomes a double education in class, wit, and the revision of first impressions.
Comedy of manners
Novel · 1815
Emma
Jane Austen
Emma Woodhouse manages other people’s love affairs and bungles her own seeing. The novel is a comedy of surplus imagination in a small place.
Comedy of manners