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Friday, December 16, 2011

Happy Birthday to someone very special...

A very Happy Birthday


to Jane Austen!
[Jane Austen, December 16, 1775 - July 18, 1817]

[frontispiece for Sense and Sensibility, the first novel "By a Lady," celebrating its bicentennial]

[chapter 1, Pride and Prejudice]


[quote from Sense and Sensibility]

[her six novels in order of publication]

[one of the few mansucripts we have of her novels]

This past year, I am more grateful for this author than ever.
This year I have written 4 research papers on her, re-read all of her novels (plus some juvenalia), walked where she had walked, visited her house, left flowers at her grave, and discovered so many unanswered questions I want to probe.

[Austen's writing table]

[signature to a letter]

Here's at least one thing I can agree with Virginia Woolf on:
“Anyone who has the temerity to write about Jane Austen is aware of...[the fact] that of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness...”
 
[her grave]

[my flowers]

Happy Birthday to "a Lady" who did so much for literature--who pioneered within the novel form, who opened the door for other women writers, who created unforgettable characters paired with undeniable wit. A very happy thing that she was born indeed!

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