English language translation theory department

A Family Tradition
There is a family tradition that, during a visit to Devonshire, Jane Austen met a young man who attracted her greatly but who died soon afterwards. In 1795, Cassandra got engaged to a young man who died in 1797.
The Decision Not to Marry
In 1801, the Austen family moved to Bath which Jane Austen had previously been visiting on occasions. George Austen had retired, and he had decided to settle in Bath. It is believed that Jane was at first unhappy about living there. Perhaps there is a bit of autobiography in Persuasion, where Jane Austen writes of Anne Eliot: “She disliked Bath, and did not think it agreed with her and Bath was to be her home.” (Chapter II). From Bath the family went on expeditions to various places, one of them being Lyme Regis, which is the setting for part of the story of Persuasion. It was on one of these expeditions to Lyme that Jane rashly accepted a proposal of marriage and then changed her mind the very next day, because she realized that she should not marry simply from worldly motives and without love. During this period at Bath, George Austen died (1804). In 1809, the family shifted to Chawton, near Winchester.
Publications
It may be noted that Jane Austen wrote hardly anything during the period the family lived in Bath. Her interest in writing seems to have revived after the family moved to Chawton. It was at Chawton that she began to publish her writings, though her life as a publishing author lasted only six years. Sense and Sensibility was the first of her novels to be published, appearing in 1811. Pride and Prejudice appeared in 1813. Mansfield Park, which had been begun in 1811, was published in 1814. Emma, begun in 1814, appeared in 1815. All these novels were published anonymously. Nonhanger Abbey and Persuasion were the only novels that were published under her own name. Persuasion was written in failing health.
Death
Until 1816, there had been no sign of Jane Austen being ill, but early in that year her health was somewhat impaired. She still wrote cheerful letters to her relatives, but she became less and less active. In May 1817, she and Cassandra went to Winchester to get medical aid but there was no hope of a cure. She became seriously ill and died on July 18, 1817, in the arms of her sister. She was buried on the 24th July, 1817, in the cathedral church of Winchester.