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Listen&Learn: Jane Austen

Posted by: Jaksyn Peacock

Learn about a famous female author from the 18th century

Pre-listening vocabulary

• middle class: the group of people who have enough money to live comfortably, but are not rich
• edition: a version of a book
• satire: a type of storytelling that uses humour to criticize parts of society
• reveal: to give new information to the public
• credit: to say that someone is responsible for something
• modern: new, recent

Listening activity

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Gapfill exercise

Jane Austen was an English . She was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, to a middle-class family. She began writing when she was only eleven years old. In 1797, she started her first , Sense and Sensibility. When she published it in 1811, she didn’t use her own name. The first edition of the book simply claimed to be written “by a “. Austen wrote six novels, all of which used satire to criticize social expectations. She earned very little money for her work. Although many of her stories are about love and , Austen never married, which was very unusual for a woman in her time. Her brother, Henry, revealed that Austen was the author of her novels after her death in 1817. Many people credit her with helping to shape the way modern novels are written.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. Jane Austen was born in
   a. 1775
   b. 1797
   c. 1811
   
2. Her first novel was
   a. Sense and Sensibility
   b. Pride and Prejudice
   c. Persuasion
   
3. The name Austen originally published under was simply
   a. “a writer”
   b. “a gentleman”
   c. “a lady”

Discussion/essay questions

1. Why do you think Jane Austen published her novels anonymously? Why might a writer not want to be known?

Transcript

Jane Austen was an English writer. She was born in 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, to a middle-class family. She began writing when she was only eleven years old. In 1797, she started her first novel, Sense and Sensibility. When she published it in 1811, she didn’t use her own name. The first edition of the book simply claimed to be written “by a lady“. Austen wrote six novels, all of which used satire to criticize social expectations. She earned very little money for her work. Although many of her stories are about love and marriage, Austen never married, which was very unusual for a woman in her time. Her brother, Henry, revealed that Austen was the author of her novels after her death in 1817. Many people credit her with helping to shape the way modern novels are written.

Answers to comprehension questions

1a 2a 3c

Written and recorded by Jaksyn Peacock for EnglishClub

© EnglishClub.com

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12 comments

• jujuuuu says:
  

  Jane Austen was so good as a writer. She published her name anonymously because it was bad looked that women could work

• Mel says:
  

  In those days, women were even more relegated to their sex. They had to be married and have children very young. They couldn’t have a bank account, and everything they did was controlled by society, the family and pressure.

  The male ego was made very fragile, since men had to be strong, dominant, successful, bear their family, legacy, this pressure made them unfair and immature.

• Abdirahman Mohamed Hassam says:
  

  in my opinion, I would say because she might fear being attacked by society. at that time being a woman and author was not easy.

• Qureysho kasim says:
  

  I think she first edition of the book simply claimed to be written

• English Club Indonesia says:
  

  I don’t really know what Jane Austen’s motive was. However, since she wrote her novels in a satirical manner, they might have been hard to be accepted by people at that time. So, she chose to hide her identity, or else she might have been attacked by society.

  Sometimes, writers don’t want their names to be published as they haven’t prepared for public attention

• Anand V Desai says:
  

  I think she was happy with her unknown identity.. also may viewers at that time not accept any female writer .

• Sunny says:
  

  I think she uses anonymously is safety and protect her private.

• Nasrin says:
  

  I agree with Genderson.

• Genderson says:
  

  to my mind, she decided to publish her work anonymously because she thought that being a woman would have some problems with society by writing sort of things

• Mario Sacomano Neto says:
  

  In my opinion the author’s history is fascinating.

• Meenu says:
  

  I was interested in learning more about Ms. Jane Austen.
  I also enjoyed Jaksyn Peacock’s recording. I like her tone of voice.

  Best regards,
  Meenu

• Sandra Mancera says:
  

  Thanks for the article, I love Jane Austen, I wold like more articles about her.
  Sandra.