Jane Austen, one of England's foremost novelists, was never publicly acknowledged as a writer during her lifetime.  简・奥斯丁是英国最重要的小说家之一，但她生前从未被公认为作家。

Jane Austen wrote six novels, which continue to captivate readers almost 200 years after her death: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion.  简・奥斯丁创作了六部长篇小说：《理智与情感》、《傲慢与偏见》、《诺桑觉寺》、《曼斯菲尔德庄园》、《爱玛》和《劝导》。在她去世近两百年后的今天，这些小说仍一直吸引着读者。 

Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security.   虽然她的故事情节基本上都是喜剧性的，却凸显了女性为获得社会地位和经济保障而依赖婚姻的现象。 

The second half of the 20th century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship and the emergence of a Janeite fan culture. 20世纪后半期，奥斯丁研究硕果累累，并出现了奥斯丁热。