The Great Courses - The Life and Works of Jane Austen

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In 1811, a novel was published anonymously, by an author identified as "A Lady." It did moderately well for a book of that kind. Little did anyone suspect that this novel would be the start of a literary legacy that would grow over the course of two centuries and cement its author as one of the greatest novelists in the English language.
The novel was Sense and Sensibility, and the unnamed "Lady" was Jane Austen. Born to the ranks of the lower gentry in 1775, Austen led what some have mistakenly described as an ordinary and unremarkable life-a life that ended too early, at the age of 41. But from this life, Austen drew inspiration for six novels that all rank as literary masterpieces, including the widely beloved Pride and Prejudice. So, what do we really know about Austen's life and influences? What can a better understanding of her historical, cultural, and literary context tell us about how her brilliant work came to rank alongside Shakespeare, Eliot, and Dickens in the pantheon of revered British writers? Why does her work continue to resonate with readers from all walks of life and to inspire theater, film, television, and literary adaptations? Why do her deeply devoted fans continue to make pilgrimages to her home and celebrate her life 200 years after her death?