Sensibly saving Jane Austen
British romantic novelist Jane Austen died penniless on July 18, 1817, at the age of 41. Four of her six novels were already in print, but her obscurity was so deep that it was not until December that Austen was identified as the author. In life, fortune and fame eluded Austen, a minister’s daughter whose writing is now widely celebrated for its wit and realism. But fame did follow. A collected edition of Austen’s novels appeared in 1833, and they have been in print ever since. By 1880, Austen was the subject of a public adulation so wild that Victorians called it “Austenolatry.” In the 21st century, this fervent literary fandom remains unchecked. But Austen’s fame is a problem for scholars in search of scarce clues to her life. Consider, for one, the fate of her letters. By some estimates, Austen wrote 3,000, but only about 160 survive. Harvard’s Houghton Library owns five...