Writing

Writing is a major theme throughout Jane Austen's letters. There is the obvious preoccupation with her own writing. In one of the first letters in the collection, she tells Cassandra that she "writes only for fame". Her later letters recount her preparations for the publication of her works. She describes her attempts to publish and the methods she takes to get her work published. Initially she publishes anonymously because of the impropriety of a woman writing novels during this time period. Interestingly, she also alludes to Frances Burney's novels quite often. Frances Burney is a female novelist who began writing several decades before Jane Austen and also published anonymously at first. She faced much more controversy than Jane Austen but was a major influence in the younger woman's career.

Jane Austen describes her publishing "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", "Mansfield Park", and "Emma". There is also a...