Jane Austen was not popular in her lifetime. Why do we love her today?

December 15, 2025
Jane Austen books arranged on a wooden surface, with classic hardcover editions beside a smartphone playing the Sense and Sensibility audiobook.

(Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

In 1811, Thomas Egerton, who primarily printed military texts, published a novel about two sisters and their widowed mother, “Sense and Sensibility.” It was written anonymously, “by a lady.”

More than 200 years later, readers know that lady as Jane Austen, one of the best-known writers in the English language.

“Sense and Sensibility” alone has been adapted more than 10 times for stage, screen and radio, while dozens of movies, TV shows and web series are based on other Austen titles, like “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma.”

Open book showing the title page of Pride and Prejudice, with ‘Chapter I’ in soft focus.

The Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library has first editions of many of Austen’s novels, including “Pride and Prejudice.” (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

If Austen were still alive, she would celebrate her 250th birthday Tuesday. Since she isn’t around, Austen fans around the world are celebrating in her place with Regency-themed balls and pilgrimages to her house museum in Hampshire, England.

“She was not wildly successful in her own time, but she wasn’t unsuccessful,” said Cristina Richieri Griffin, an Austen expert and assistant professor at the University of Virginia. “I always tell my students, “If you polled readers in the 1810s and asked them what author would be remembered 200 years later, they would not have said the author of ‘Sense and Sensibility.’”

It was not uncommon for writers to publish anonymously during Austen’s time, though they did not always indicate their gender.

Open book showing the page shows Mr. Collins, the protagonist Elizabeth Bennett’s supercilious cousin.

Special Collections’ Austen materials include this miniature version of “Pride and Prejudice.” This page shows Mr. Collins, the protagonist Elizabeth Bennett’s supercilious cousin. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“Sense and Sensibility” sold out all 750 copies of its initial run, and the publisher put out a second edition two years later. “Pride and Prejudice,” perhaps the most widely read Austen novel, came out in 1813, and quickly became her centerpiece: Austen’s books published afterward all mentioned they were written by the author of “Pride and Prejudice.”

In her time, Austen had some famous admirers.

“The Prince Regent read her novels and liked them well enough that she dedicated ‘Emma’ to him, but in a tongue-in-cheek way, since that novel is all about bad leadership,” Griffin said.

Even including her royal reader, Austen’s works are far better known and widely praised today than they were in her time. But Griffin said there’s a reason readers still swoon when Mr. Darcy tells Elizabeth how “ardently I admire and love you,” or wince when Emma insults Miss Bates at a picnic.

“Her focus was so on the people. Even the fact that I just called them people, and not characters, is telling. How real they feel allows them to be transportable into all these different places and times,” Griffin said.

Austen’s work is popular not only in the United States, England and Canada, but also worldwide. Her books have even served as the basis for Bollywood adaptations. In her own language, Austen may be one of the most widely adapted authors next to Shakespeare, and audiences have a seemingly endless appetite for more. Netflix is producing a new “Pride and Prejudice” miniseries, and Focus Features announced it has greenlit a “Sense and Sensibility” movie starring Daisy Edgar-Jones. Austen’s themes – namely love, family, social dynamics and propriety – are universal, Griffin said.

Open antique book displayed against a black background. The left page shows a printed bookplate with a sailing ship and the name ‘Tracy W. McGregor.’ The right page is the title page with the word ‘EMMA’ centered on aged, spotted paper.

“Emma” is a favorite of faculty member Cristina Richieri Griffin, an Austen expert. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“She writes a lot about the tension between the public and the private self. There’s this closed-off, private individual, and the willingness to open oneself up. She’s also a pioneer in certain narrative techniques, and I think that’s partly what makes her so enduring,” she said.

Austen herself appears as a character in multiple TV miniseries and movies based on her life. One reason her life continues to fascinate her fans is that we know so little about her. Austen was famously private, and after her death, her sister Cassandra burned many of her letters.

Close-up of three worn leather book spines displayed side by side. Each spine is labeled ‘Sense and Sensibility’ by Austen, with gold lettering indicating Volume I, Volume II, and Volume III.

“Sense and Sensibility,” Austen’s first novel, was published anonymously in three volumes. Veronica McGurrin, a reference librarian, says readers would customize the bindings for the novels they purchased. (Photo by Lathan Goumas, University Communications)

“She died at 41, and we only have a small number of her remaining letters, so we get glimpses of her. We get a taste of what her life might have looked like, had she lived longer, but it’s incomplete,” Griffin said.

Many Austen scholars and fans consider the burning of Austen’s letters a tragedy. Griffin disagrees.

“I think Cassandra did a service to her sister, both in terms of protecting her privacy and generating this mystery around her. That leaves room for readers and filmmakers to step into that gap and fill in what they imagine is missing,” Griffin said.

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Alice Berry

University News Associate Office of University Communications

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