A happy birthday, for all of us
- Deborah Yaffe
- 59 minutes ago
- 1 min read
No one who saw Jane Austen on the first day of her life would have supposed her born to be one of the world’s greatest novelists. Her doting father saw only “another girl, a present plaything for her sister Cassy and a future companion.”
And yet the baby who arrived in the world exactly 250 years ago today—on December 16, 1775—grew up to be a keen observer, a penetrating psychologist, and a peerless prose stylist. It may be her birthday, but it is she who has given us incomparable gifts.
So happy birthday, Jane Austen! May your works endure for another 250 years.