... Sensibility appeared anonymously, followed by Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Mansfield Park (1814). Emma, which appeared in 1816, was the last novel published during Austen's lifetime. (Northanger Abbey and Persuasion appeared posthumously.) Austen's identity as a novelist was not revealed until after her death, and her ... scope of action gives us a strong sense of the confined nature of a woman's existence in early-nineteenth-century rural England. Emma possesses a great deal of intelligence and energy, but the best use she can find to make of these is to attempt to guide the marital de...

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