My Theory
Posted by Tim on April 06, 1998 at 12:20:59:
In response to Why JA stopped writing after the first three books..., written by Barbara on April 03, 1998 at 16:42:35
Having written the first three novels Jane Austen could have been regarded as a failure. She couldn't get any of her work published. She may have given up for that reason (most sensible authors with three unpublished novels would). Also the family circle that she had been entertaining with her writing, had become more and more dispersed.
Why did she restart?
In all her writing seems to suggest that young women start serious reading around the age of fifteen. Her favourite nieces Anna Austen and Fanny Lefroy (both born in 1793) were just at that age in about 1809 when she started rewriting and revising the first three novels. Maybe it was their interest that spurred her writing back into action.
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