Charlotte Smith

That's such a good modern parallel because it's also really important to remember that young Jane didn't see writing as simply this girlish pastime.

She grew up reading successful female novelists like Frances Burney, Charlotte Smith, and Anne Radcliffe, who were all living proof that a woman could turn writing into a career, even in that era.

But...

It wasn't going to be easy.

So Robert Burns is not an author that I've often heard associated with Austen.

You hear about Charlotte Smith and Inchbald and Francis Burney, and you hear those names over and over.

I know that Robert Burns was kind of around that time, but I didn't realize that Austen was engaging with him much.

So which of his works do we know that she enjoyed? Where do we see their influence in her work?

so interesting.

And Janine Barkas has identified one Mrs. Smith who was in fact the heiress of the original builder of Bath and a very wealthy, powerful woman.

And I'm not the first to suggest that there are allusions here to Charlotte Smith as well.

But I also thought that we were perhaps allowed to think about Adam Smith, who was one of the most distinguished public intellectuals of his day, and who would have had quite a lot to say because he was a polymath.