The View from Chawton: Chawton Cottage

I made the pilgrimage to Jane Austen’s home—the home in Chawton village, where Austen lived from 1809-1817 and completed her novels spanning from Sense and Sensibility to Sanditon, the work left unfinished at her death. This cottage, tiny and unassuming, stands as a testimony to Austen’s paradoxical position as a writer.  

Austen was forced to rely on the charity of her brother Edward to provide her with this cottage since, initially, her writing had brought her no income--she bore the publishing costs herself for her first novel Sense and Sensibility. In this cottage’s inauspicious front parlor, Austen penned some of the greatest fiction of the Regency period. Ironically, she chose this room for its large picture window and squeaky door that presaged visitors, so she could hide any evidence of her writing from others. In these novels, she brings to a brilliant pitch the technique of free indirect discourse, introducing a vivid interiority in her heroines, and speaks directly and poignantly to contemporary issues, such as the lack of education and vocation for women. 

Yet, Austen’s gravestone in Winchester Cathedral, like her home, small and unassuming, alludes only obliquely to her writing, mainly speaking of her piety and charity: “The benevolence of her [Austen’s] heart, 
the sweetness of her temper, and 
the extraordinary endowments of her mind obtained the regard of all who knew her and the warmest love of her intimate connections.”