 The English author Jane Austen lived from 1775 to 1817. Her novels are highly prized not only for their light irony, humor, and depiction of contemporary English country life, but also for their serious underlying qualities. Austen wrote six major novels including "Sense and Sensibility", "Pride and Prejudice", and "Emma". Her other writings consist of plays, verses, short novels, and a virtual cornucopia of literary expressions. These works are collected into three volumes, all three of which are an extravagant display of Austen s wit and literary genius.