Discussing Jane Austen's talent and legacy on the 200th anniversary of her death

On the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death, Olivia Kelleher, talks to Trinity lecturer Daragh Downes about the woman, her talent and her legacy

JANE Austen, who died 200 years ago this year, was far from the stereotype of “Aunt Jane” the eternal spinster, but instead was an independent and worldly wise woman who wielded a sardonic pen, according to Trinity College English lecturer Dr Daragh Downes.

Dr Downes says Austen was a “mischievous” character who created fictitious entries in a marriage register linking herself with two separate men. Records from the Hampshire Archives, which prove that Austen made the handwritten entries in the record books while a teenager in Hampshire in the late 18th century, are due to go on display this month. Austen had access to the book because her father, George Austen, was the rector of the parish.