While some writers and artists had vast realms of silence and solitude in which to let their artistic ideas foment, others weren’t so fortunate. Always living in a household with others coming and going, Jane Austen (1775–1817) struggled to find long, undisturbed periods of time in which to weave her tales of genteel English society.
While artists such as Charles Dickens and Ludwig van Beethoven could schedule their days and rely on rigid routines, Austen’s days were less predictable. Yet she still generated a substantial literary output of the highest quality, proving that the flower of artistic achievement grows even in inhospitable environments. By hook or by crook, writers find a way to write. The things burning inside them to be expressed will scorch a hole right through their chests if they don’t.
