Philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre Calls Jane Austen the Last Great English Novelist

In his 1981 work 'After Virtue', philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre declared Jane Austen (1775–1817) 'the last great representative of the classical tradition of the virtues' for uniting Christian and Aristotelian moral traditions. Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, to Reverend George Austen and Cassandra Leigh. She had six brothers and a sister, Cassandra. Her father, an Oxford-educated clergyman, encouraged her writing. The family moved to Bath in 1801 after his retirement. In 1802, Austen accepted and then rejected a marriage proposal from Harris Bigg-Wither. After her father's death in 1805, the family faced financial hardship. In 1809, they moved to Chawton Cottage, where Austen completed her major novels. 'Sense and Sensibility' was published in 1811, 'Pride and Prejudice' in 1813, 'Mansfield Park' in 1814, and 'Emma' in 1816. 'Northanger Abbey' and 'Persuasion' were published posthumously in 1818. Austen died on July 18, 1817, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Her sister Cassandra preserved her legacy but destroyed many letters. MacIntyre argues that no writer after Austen could combine the two moral traditions, and that the Victorian novel moved on to other concerns. Critics have compared Austen to Shakespeare and Samuel Johnson. Her works remain studied in fields from feminism to postmodernism.