For my Google Ngrams, I chose to compare three of Jane Austen’s books- Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Northanger Abbey. I hypothesized that Pride and Prejudice would be the one with the most mentions, given that it’s the most-read among all her novels and is a popular favorite. I did this because I adore Pride and Prejudice and I wanted to see what people in the 19th century thought of Jane Austen’s work. Her first novel published, Sense and Sensibility, came out in 1811. Pride and Prejudice was her second novel and it was released in 1813. Northanger Abbey was published posthumously in 1817 and Austen’s brother decided to add a “Biographical Note of The Author” to the edition, naming Jane Austen as the author, making it the first time Austen’s literary genius is publicly recognized. She published Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice under the pseudonym “By A Lady.” This is the reason why I chose not to use “Jane Austen” as one of the terms searched, because she probably wasn’t mentioned in published writing.
Pride and Prejudice’s popularity skyrocketed in 1810, which I found strange because it was published in 1813. This means that perhaps Austen mentioned the title in a letter that has been placed into a collection of letters. I did make sure to uncheck the “case-insensitive” box so the Ngram Viewer would read the terms as a title, not as separate words. Pride and Prejudice reached its highest point in 1900; a new edition of the book came out that year, which could possibly explain this rise in mention. Northanger Abbey’s sales declined after 1818. In 1820, Austen’s novels were discarded of and remained out of print for twelve years, which explains the low mentions during that time. Sense and Sensibility stayed high and fluctuated little between 1840 and 1873. Then, in 1891 it had its highest peak, which is probably because a new edition came out this year.
By using Google Ngrams to analyze language through time, we can get a glimpse into what people living and writing in the 19th century were and weren’t interested in.
Sources
“Jane Austen.” Bio.com. Ed. Biographhy.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.
“Jane Austen”. Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015 <http://www.britannica.com/biography/Jane-Austen>.
“The Works of Jane Austen.” Austen.com | The Works of Jane Austen. The Spring, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.