When Jane Austen published her now-famous novels in the 1810's, the title pages did not even bear her name as the author. In the decades following their publication, few would have guessed that we would be talking about these texts in the twentieth century, let alone the twenty-first. Yet, over two-hundred years later, Austen and her novels have seeped into the zeitgeist and never left. In this talk, Dr. Christina Richieri Griffin, Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia Department of English, discusses Jane Austen’s life and works - what we know, what we don’t - and how Austen became the cultural touchstone she is today.