簡·奧斯汀（Jane Austen，1775年12月16日－1817年7月18日）是英國著名女性小說傢，她的作品主要關注鄉紳傢庭女性的婚姻和生活，以女性特有的細緻入微的觀察力和活潑風趣的文字真實地描繪瞭她周圍世界的小天地。

奧斯汀終身未婚，傢道小康。由於居住在鄉村小鎮，接觸到的是中小地主、牧師等人物以及他們恬靜、舒適的生活環境，因此她的作品裏沒有重大的社會矛盾。她以女性特有的細緻入微的觀察力，真實地描繪瞭她周圍世界的小天地，尤其是紳士淑女間的婚姻和愛情風波。她的作品格調輕鬆詼諧，富有喜劇性衝突，深受讀者歡迎。從18世紀末到19世紀初，庸俗無聊的“感傷小說”和“哥特小說”充斥英國文壇，而奧斯汀的小說破舊立新，一反常規地展現瞭當時尚未受到資本主義工業革命衝擊的英國鄉村中産階級的日常生活和田園風光。她的作品往往通過喜劇性的場麵嘲諷人們的愚蠢、自私、勢利和盲目自信等可鄙可笑的弱點。奧斯汀的小說齣現在19世紀初葉，一掃風行一時的假浪漫主義潮流，繼承和發展瞭英國18世紀優秀的現實主義傳統，為19世紀現實主義小說的高潮做瞭準備。雖然其作品反映的廣度和深度有限，但她的作品如“兩寸牙雕”，從一個小窗口中窺視到整個社會形態和人情世故，對改變當時小說創作中的庸俗風氣起瞭好的作用，在英國小說的發展史上有承上啓下的意義，被譽為地位“可與莎士比亞平起平坐”的作傢。

簡·奧斯丁齣生在英國漢普郡斯蒂文頓鎮的一個牧師傢庭，過著祥和、小康的鄉居生活。兄弟姐妹共八人，奧斯丁排行第六。她從未進過正規學校，隻是九歲時，曾被送往姐姐的學校伴讀。她的姐姐卡桑德拉是她畢生最好的朋友，然而奧斯丁的啓濛教育卻更多得之於她的父親。奧斯丁酷愛讀書寫作，還在十一、二歲的時候，便已開始以寫作為樂事瞭。成年後奧斯丁隨全傢遷居多次。1817年，奧斯丁已抱病在身，為瞭求醫方便，最後一次舉傢再遷。然而在到瞭曼徹斯特後不過兩個多月，她便去世瞭。死後安葬在溫徹斯特大教堂。簡·奧斯丁終身未嫁。逝世時僅為四十一歲。

A perennial favorite in the Norton Critical Editions series, Pride and Prejudice is based on the 1813 first edition text, which has been thoroughly annotated for undergraduate readers.

"Backgrounds and Sources" includes biographical portraits of Austen by members of her family and by acclaimed biographers Claire Tomalin and David Nokes. Seventeen of Austen's letters—eight of them new to the Third Edition—allow readers to glimpse the close-knit society that was Austen's world, both in life and in her writing. Samples of Austen's early writing—from the epistolary Love and FriendshipA Collection of Letters—allow readers to trace her growth as a writer as well as to read her fiction comparatively.

"Criticism" features eighteen assessments of the novel by nineteenth- and twentieth-century commentators, six of them new to the Third Edition. Among them is an interview with Colin Firth on the recent BBC television adaptation of the novel. Also included are pieces by Richard Whately, Margaret Oliphant, Richard Simpson, D. W. Harding, Dorothy Van Ghent, Alistair Duckworth, Stuart Tave, Marilyn Butler, Nina Auerbach, Susan Morgan, Claudia L. Johnson, Susan Fraiman, Deborah Kaplan, Tara Goshal Wallace, Cheryl L. Nixon, David Spring, Edward Ahearn, and Donald Gray.

Also included are a Note on Money, a Chronology of Austen's life and work—new to the Third Edition—and an updated Selected Bibliography.

About the Series: No other series of classic texts equals the caliber of the Norton Critical Editions. Each volume combines the most authoritative text available with the comprehenive pedagogical apparatus necessary to appreciate the work fully. Careful editing, first-rate translation, and thorough explanatory annotations allow each text to meet the highest literary standards while remaining accessible to students. Each edition is printed on acid-free paper and every text in the series remains in print. Norton Critical Editions are the choice for excellence in scholarship for students at more than 2,000 universities worldwide.