The myth that Jane Austen was unconscious of her art has been extraordinarily persistent and richly entangled with other great myths about Austen. This great myth is perhaps best understood in relation to one of Jane Austen's greatest achievements: the turning of mere lifelikeness into novelistic art. The truism that Austen drew perfectly from the society she knew limits a full appreciation of the complexity of her aesthetic practice and commitment to style. The idea that Austen was somehow “unconscious” of her art maintains the notion of Romantic inspiration without compromising the key feature of copying from nature. The art of being true to nature is of course not the same thing as mere copying and reproduction. Austen's art is so much more than that. Her consummate skills as an ironist and a satirist mark another dimension of her artistry.