Northanger Abbey

Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.
Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style.

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Recent Forum Posts on Northanger Abbey

Extracts from Northanger abbey

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Posted By Albus Dumbledore at Fri 12 Oct 2007, 3:09 PM in Northanger Abbey || 3 Replies

Pronunciation

Hi all! I sure hope someone replies to this. I joined these forums solely in order to ask my question: How do you pronounce "Northanger" as in Austen's novel? Thanks so much! Katie

Posted By Special K at Mon 13 Jun 2005, 3:34 PM in Northanger Abbey || 13 Replies

Jane Austen : Northanger Abbey

I am currently in my final year in school. As required, we are required to produce at least five book reviews by various types of authors. I've always been intrigued by authors that were featured in the eighteenth and nineteenth century and the multitude of books by Jane Austen provided no exception. I find her view on the world as well as the satire which is interwoven within the characters especially wicked and appealing. An outstanding innovation!

Posted By Ramona at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Northanger Abbey || 12 Replies

essay on Northanger Abbey, help!

If you can help I have been doing a lot of research on a small essay regarding gothic conventions Austen uses in Northanger Abbey. The question is, Discuss Austsens use of gothic convention and her creation of suspense.How can one write four or five pages on this basic material?

Posted By Beci at Thu 17 Apr 2003, 12:00 AM in Northanger Abbey || 2 Replies

re

i am very pleased to have finally found a website on so many authors especially jane austen thank you alot

Posted By hello at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:07 PM in Northanger Abbey || 0 Replies

No Subject

Northanger Abbey is a great read. It really makes you sit back and think about your own life. Catherine sees herself and her life in terms of the books she's read and more specifically the gothic and romantic genres. I think we all do this. Many of us, me included, expect to be involved in a real-life 'romantic comedy' along the lines of 'about a boy' 'sleepless in seatle' or 'you've got mail' at some point in our lives. Is this a realistic expectation? probably not. But we are so used to watching these genres, we know the stories so well that we cant help but expect the same from our own lives. But does Catherine end up experiencing more or less as a result of this. I believe that she misses out on valuable experience because she can not percieve her world in an independant way. Fabulous book.

Posted By Unregistered at Tue 24 May 2005, 5:03 PM in Northanger Abbey || 0 Replies

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