Northanger Abbey

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Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey (Hardcover, 1975, Folio Society)

Bound in Arbelave Library Buckram and printed paper sides, 222 pages

English language

Published Jan. 1, 1975 by Folio Society.

ISBN:
978-0-85067-083-7
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4 stars (2 reviews)

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote (1752). Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.

12 editions

My favourite Austen

5 stars

Northanger Abbey is easily my favourite of the five Jane Austen novels I have read so far this year. From what I have heard about Emma, I think it may well turn out to be my favourite of the whole challenge! A considerably shorter work than some of the others, there isn't the space for lengthy diversions so I appreciated Austen's maintaining a good narrative pace throughout. I could empathise with ill-at-ease Catherine and really began to root for her once she started standing up to the selfish Thorpes.

What I now recognise as Austen trademarks are all present and correct! Much of the action happens in Bath society. The older female character, in this case the airheaded Mrs Allen, provides much of the humour, and no attachment can be assumed to be secured until the church bells have rung. I loved the additional excursion into Gothic darkness and Catherine's …

Pleasant, but not entirely satisfying.

3 stars

Maybe 3.5 stars. While Austen has a facility with the language, and an excellent ability to convey a convincing character, there are too many authorial issues which intrude for my tastes. I am not a fan of the author's frequent breaches of the fourth wall, though I recognize that authorial interjection was much more prevalent in previous times. I also feel that the overall novel is a bit of a mash-up, combining merely another of Austen's tales of romance and socio-economic standing with her supposed satirical take on the atmosphere-heavy Gothic novels of the period. The latter seems a bit too wedged into the former, with the titular Abbey itself not even appearing until two-thirds into the novel. Catherine's melodramatic predictions and fears may be overturned one by one by the banalities of reality in a fairly amusing manner, but it has little to do with the rest of the …