15
Nov
2009
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
It’s possible that Jane Austen’s wit is at its height in Northanger Abbey. Those biting little sentences that describe characters, and their quips to one another ring throughout the walls of bath and the great house Northanger Abbey.
Unfortunately, because I listened to an audio version of this, I don’t have the book to quote directly for you. But I’ll paraphrase one of my favorites. Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Thorpe are talking, Mrs. Allen about her dresses and Mrs. Thorpe about her children.
These are the types of observances Austen employs that are lost in dramatic interpretations of her work. I’ve not seen any movie or tv version of Northanger Abbey, but can’t imagine it could quite capture it in the same way.
Though it was not the first novel she wrote, it was the first to be submitted to a publisher (though it ended up being published posthumously). In a way it is a bit over the top, but that’s why I loved it so much. Essentially, it is a parody of popular romantic and gothic novels of Jane Austen’s time.
Young, naive, Catherine, our heroine has a fondness for gothic books, which leads her to the conclusion that the father of her friend killed his wife, or perhaps has her locked up somewhere, and the secret is in a forbidden room. Hilarity ensues.
She goes sleuthing off in search of evidence, and when her love interest figures out what she’s up to, he laughs, and tries to remind her of the age and country in which they live.
If there is one thing that bothered me, it is that when Catherine’s love interest returns her affection, I didn’t see much basis for it. While Catherine certainly is not vapid, like many of the other characters who inhabit Bath, she is extremely naive. The obviousness of some characters doings and sayings goes right over her head. I suppose the love interest finds her refreshing.
Certainly readers both of Austen’s time and our own might find her refreshing. Like many of Austen’s heroines, she is rather plain, and from a middle class station, unlike most of the heroines of gothic and sensation novels of the time, furthering Austen’s spin-off of so many other novels.
Buy Northanger Abbey on Amazon
If you like this book/author, you might like:
(my reviews in blue)
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe
The Italian by Anne Radcliffe
Becoming Jane Austen by Jon Spence
A Memoir of Jane Austen: And Other Family Recollections by James Edward Austen-Leigh
The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James
The Castle of Otranto: A Gothic Story by Horace Walpole
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Brontë
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Scarlet Pimpernel by Emmuska Orczy
Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels by Deirdre Le Faye
Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo
Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler
Clermont by Regina Maria Roche
Dear Jane Austen: A Heroine’s Guide to Life and Love by Patrice Hannon
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
Other works by Jane Austen:
Sense And Sensibility
Persuasion
Emma
Pride and Prejudice
Mansfield Park
Jane Austen’s Letters
Love and Freindship: and Other Early Works
Lady Susan the Watsons Sandition
The Beautifull Cassandra
Catharine: and Other Writings
Printed with Charles Dickens:
Two Histories of England: By Jane Austen and Charles Dickens
Printed with Charlotte Brontë
The Juvenilia of Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte
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- Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Viera Rigler was…a decent story just adequately written. I was never totally sure who Courtney, a 21st...
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Oh gosh, that’s the one bad thing about audio! That’s happened to me on more than on occasion. Do you know that I have actually checked out both the paper and the audio version of a book from at the library just for that reason.
Not my favourite of Austens but that doesn’t mean I don’t still love it … just love the others a little more. I think you are right about the difference approach Jane has with this one… almost a little biting. I think that Catherine’s niavity is very deliberate. I wonder if Jane was bitter about how society (particularly Bath) treats the innocent… like no respect is given to anyone not part-taking of the ‘delights’ of Bath or assuming that with innocence comes studity ripe for corruption.
Good review!
I’ll echo Michelle on this one not being my favorite Austen…BUT, surprisingly, it was one of my favorite film adaptations. I think the story is well-fit to be turned into a drama. The ‘over the top’ bits work onscreen. You’ll have to check it out!
I have to say, Henry Tilney is by far my favorite of the Jane Austen heroes. He makes me laugh, and unlike several of the others, I can see why a girl would get a crush.
I havent read this one yet. I like how you say that Jane Austen’s humor is at its height in this book. This should go on the challenge list for me – I am so behind!!!
Hmm this may be the one Austen book I haven’t read/seen. I guess this means I’ll have to check it out now, because the most entertaining part of Austen to me is her wit. I think I’ll stick to Austen on film…I have too many other books to read, and I find her stories more enjoyable on screen than on paper. Even my boyfriend enjoys watching them with me!
I saw the movie version of this on PBS awhile back, but I still haven’t read the book. I’d love to see how the character of Henry Tilney is written because he certainly was a hot ticket in the movie.
This book and Persuasion are two I’ve been dying to read. I should just get off my duff and read them already!
This is actually one of my more favorite Austens, after P&P. You are dead on about the heroine being a bit dim, whihc I find odd for Austen. To me, this one is so different from the rest. Plus it makes me want to read the Mysteries of Udolpho.
I actually haven’t read this one. I’ve read every other Austen novel, but not this one. I knew it was published posthumously, but I did not know it was the first one to be sent to a publisher. It’s on my list for the Everything Austen Challenge.
I recently admitted on my blog that I’ve never read Jane Austen … an oversight I will be correcting in 2010. If she is as great as everyone says, I’m sure I’ll get to this one someday too.