THIS little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediate publication. It was disposed of to a bookseller, it was even advertised, and why the business proceeded no farther, the author has never been able to learn. That any bookseller should think it worth-while to purchase what he did not think it worth-while to publish seems extraordinary. But with this, neither the author nor the public have any other concern than as some observation is necessary upon those parts of the work which thirteen years have ...
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THIS little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediate publication. It was disposed of to a bookseller, it was even advertised, and why the business proceeded no farther, the author has never been able to learn. That any bookseller should think it worth-while to purchase what he did not think it worth-while to publish seems extraordinary. But with this, neither the author nor the public have any other concern than as some observation is necessary upon those parts of the work which thirteen years have made comparatively obsolete. The public are entreated to bear in mind that thirteen years have passed since it was finished, many more since it was begun, and that during that period, places, manners, books, and opinions have undergone considerable changes.
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50-something discovering the talents of Ms Jane Austen. The books are always better than the movie, BBC or other ??
ZEDSREVIEW
Oct 11, 2009
Satire of Romance Novels
I had not thought of Austen as a satirist prior to reading Northanger Abbey. Within the first chapter the author addresses what the book is not ? a gothic romance, thought it is fashioned similarly, and named similarly. Austen points out the heroine?s father did not lock up his daughters, there was no lover of unknown origin, (something Emily Bronte uses years later in Wuthering Heights), and the heroine?s mother does not warn her of the seduction of barons. Rather, when the teenage heroine, Catherine Morland, leaves for a resort town to stay with neighbors, everything is done ?with a degree of moderation and composure, which seemed rather consistent with the common feelings of common life...? 6. With the contrasts Austen makes to the typical gothic romance she conveys the message that life is not like the popular novel.
Austen makes some straight forward comments in Northanger Abbey, without irony. Throughout the book she comments on novels, a rather new and popular form in the late 18th century. The novel, evidently, was looked down on, but was also a guilty pleasure. A person would suggest reading Milton or Pope or Addison, but would condemn books by Anne Radcliffe. Even novelists would do this. But Austen, as narrator, would not. She does, however, illustrate problems for those who read such novels, as the character Catherine experiences. Catherine is disappointed that Northanger Abbey isn?t ancient nor dark nor in ruins. She is terribly mistaken in her perception of General Tilney, suspecting he has imprisoned his wife in the Abbey, based on what she had read in novels. I?m not sure if all statements of judgment are ironic or not.
The satire is strong only in a few chapters of the book. Otherwise it is something of the standard Austen work, with characters pairing up according to society?s expectations, then finding out they are mismatched. Though no one may expect Catherine to be a heroine, she is a very good character, practical, sociable, yet refraining from coquetry, earnest. The book tells of her maturation through the age of courtship.
Corgi
Mar 9, 2009
Austen's least important book
Wouldn't it be great for one's least work to still be a joy forever?
This is Austen's throw-away. It's the shortest, it's the least fated love, and the heroine is the only one who isn't fully identified with Austen and the reader.
Catherine is a very ordinary girl, not especially bright or mature, but warm-hearted and a little bit pretty.
As she enters "society" on a visit to Bath with family friends, Catherine's expectations of life are skewed by the vice of novel-reading. Her flaw is romanticism.
This is what Austen has fun with, and why this least romantic of her romances is still so enjoyable.
Momx3
Dec 25, 2008
Great Classic
Jane Austen is one of our favorite authors. This book is one of her best.
