Things That Are True About Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey:

1. It is a clever satire of Gothic literature, a particularly interesting project, given that "novels," or full-length books of fiction, where only just emerging as a distinct and consistent literary tradition when Northanger Abbey was written. Moreover, our novel-loving heroine was of a very early generation of literate young women.

2. It is playfully deconstructed, as Jane's voice interjects the story to discuss "our heroine" Catherine Morland's adventures and lively imagination directly with us readers. I particularly fancied  Jane's extended defense of the novel as an art form, where she calls out fiction writers themselves for diminishing their own genre as unserious with the sort of 'is the novel dead?' rhetoric that has, absurdly, not yet died out.

3. The book is utterly charming, packed with wit, humor, and laser-sharp insight into the social play of vanity, hypocrisy, modesty, manners, sense, money, and ambition. While much contemporary attention on Austen emphasizes her romance storylines (see: nearly all film adaptations of her books), and indeed, she writes a great romance, it is this insight and this wit that gives Jane Austen her lasting power.

4. Northanger Abbey isn't as good as Pride and Prejudice (especially) or Sense and Sensibility, the other two Austen books that I've read, but it is a worthy and rather overlooked one.

5. It is Jane's first novel, written at the turn of the nineteenth century and sold for publication in 1803--though the folks who purchased it just sat on it. Northanger Abbey wasn't published until after her death in 1817.

6. Jim Thorpe is one of the most dickish characters in literature; I know a few too many of his sort. He is both grating and wonderfully hilarious.

7. Me and Henry Tilney would've gotten along just fine. Ahem.

8. I really loved reading Northanger Abbey this week. Such a fun novel.

Comments

[Suzan]

Thanks for your review.

What did you think of Lady Susan?

Now that's a modern woman.

S

[Sarah Seltzer]

Isn't it just the best? Now you have to rent the slight but adorable ITV/Masterpiece adaptation from 2007. Andrew Davies co-wrote the screenplay and despite one or two small quibbles, it's a winner.

[Anna Clark]

I've never read Lady Susan-- it's another one on the TBR pile!

And thanks for the movie tip, Sarah. I happen to have nabbed a copy of the BBC film of Northanger Abbey, which I plan on watching soon, but if the one you described is better, I'll definitely seek it out.