Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
This early work of Jane Austen’s, written in 1798, is a satire of the Gothic novel, in particular those of Mrs Radcliffe. Seventeen year old Catherine, sweet-natured, innocent and too fond of novels rather than any more serious pursuit, is given the opportunity to accompany her godparents to Bath. Their time there is flat until Mr Tilney is introduced, whose sardonically teasing company Catherine finds most entertaining. Then she also makes the acquaintance of Isabelle Thorpe, who has already started a liaison with Catherine’s brother James, up at Oxford with her brother John. Isabelle is an arch flirt, false and histrionic, and seems to make Catherine into her confidante. It soon becomes clear to the reader that John Thorpe has decided to court Catherine, although she, and indeed the reader are rather mystified by his brash boastful self-promotion as a form of love-making. But unworldly as she is, Catherine nevertheless has a natural sense of what is polite and seemly, and in the end she finds herself where she should be, in the company of Mr and Miss Tilney. Their father invites her to Northanger Abbey, their family home: Catherine expects nothing less than ghosts and secret passages and skeletons in the cupboards, and indeed she does become the heroine of her own story. This is huge fun, part of the fun derives from always being a step ahead of Catherine herself, part from the ironic comments of the narrator and part from spotting the elements of the novel’s structure that are also a burlesque of the Gothic: Catherine is abducted – twice, but only by the brash John, eager to show off his driving skills; she is also the object of defamation and slander, the victim of the villains of the piece. Naturally it all ends happily, as you would expect of Jane Austen – pure pleasure.
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