Synopses & Reviews
Northanger Abbey is both a perfectly aimed literary parody and a withering satire of the commercial aspects of marriage among the English gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century. But most of all, it is the story of the initiation into life of its naïve but sweetly appealing heroine, Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the contemporary craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see herself as the heroine of a dark and thrilling romance.
When Catherine is invited to Northanger Abbey, the grand though forbidding ancestral seat of her suitor, Henry Tilney, she finds herself embroiled in a real drama of misapprehension, mistreatment, and mortification, until common sense and humor—and a crucial clarification of Catherines financial status—puts all to right. Written in 1798 but not published until after Austens death in 1817, Northanger Abbey is characteristically clearheaded and strong, and infinitely subtle in its comedy.
Review
"Jane Austen is the Rosetta stone of literature." Anna Quindlen
Synopsis
Jane Austen's first novel,
Northanger Abbey published posthumously in 1818 tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen&'s fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical
Northanger Abbey pokes fun at the gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.
This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the first edition of 1818.
Synopsis
Northanger Abbey is the story of na ve but sweetly appealing Catherine Morland, a willing victim of the 19th-century craze for Gothic literature who is determined to see herself as the heroine of a dark and thrilling romance. Northanger Abbey is both a perfectly aimed literary parody and a withering satire of the commercial aspects of marriage among the English gentry at the turn of the nineteenth century.
When Catherine is invited to Northanger Abbey, the grand though forbidding ancestral seat of her suitor, Henry Tilney, she finds herself embroiled in a real drama of misapprehension, mistreatment, and mortification, until common sense and humor--and a crucial clarification of Catherine's financial status--puts all to right. Written in 1798 but not published until after Austen's death in 1817, Northanger Abbey is characteristically clearheaded and strong, and infinitely subtle in its comedy.
About the Author
Jane Austen (1775—1817) was born in Hampshire, England, where she spent most of her life. Though she received little recognition in her lifetime, she came to be regarded as one of the great masters of the English novel.