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Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
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Northanger Abbey (original 1818; edition 1994)

by Jane Austen

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingConversations / Mentions
21,522418193 (3.83)2 / 1381
Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Catherine, a seventeen year old girl, travels with her family to Bath and makes many new acquaintance, including two young men who pursue her. She is invited to visit the country estate of one, and makes the journey with high expectations of Gothic drama, her head being full of Mrs Radcliffe's The Mystery of Udolpho.

This was the first novel completed by Austen, but was only published posthumously. It is a delightful, light-hearted comment by Austen on the reading and writing of novels.

.
… (more)
Member:SandraAusWestfalen
Title:Northanger Abbey
Authors:Jane Austen
Info:Penguin Books Ltd (1994), Unknown Binding
Collections:Your library
Rating:****
Tags:manners, Gothic Novel, Interfiktion, anglophil

Work Information

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen (1818)

  1. 276
    The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe (upstairsgirl, HollyMS)
    upstairsgirl: This is the book that Austen's heroine is reading (and which Austen is wryly mocking) in Northanger Abbey. Fun to read with each other; Udolpho is possibly less fun on its own.
  2. 144
    Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons (ncgraham)
    ncgraham: Another brilliant parody.
  3. 73
    Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (kara.shamy)
  4. 52
    Evelina by Frances Burney (flissp)
  5. 43
    Nightmare Abbey [and] Crotchet Castle by Thomas Love Peacock (SomeGuyInVirginia)
    SomeGuyInVirginia: Both satirize gothic gaspers.
  6. 21
    The Italian by Ann Radcliffe (kara.shamy)
  7. 21
    The Abbot's Ghost, or Maurice Treherne's Temptation: A Christmas Story by Louisa May Alcott (aulsmith)
  8. 44
    Cousin Kate by Georgette Heyer (inge87)
  9. 02
    Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (TheLittlePhrase)
    TheLittlePhrase: protagonists who struggle to differentiate between reality & the books that they read
AP Lit (3)
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» See also 1381 mentions

English (390)  Spanish (8)  Italian (4)  German (4)  Swedish (2)  French (2)  Czech (1)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Dutch (1)  Norwegian (1)  Lithuanian (1)  All languages (415)
Showing 1-5 of 390 (next | show all)
Early on in Northanger Abbey, Austen turns metafictional and pens a stirring defence of the novel, criticizing those who look down on the form. She then proceeds to hilariously poke fun at the popular gothic novels of her day of course, which is all delicious. Her wonderful defence goes thusly:
"Alas! if the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the Reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are in injured body. Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many as our readers. And while the abilities of the nine-hundredth abridger of the History of England, or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized by a thousand pens, - there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them. "I am no novel reader - I seldom look into novels - Do not imagine that I often read novels - It is really very well for a novel." - Such is the common cant. - "And what are you reading, Miss -?" "Oh! it is only a novel!" replies the young lady; while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. - "It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda;" or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language."
Of course, one can take the reading of novels too far, and that is what happens to the naive Catherine Moreland. "Catherine sometimes started at the boldness of her own surmises, and sometimes hoped or feared that she had gone too far; but they were supported by such appearances as made their dismissal impossible." Alas! Catherine misjudges; the world is not, in fact, like that of a gothic novel. At least not England:
Charming as were all Mrs. Radcliffe's works, and charming even as were the works of all her imitators, it was not in them perhaps that human nature, at least in the midland counties of England, was to be looked for. Of the Alps and Pyrenees, with their pine forests and their vices, they might give a faithful delineation; and Italy, Switzerland, and the South of France, might be as fruitful in horrors as they were there represented. Catherine dared not doubt beyond her own country, and even of that, if hard pressed, would have yielded the northern and western extremities. But in the central part of England there was surely some security for the existence even of a wife not beloved, in the laws of the land, and the manners of the age.
But then who today, in the fever of Brexit, can be surprised at the ignorance and suspicion of Europe that lurks in the hearts of England! ( )
  lelandleslie | Feb 24, 2024 |
The narrator introduces readers to Catherine, who is raised plainly. Though, Catherine has a weary view of society and the people around her due to her gothic outlook. Gradually, she learns more about the people around her and eventually more about herself. There are various characters with different backgrounds, which makes it pleasant to read the interaction between Catherine and Henry.


I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review. ( )
  Louisesk | Jan 26, 2024 |
Catherine is an innocent in a world of complexity. An unsuspecting heroine, she is thrown into friendships and relationships that aren’t always what they seem. She embarks on a long visit to Bath with neighbors, the Allens, where she meets the Thorpes and the Tilneys. She and Isabella Thorpe become best of friends and Catherine has her eye on Henry Tilney. Siblings throw in complicated twists. Then Henry’s sister invites Catherine to spend time with the Tilneys at their home at Northanger Abbey, and she jumps at the chance, having fallen for Henry. Then within a few weeks, she is forced out of their home in a mad and rude rush by the Tilney patriarch. But why? This book defies genres and I never quite knew where it was going. But the ending was so satisfying. I’m glad I stuck with it. ( )
  KarenMonsen | Jan 20, 2024 |
The kookiest Jane Austen. ( )
  LibrarianDest | Jan 3, 2024 |
I originally read this in middle school, when I first discovered Pride and Prejudice and immediately began trying to read through all the Jane Austen's I could find. Northanger Abbey was a real disappointment to me. Oddly enough, the satire that I recognized so easily in P&P went completely over my head in NA, so I was puzzled by the pointlessness of a story about an unremarkable girl who visited a scary house, only to find it completely mundane.

I revisited NA for the first time this weekend, and found it much more entertaining. I get the jokes now! However, I still found the story of dull-witted Catherine and her two suitors, one boorish and the other boring, somewhat pointless. Ranking Austen's novels, I'd put this one dead last.

Audiobook version, borrowed from my public library via Overdrive. Anna Massey provides a solid performance. ( )
  Doodlebug34 | Jan 1, 2024 |
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No one who ever had seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine.
Quotations
"Oh! It is only a novel!" replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. "It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda"; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.
Friendship is certainly the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.
...but while I have Udolpho to read, I feel as if nobody could make me miserable.
Young people do not like to be always thwarted.
Give me but a little cheerful company, let me only have the company of the people I love, let me be where I like and with whom I like, and the devil may take the rest
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
This LT work, Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey, is the original form of this novel. Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey [ISBN 1854598376] is a dramatization of this work by Tim Luscombe. Please do not combine the two; thank you.
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Wikipedia in English (1)

Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML:

Catherine, a seventeen year old girl, travels with her family to Bath and makes many new acquaintance, including two young men who pursue her. She is invited to visit the country estate of one, and makes the journey with high expectations of Gothic drama, her head being full of Mrs Radcliffe's The Mystery of Udolpho.

This was the first novel completed by Austen, but was only published posthumously. It is a delightful, light-hearted comment by Austen on the reading and writing of novels.

.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Catherine, at seventeen, is an insatiable reader of 'horrid' novels full of villainous monks, secret corridors and blameless heroines. So, when, during an eventful visit to Bath, she is invited to the Tilneys' family home, Northanger Abbey, her cup is full. The quizzical Henry Tilney embarrasses her by guessing at her vivid speculations and she fears that she has lost his good opinion for ever. Just as she begins to hope again, his father inexplicably banishes her....
In a lively novel, portraying social life in fashionable Bath and the terrors of an imposing country house, Jane Austen exposes the dangers of an over-active imagination, of mistaken ideals and of bad faith. But while Catherine's youthful blunders are treated with reconciling good humour, hypocrisy, avarice and social climbing are unmercifully delineated in this joyously incisive love story.
Haiku summary
They cannot escape,
the single page of pride which
always lies open
(alsoCass)
Not a heroine.
Her love lives in an abbey — still,
Nothing gothic here.
(By Muscogulus)

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Penguin Australia

5 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0141439793, 0141028130, 0141194855, 0141197714, 0141389427

Tantor Media

2 editions of this book were published by Tantor Media.

Editions: 1400102057, 1400110785

Recorded Books

An edition of this book was published by Recorded Books.

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Urban Romantics

2 editions of this book were published by Urban Romantics.

Editions: 1909175366, 1909175374

 

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