With this month being the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth, the Austen fangirl in me of course could not pass up the opportunity to celebrate such an important milestone with an Austen-themed read-a-thon of my own (not to mention this gives me the chance to finally work my way through a few of the dozens upon dozens of Austen-related books that I’ve accumulated over the years).
To kick off my reading celebration, I decided to start with the only novel of Austen’s that I had not yet read: Northanger Abbey. In making this decision, the first order of business, naturally, was figuring out which version of the book I would be reading, since, like many English Literature majors who are also superfans of Austen’s works, I own several different editions of all her novels -- ultimately, I opted for the version annotated by David M. Shapard. This is actually my first time reading a fully annotated version of a novel and I’m so glad I made this choice because it really elevated and enhanced the reading experience for me. As the type of reader who enjoys learning about historical and other background context in my reading (especially when it comes to aspects of a story that I find interesting), an annotated version is right up my alley in that it allows me to indulge in all the nerdy delight of going down literary rabbit holes (though the downside, of course, is that it does take me longer to get through the book).
Northanger Abbey is the first of Austen’s six novels to reach fully finished, ready-for-publication form, though ironically, it was one of the last of her novels to be published, coming out together with her last complete novel Persuasion after her death. As her first novel, Northanger Abbey can be considered Austen’s bildungsroman, or coming-of-age novel, that serves as the bridge between the juvenilia she wrote in her youth and the more intricately complex and nuanced maturity of her later works. It is perhaps because NA was written so early in Austen’s career -- along with the fact that the novel had already been submitted for publication many years before it was actually published (she had submitted it to a publisher in 1803 who never did anything with it, so her brother bought the rights back and published the novel 14 years later, in 1817) – that it lacks some of the subtle wit and sophisticated sardonic humor of say, Pride and Prejudice (my favorite of her works). In comparisons, the humor here is more straightforward, as Austen makes it pretty clear that she wrote this book as a parody of the “novel” – specifically the Gothic novel (or what was referred to as “sentimental novels” during that time). That said, as someone who has read and studied the form, I must say that the way Austen parodies Gothic novels in here (the focus is mostly on Ann Radcliff’s The Mysteries of Udolpho, which makes sense given that Radcliff is the “godmother” of the form) is nothing short of brilliant. Throughout Northanger Abbey, Austen subtly compares and contrasts the heroine and hero, Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney, with the heroine and hero typically depicted in Gothic novels to produce a satiric juxtaposition that is both clever and ironic.
Speaking of the main heroine and hero – the Catherine Morland / Henry Tilney pairing is now officially my third favorite pairing in Austen’s novels (after Lizzy / Darcy at #1 and Anne / Wentworth at #2). I honestly didn’t think I would like Catherine much at first, as I’m not a fan of naïve (aka meek, ignorant, childish, weak, etc.) characters and that had been largely how I had heard Catherine described in much of the scholarship around the novel – but after finally reading this novel myself, I’ve found that those descriptions of her don’t do her justice. Yes, there were quite a few instances where she acts immaturely and her naivete gets the better of her (she is only 17 years old in the novel, after all, and lived a pretty sheltered life before her experiences in Bath), but what I appreciate about her character is that she grows and evolves and ultimately learns from her mistakes. Also, she is one of the few heroines who doesn’t get “duped” by the obvious villainous suitor (the iteration in this story being John Thorpe) – one of my favorite scenes is in Chapter XIII of Volume I when Thorpe (and his annoying sister Isabella) try to force Catherine into canceling her appointment with the Tilneys through backhanded power plays, but instead of falling for it (which would be the expected reaction due to her lack of experience in “seeing through” people), she literally (and physically) defies them and runs after the Tilneys to clear things up (I actually yelled out “you go girl!!!” during that scene, lol).
Regarding Henry Tilney – let me just say that he is one of the wittiest heroes in all of Austen’s novels. I love the fact that he can be witty and engaging and fun yet also serious and level-headed when he needs to be. And yes, he has one of the best lines in the entire book – in response to Catherine’s assertion that men don’t read novels (because that is what John Thorpe told her when he dismissed her reading habits earlier), Henry responds with: “The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” That response alone is enough to endear him to me forever, lol!
Lastly, I want to comment on my rating for this book. As I mentioned in my previous reviews of Austen’s works, all her novels honestly deserve 5 stars in my book (and the reality is that I have rated all her novels as such except Mansfield Park, my least favorite of her works, which I still rated 4.5 stars). My biggest complaint with Northanger Abbey is that the ending is super rushed and it also doesn’t address the fates of the supporting characters – specifically the “villain” characters such as the annoyingly duplicitous Thorpes – which makes the story overall a little less satisfying because for me, part of the “fun” of reading Austen is to see these characters get their comeuppance. That doesn’t really happen in this case -- at least not to the extent that Austen does so in her later novels, which I would say is the one main blemish with this book that caused me to rate it 4.5 stars (which, of course, is still very high).
What a great way to kick off my Austen reading month! Can’t wait to continue my immersion in the world of Austen in the coming weeks!
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