Northanger Abbey

by Austen, Jane; Grogan, Claire

• ISBN13: 9781551114798
• ISBN10: 1551114798
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-04-01
• Publisher: Broadview Pr

Summary

The earliest of her six major novels," "NorthangerAbbey remained unpublished until after Jane Austen's death. A deliciously witty satire of popular Gothic romances, it is perhaps Austen's lightest, most delightful excursion into a young woman's world. Catherine Morland, an unlikely heroine--unlikely because she is so ordinary--forsakes her English village for the pleasures and perils of Bath. There, among a circle of Austen's wonderfully vain, dissembling, and fashionable characters, she meets a potential suitor, Henry Tilney. But with her imagination fueled by melodramatic novels, Catherine turns a visit to his home, Northanger Abbey, into a hunt for dark family secrets. The result is a series of hilarious social gaffes and harsh awakenings that for all of Austen's youthful exuberance nevertheless conveys her mature vision of literature and life--and the consequences of mistaking one for the other.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(1)
The Novel's History	8	(9)
The Importance of Reading to Jane Austen	17	(2)
How Austen's Characters Read	19	(3)
The Modern Reader and Northanger Abbey	22	(3)
A Note on the Text	25	(1)
Jane Austen: A Brief Chronology	26	(2)
Title-Page, 1818 edition	28	(1)
Biographical Notice	29	(7)
Author's Advertisement	36	(1)
Northanger Abbey	37	(204)
Appendix A: Jane Austen's Correspondence with Crosby Publishing House	241	(1)
Appendix B: Jane Austen's Private Family Correspondence	242	(25)
Appendix C: Examples of Jane Austen's Reading
1. Romance of the Forest	244	(3)
Ann Radcliffe
2. Observations on the Picturesque	247	(1)
William Gilpin
3. Sentimental Heroines
a. Louisa	248	(1)
Elizabeth Hervey
b. Emmeline	249	(1)
Charlotte Smith
c. Julia	249	(2)
Helen Maria Williams
Appendix D: Catherine Morland's Reading Material
1. The Mysteries of Udolpho	251	(2)
Ann Radcliffe
Appendix E: Reviews of Northanger Abbey
1. British Critic (March 1818)	253	(4)
2. Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (May 1818)	257	(2)
3. Gentleman's Magazine (July 1818)	259	(1)
4. Quarterly Review (January 1821)	259	(8)
Appendix F: Map of Bath, circa 1800	267	(1)
Appendix G: Day Trips from Bath	268	(1)
Appendix H: Map of South West England, circa 1856	269	(1)
Appendix I: Frontispiece to the 1833 edition of Northanger Abbey	270	(1)
Appendix J: Horse-Drawn Transportation	271	(4)
1. Chaise and Four	272	(1)
2. Phaeton	273	(1)
3. Curricle	274	(1)
4. Gig	274	(1)
Works Cited/Recommended Reading	275