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Northanger Abbey

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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 nave but sweetly appealing heroine, Catherine Mo...

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Main Author: Austen, Jane, 1775-1817
Format: Books Print Book
Language:English
Published: New York : Vintage Classics, 2007.
Edition:1st Vintage Classics ed.
Subjects:
Young women > Fiction.
Horror tales > Appreciation > Fiction.
Gentry > England > Fiction.
Marriage > Economic aspects > Fiction.
England > Social life and customs > 19th century > Fiction.
Satirical literature.
Gothic fiction.
Romance fiction.
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Summary: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 nave 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 Austen's death in 1817, Northanger Abbey is characteristically clear headed and strong, and infinitely subtle in its comedy.
Physical Description:241 pages ; 21 cm
ISBN:9780307386830
030738683X
Author Notes:Jane Austen's life is striking for the contrast between the great works she wrote in secret and the outward appearance of being quite dull and ordinary. Austen was born in the small English town of Steventon in Hampshire, and educated at home by her clergyman father. She was deeply devoted to her family. For a short time, the Austens lived in the resort city of Bath, but when her father died, they returned to Steventon, where Austen lived until her death at the age of 41.

Austen was drawn to literature early, she began writing novels that satirized both the writers and the manners of the 1790's. Her sharp sense of humor and keen eye for the ridiculous in human behavior gave her works lasting appeal. She is at her best in such books as Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1816), in which she examines and often ridicules the behavior of small groups of middle-class characters. Austen relies heavily on conversations among her characters to reveal their personalities, and at times her novels read almost like plays. Several of them have, in fact, been made into films. She is considered to be one of the most beloved British authors.

(Bowker Author Biography)

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