Northanger Abbey

Written by Jane Austen, who so usually indulges us with tales of inexplicably witty and dramatic romances, Northanger Abbey stands as Austen’s homage to the Gothic and really is a wonderful piece of metafiction that positively drips with thick, delicious dollops of social commentary, intertextuality, and first person, metafictive narration. 

When young and naïve country girl, Catherine, gets invited to spend some time in Bath with familial acquaintances, she is excited to indulge, for the first time, in a world so different to her own that sports glamorous social extravagances, and fashionable society. Shortly upon her arrival the sweet and flirtatious Isabella Thorpe befriends her and introduces her to the delights of Gothic romances. At first, Catherine’s love for the novels swells to harmless obsession, but when she then gets invited by the sophisticated Henry and Eleanor Tilney to spend a time in their home, Northanger Abbey, the influence of the stories begin to consume her and she conjectures an assortment of horrible crimes and explanations about General Tilney, thus risking the loss of Henry and Eleanor’s affections. 

Possibly one the more sophisticated takes on the country girl in the big City type plot, Northanger Abbey stands as a wonderfully humorous and subtle gothic novel that is not so much about the horrors of the Other (non-English), which traditionally defines the Gothic, but about how the popularity of the genre affects those within the United Kingdom, causing its inhabitants to commit actions that are near as terrible as those that they read about! The central conflict that arises in this story is that of the attractiveness of naivety and impressionability, and how to determine who amongst those that are drawn to it are true or false friends. We see this lovely, naïve heroine exposed to this variety of new things and those that appear to be such fierce friends at the beginning turn out to subject to her to some really nasty treatment. 

A running social commentary on the influence of literature, the defining features of the Gothic, and even the literary structure of the book itself as a work of fiction gives Northanger Abbey its refreshing and out there edge. This delicious humour shines through in Austen’s intertextuality (her constantly referring to Ann Radcliffe’s gothic works) and her metafictive comments on her own work (what can be read as the fourth-wall-break by directly acknowledging the book’s status as fictional literature). The entire thing reads with this biting attitude that’s just fabulous to lap up in quick succession. 

Whilst in certain parts the writing can become overdrawn and a little challenging, the overall reading experience of this book is one of immense delight as it snidely accuses its own characters of being just as evil and horrible as the characters they read about and abhor. Whilst there are no murders, torture, or hidden rooms in the abbey, the horrors that take place are still very real, just elevated to the sophisticated level of civilised English society. And it’s really very tasteful and very funny. 

Filled with drama, horror, romance, misunderstandings, mistreatments, and much sophisticated comedy, Northanger Abbey is a wonderful book that really crackles with wit, hypocrisy, and delicious irony. I adored it!