Northanger Abbey (Modern Library Classics) - Jane Austen

Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber

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Jane Austen’s first novel, Northanger Abbey—published posthumously in 1818—tells the story of Catherine Morland and her dangerously sweet nature, innocence, and sometime self-delusion. Though Austen’s fallible heroine is repeatedly drawn into scrapes while vacationing at Bath and during her subsequent visit to Northanger Abbey, Catherine eventually triumphs, blossoming into a discerning woman who learns truths about love, life, and the heady power of literature. The satirical Northanger Abbey pokes fun at the gothic novel while earnestly emphasizing caution to the female sex.

This Modern Library Paperback Classic is set from the first edition of 1818.

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Catherine Morland, a "passably pretty" 17-year-old girl, is invited to Northanger Abbey, the estate of a family friend who lives in Bath. Catherine is a typically uncultivated girl tho dislikes being restricted, experiences difficulty with cleanliness, and would rather play cricket with her brothers. She lives with her father who is a clergyman and her mother who is a competent, unemotional wife. When Catherine arrives at Northanger Abbey she meets General Tilney, master of the estate, and his son Henry. Henry almost immediately begins to tease her and question her, but he is charming with an imperturbable common sense which is more welcome than any pretensions of a Gothic hero. Catherine who reads Gothic romance novels feels a sense of drama when shown around the palatial residence. There are padlocked doors, mysterious passageways, cryptic messages, unfinished stories that excite her adolescent sense of alienation. But Henry notices her willingness to be titillated by such occurrences and reminds her that civility makes it possible for people to live together and be happy with a prospect for social consensus. Theatricality gives way to wonderful realism, and Catherine is introduced to this new authentic world. She is shown the difference between helpful arrangements which permit individuals to think and feel for themselves and unhelpful ones which advocate a lifestyle that avoids thinking and feeling. She also sees how people can make a mockery of distinction and value the visible signs of social success: fine clothing, carriages, and fashionable marriages. Catherine refuses to interfere with everyone's business and admits when she is at fault. Her unselfish spirit makes her thankful for this great education and the teachers that have made her evolution into womanhood possible.

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Jane Austen

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