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verosnotebook 's review for:
Northanger Abbey
by Jane Austen
“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.”
For some reason Nothanger Abbey is often undervalued, readers flocking to [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351l/1885._SY75_.jpg|3060926] for the characters and romance or [b:Emma|6969|Emma|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373627931l/6969._SY75_.jpg|3360164] as an example of the author’s writing mastery, but Austen’s first penned novel has much to recommend it. It’s a comedy, a coming-of-age, a satire, a novel that is at the same time Gothic and one that parodies it, but ultimately, it is SO MUCH FUN! I smiled the whole time, at Catherine’s naïvety and imagination, at the Thorpes’ penchant for hyperbole, exclamations and false statements, at Tilney’s playful nature...
From the very first page, the narrator’s voice is, as is the case with Austen, full of irony but also humour here, toying with the reader’s expectations, especially those of the Gothic and Sentimental genres. For instance, Austen mirrors the structure of Radcliffe’s stories, while satirising it to great effect, by focusing on a young heroine entering the social world, but one that has to learn how to ‘read’ people while restraining her imagination, nurtured from avidly reading gothic fiction.
In the midst of this, the author plays with other assumptions, such as gender (Eleanor reads History, Henry knows about fashion, and Catherine doesn’t keep a journal), and even takes time to defend the Novel:
“It is only a novel... or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”
What else? I love the way Austen allows the reader to judge characters through what they said and how they said it. Take Isabella - although her thoughts are never supplied, she betrays herself through her speech.
Henry Tilney is so colourful, much more than Edmund in [b:Mansfield Park|45032|Mansfield Park|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397063295l/45032._SY75_.jpg|2722329] for instance. His playful countenance is charming, and makes me think of a young man who is confident in a quiet manner. He can well see that Catherine is very young and inexperienced, but under this has a kind and loyal nature, and he falls for that. I guess their romance seems less powerful than Elizabeth and Darcy's, but I imagine Catherine growing into her own with Tilney, the couple becoming equals in their shared loved of literature :O)
For some reason Nothanger Abbey is often undervalued, readers flocking to [b:Pride and Prejudice|1885|Pride and Prejudice|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1320399351l/1885._SY75_.jpg|3060926] for the characters and romance or [b:Emma|6969|Emma|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1373627931l/6969._SY75_.jpg|3360164] as an example of the author’s writing mastery, but Austen’s first penned novel has much to recommend it. It’s a comedy, a coming-of-age, a satire, a novel that is at the same time Gothic and one that parodies it, but ultimately, it is SO MUCH FUN! I smiled the whole time, at Catherine’s naïvety and imagination, at the Thorpes’ penchant for hyperbole, exclamations and false statements, at Tilney’s playful nature...
From the very first page, the narrator’s voice is, as is the case with Austen, full of irony but also humour here, toying with the reader’s expectations, especially those of the Gothic and Sentimental genres. For instance, Austen mirrors the structure of Radcliffe’s stories, while satirising it to great effect, by focusing on a young heroine entering the social world, but one that has to learn how to ‘read’ people while restraining her imagination, nurtured from avidly reading gothic fiction.
In the midst of this, the author plays with other assumptions, such as gender (Eleanor reads History, Henry knows about fashion, and Catherine doesn’t keep a journal), and even takes time to defend the Novel:
“It is only a novel... or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language.”
What else? I love the way Austen allows the reader to judge characters through what they said and how they said it. Take Isabella - although her thoughts are never supplied, she betrays herself through her speech
Spoiler
despite giving the impression of adoring James with her passionate outbursts, she is in fact focusing on herself, and is only motivated by material wealth and social positionHenry Tilney is so colourful, much more than Edmund in [b:Mansfield Park|45032|Mansfield Park|Jane Austen|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1397063295l/45032._SY75_.jpg|2722329] for instance. His playful countenance is charming, and makes me think of a young man who is confident in a quiet manner. He can well see that Catherine is very young and inexperienced, but under this has a kind and loyal nature, and he falls for that. I guess their romance seems less powerful than Elizabeth and Darcy's, but I imagine Catherine growing into her own with Tilney, the couple becoming equals in their shared loved of literature :O)