Young Writers Society

Alright, I just finished reading Northanger Abbey one of Jane Austen's lesser known novels (and possibly her first, although it was published posthumously). At first, it seems to be the story of a typical social climber, but delve deeper into it, and yes, the elements are still there, but you also realize that there is more to it.

Such as the way Austen forces a heroic title onto Catherine Morland, the protagonist, throughout the story. Suddenly, a frivolous time on vacation in Bath becomes the hero's journey of a young girl entering the world and learning about its evils for the first time. Catherine begins the story seeming like a twelve year old girl, and ends seeming like a young lady just into her twenties, even though the entire span of the book is less than a year.

The heroic aspect is what really interested me, though; it spoke to the power of suggestion and the influence that the author has over his/her readers. I probably wouldn't have pegged Catherine as a heroine had Austen not referred to her as such throughout the book. What surprised me most about this technique was that it didn't bother me. It seemed more like a teacher asking a discussion question than a teacher telling you how to think about a passage in a book: this is the direction you should be going in; what do you think?

As there is no reference to this book anywhere on YWS, of course I had to start a discussion about it! Has anyone else read it? What did you think?

I have not read Northanger Abbey however it is in my house......(Some cupboard or box in my room.......) as my sister has read it.

I'll see if I can find it.......

Alainna
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I haven't quite gotten through this book completely yet, but it's so good:) I love Mr Tilney. He's quite witty more often than not. I watched two different movies of Northanger Abbey before starting the book, and they were both terrible. They portrayed him terribly! You couldn't tell he wasn't completely serious, and he just was not the ever so likable character he is in the book. He makes this book. Without him... well, that's why he's there. Because Jane Austen is not capable of writing anything that is not more spectacular than half or more of the books out there. Sometimes her heroine gets to be a little obnoxious, but it's bearable as long as Tilney is around:) And it's not by any fault of Austen's that she's like that. She did it on purpose. And that makes it even better, knowing that this is how it's supposed to be. I love Jane Austen's style.
Definately worth the read. And in any case, it's one of those books that you just have to read.
I love Jane Austen, and Pride and Prejudice is her crowning work, of course, so:P


*adna*

I don't know if I can agree with you there...Pride and Prejudice is certainly her most famous work, but I don't think it's her best. In my opinion, it's the least realistic of all her works, and part of the reason that I adore Austen's writing is how realistic some of the situations in the novels are.

Northanger Abbey is probably one of my favorites, but between all her books (this is actually a very hard decision: all her novels are magnificent), I'd say that Sense and Sensibility wins.

I rented Northanger Abbey from the library, and at first I thought Mr. Tilney was going to be like Willoughby or Wickham, because he was so pleasant. So I was very surprised when he didn't turn out to be one!!

Mr. Tilney needs a hug.



That said. Northanger Abbey pleasantly surprised me when I read it and I loved the addition of Gothic Romance a la Jane Eyre that wound its way into the pages.

Leja wrote:Catherine begins the story seeming like a twelve year old girl, and ends seeming like a young lady just into her twenties, even though the entire span of the book is less than a year.

I, so, thought the same. I really liked how the movement of seemed age was so subtle or at least, at the end I was like--how did that happen?

Leja wrote:The heroic aspect is what really interested me, though; it spoke to the power of suggestion and the influence that the author has over his/her readers. I probably wouldn't have pegged Catherine as a heroine had Austen not referred to her as such throughout the book. What surprised me most about this technique was that it didn't bother me. It seemed more like a teacher asking a discussion question than a teacher telling you how to think about a passage in a book: this is the direction you should be going in; what do you think?

I agree with you on both the heroine issue and the technique. I think one of the reasons Austen may have used the technique was because during the time she was writing there was a this idea that was coming into vogue: letting your readers decide their own response rather then telling them how to respond. Okay, that was a really crappy way of putting it, but my brain seems to have left me for a bit.

As far as characters go, John Thorpe really got my dander up, and Mr. Allen, O M G, its Mr. Bennett less the insane wife and daughters.

Last weekend, I watched the new PBS version of Northanger Abbey, and it was awesome. I have been most pleased with these new PBS Austen adaptations, for one, they mirror the feeling I get out of the books to a T. I pretty much adored all the acting, and plus oogling over JJ Feild who was a perfect Mr. Tilney was great fun. And, Catherine's imagination come to life was a hoot.

(It really doesn't help that when I took the Who is your Jane Austen Leading Man Quiz on the PBS website at the top was Henry Tilney.)

Henry Tilney = love in my book. Dude the man knows his muslin.

Ta,
Cal.

Caligula's Launderette wrote:Last weekend, I watched the new PBS version of Northanger Abbey, and it was awesome. I have been most pleased with these new PBS Austen adaptations, for one, they mirror the feeling I get out of the books to a T. I pretty much adored all the acting, and plus oogling over JJ Feild who was a perfect Mr. Tilney was great fun. And, Catherine's imagination come to life was a hoot.

Ooh, I agree entirely The PBS versions are really well done because when I was reading, I had no idea what Bath, England or "the pump room" and whatnot looked like. For some reason, I saw the pump room was more of a grand room where all the water pipes were stored? Which doesn't make any sense at all, since that's where they'd go to socialise.

I found all the double roles so confusing. The Tilneys and the Thorpes all seemed to mix together in the beginning, since there was a brother and a sister in each; naming them with the same letter didn't help either! Especially since the Thorpes seemed good in the beginning too. I think this was actually the low point of the book, the confusion between characters.