Northanger Abbey

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(Wiki)
Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox‘s The Female Quixote (1752). Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, but not published until after Austen’s death in 1817. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination. In the story, Catherine is one of ten children of a country clergyman. Although a tomboy in her childhood, by the age of 17 she is “in training for a heroine” and is fond of reading Gothic novels, “provided they were all story and no reflection”.

As in all of Austen’s novels, the subjects of society, status, behavior, and morality are addressed. Northanger Abbey, however, being chronologically the first novel completed by Austen (though revised later in her life), and notably considered a “point of departure” from her other work as a result of the “boldness with which it flaunts its . . . deceptive air of simplicity with broad, bold humour”.

Northanger Abbey & Persuasion were published together in December of 1817, six months after the death of Jane Austen. They were the first of her works to be published under her name.

Author: Austen, Jane
Date Published: December 1817
Publisher: John Murray
Illustrator: N/A (1st ed.)
Public Domain: YES