This has always been my favorite Austen novel and I think you've now articulated why! This is a fantastic reading of her work.
I mean, give me P&P any day I've got time for a read or any of the film versions. But Northanger Abbey always felt special to me...something rogue and powerful...something so experimental and brave.
Thanks, Kate! While it’s not my favorite Austen novel, it may be my favorite to teach, for the reasons that you mention. Also, it’s so self-aware of its form; I teach it in my unit on the “rise of the novel,” and it’s the perfect book to provoke discussion about what the novel actually is.
I very much enjoyed this. I read Northanger Abbey ages ago, and have recently taken it up again. Yesterday I reached Chapter 5 by a strange coincidence, and I was delighted by her asides about novels. Your essay has thrown more light on it and given it a wider context for me, so thanks!
Austen's break from the narrative reminds me of more contemporary examples, such as the dramatic asides in House of Cards. Here's a tidbit from Cather lore to vindicate Austen, as well. Copies of Cather's novels "O Pioneers!" and "My Ántonia" were made into pocket sized editions for American soldiers in WWI. For many a Midwestern lad, those novels were warm reminders of home.
John, I'll start by saying I love this essay and that I've often asserted that Austen remains one of our great moral philosophers. On a perhaps lighter note, and to indicate how she's infused my life, You may remember that Austen get a misognynist shoutout (not by me) in this chapter of the memoir https://marytabor.substack.com/p/bliss-chapter-10 -- right before the super recipe for roast chicken 🐓 💝.
This has always been my favorite Austen novel and I think you've now articulated why! This is a fantastic reading of her work.
I mean, give me P&P any day I've got time for a read or any of the film versions. But Northanger Abbey always felt special to me...something rogue and powerful...something so experimental and brave.
Thanks, Kate! While it’s not my favorite Austen novel, it may be my favorite to teach, for the reasons that you mention. Also, it’s so self-aware of its form; I teach it in my unit on the “rise of the novel,” and it’s the perfect book to provoke discussion about what the novel actually is.
I very much enjoyed this. I read Northanger Abbey ages ago, and have recently taken it up again. Yesterday I reached Chapter 5 by a strange coincidence, and I was delighted by her asides about novels. Your essay has thrown more light on it and given it a wider context for me, so thanks!
Thanks, Terry! Glad you enjoyed it.
Austen's break from the narrative reminds me of more contemporary examples, such as the dramatic asides in House of Cards. Here's a tidbit from Cather lore to vindicate Austen, as well. Copies of Cather's novels "O Pioneers!" and "My Ántonia" were made into pocket sized editions for American soldiers in WWI. For many a Midwestern lad, those novels were warm reminders of home.
https://guides.loc.gov/armed-services-editions-collection/about-the-collection
https://cather.unl.edu/scholarship/catherstudies/6/cs006.chinery
Love that--the novel is the great democratic form, at least through the nineteenth and much of the twentieth centuries.
John, I'll start by saying I love this essay and that I've often asserted that Austen remains one of our great moral philosophers. On a perhaps lighter note, and to indicate how she's infused my life, You may remember that Austen get a misognynist shoutout (not by me) in this chapter of the memoir https://marytabor.substack.com/p/bliss-chapter-10 -- right before the super recipe for roast chicken 🐓 💝.
The whole texture of the book with nuances of an old age in the pages are just giving out a warm feeling. I love it ✨