Northanger Abbey

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. It was completed in 1803, the first of Austen’s novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her.

    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 (although 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 humor" includes several major themes that are specific to this text.

    Austen initially sold the novel, then titled Susan, for £10 to a London bookseller, Crosby & Co. in 1803. This publisher did not print the work but held on to the manuscript. Austen reportedly threatened to take her work back from them, but Crosby & Co responded that she would face legal consequences for reclaiming her text. In the spring of 1816, the bookseller sold it back to the novelist’s brother, Henry Austen, for the same sum as they had paid for it. There is evidence that Austen further revised the novel in 1816-1817 with the intention of having it published. She rewrote sections, renaming the main character Catherine and using that as her working title.

    After her death, Austen’s brother Henry gave the novel its final name and arranged for publication of Northanger Abbey in late December 1817 (1818 given on the title page), as the first two volumes of a four-volume set, with a preface for the first time publicly identifying Jane Austen as the author of all her novels. Neither Northanger Abbey nor Persuasion was published under the working title Jane Austen used. Aside from first being published together, the two novels are not connected; later editions were published separately.

This novel is rather refreshing simply because it does not incorporate common motifs or tropes characteristic of the literature of its time, and in fact, actually tries very hard to poke harmless fun at them and avoid them at all costs. The heroine of the novel is plain and unimpressive, which made me interested in her life choices even more, because us average people also have hopes and dreams, do we not? But if you're worried this novel is not Jane Austen-esque enough for you, think again, because if you enjoy her other novels this one will also end up on your library's shelf.