Northanger Abbey - Book group discussion thread

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Columba Aug 2019 6:32pm, 17 Aug 2019 18,377 posts	0 Columba Agreed, much better on a second and possibly even third and fourth reading. Though good even on the first. The General is a martinet, keeps his servants and his children on the hop. And they are of course financially dependent on him; Henry is able to defy him eventually because he has an independent income. Poor Eleanor would have been in dire straits if a convenient husband hadn't come along for her. JA doesn't necessarily spell it out, but he is a domestic tyrant.
Little Nemo Aug 2019 4:52pm, 18 Aug 2019 9,541 posts	0 Little Nemo Those are all good points, Columba. I forget how difficult it can be to stand up to or defy the head of a household when you're dependent on them. I suppose she's pointing out that you don't need to be a out-and-out villain to have a horrible effect on people's lives.
Peregrinator Aug 2019 5:20pm, 18 Aug 2019 61 posts	0 Peregrinator Just confessed to SO that NA is the first JA I have read. She is horrified.
Columba Aug 2019 11:28am, 19 Aug 2019 18,385 posts	0 Columba First of many, perhaps, Peregrinator?
Peregrinator Aug 2019 7:58am, 20 Aug 2019 69 posts	0 Peregrinator JA for breakfast, lunch and tea, Columba😀
The Scribbler Aug 2019 8:59am, 20 Aug 2019 4,466 posts	0 The Scribbler I'm an English Lit graduate and an Austen fan, so somewhere in my dim and distant past I have read some of the gothic novels that NA is a pastiche of. Sadly I don't remember much about them other than that they were pretty hard work to read and I thought they were all a bit silly. To answer PG's question from a couple of pages back, I think Catherine is a pretty bland character because JA was learning her craft and trying to write a sympathetic but realistic heroine. As she matures she creates much more 3 dimensional characters
Night-owl Sep 2019 11:16am, 3 Sep 2019 33,027 posts	0 Night-owl I read it. This is not my genre I do admit can't remember at school what classics we read. I'm sure we must have done some. Anyway I tried to read it. But couldn't get into it I wanted to. I needed some help so I got an audio book. Maybe cheating. But I did read along as it was spoken. First one i started it was spoken very slow found a dramatic version spoken slightly quicker. Anyway I did like it. I understand that as this was her first book written there wasn't much excitement. But it hasn't put me off.
McGoohan Sep 2019 8:14pm, 4 Sep 2019 41,034 posts	0 McGoohan I have concluded my perusal of Miss Austen's tome and shall retire to the withdrawing room to peregrinate upon my judgement.
McGoohan Sep 2019 8:28am, 5 Sep 2019 41,037 posts	0 McGoohan I was slightly missold this novel. I thought - and it is alleged on the back - that this is a satire on gothic novels. And it is, in part, but only in a very small part. The section where Catherine's Udolpho-style fears take over is a chapter and a half long at most. What surprised me most is that there is so much set up. The whole of Book One is set during Catherine's season at Bath. This isn't a bad thing: we get to see the way her mind works, always looking for intrigues and indulging in disastrous thinking: 'Why haven't I heard from X? They must hate me!' That sort of thing. Northanger Abbey itself isn't even mentioned until Book Two and she doesn't get there for five chapters. I had expected the whole thing would be more of a satire on the style of the gothic. Instead it's more of a satire on books in general - and the difference between them and real life, as well as a gentle critique of the petty intrigues and politics of middle-class society. Catherine as a character is a bit of a blank slate but as Sharkie has pointed out, she's only 17 at the novel's start. One of the great strengths of this book is as a prime example of 'Show Don't Tell'. As the story is narrated from Catherine's POV, we have to read for ourselves, for example, Isabella's true rather unpleasant character. Another strength is that it 'knows' it's a novel. I like Austen's asides: about the mother rather unconventionally not dying as might be expected in a book. Right at the end, she says that the rules of composition prevent her introducing a new character at this stage. Now I know how it turns out and to expect less gothic and a more general satire of an age, I think I might score it more highly. As it is, I've given it a 7. And I've used the word 'satire' far too many times above. Another couple of times into a mirror and Candyman will come out.
Diogenes Sep 2019 8:30am, 5 Sep 2019 39,934 posts	0 Diogenes That's an excellent review, McG, and how I remember the book, and Austen's playfulness. I like that sort of thing.