Northanger Abbey
$12.99
- Paperback
240 pages
- Release Date
1 September 1985
Summary
The earliest of her six major novels, Northanger Abbey remained unpublished until after Jane Austen’s death. A deliciously witty satire of popular Gothic romances, it is perhaps Austen’s lightest, most delightful excursion into a young woman’s world. Catherine Morland, an unlikely heroine—unlikely because she is so ordinary—forsakes her English village for the pleasures and perils of Bath. There, among a circle of Austen’s wonderfully vain, dissembling, and fashionable characters, she meets a potential suitor, Henry Tilney. But with her imagination fueled by melodramatic novels, Catherine turns a visit to his home, Northanger Abbey, into a hunt for dark family secrets. The result is a series of hilarious social gaffes and harsh awakenings that, for all of Austen’s youthful exuberance, nevertheless conveys her mature vision of literature and life—and the consequences of mistaking one for the other.
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780553211979 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 0553211978 |
| Author: | Jane Austen |
| Publisher: | Random House USA Inc |
| Imprint: | Bantam Classics |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 240 |
| Release Date: | 1 September 1985 |
| Weight: | 136g |
| Dimensions: | 14mm x 106mm x 171mm |
| Series: | Bantam Classic |
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Critics Review
“Jane Austen is the Rosetta stone of literature.” -Anna Quindlen From the Trade Paperback edition.
“Jane Austen is the Rosetta stone of literature.” —Anna Quindlen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen, born on December 16, 1775, was the seventh child of the rector of Steventon, Hampshire. Primarily educated at home, she began writing sketches and satires for her family’s amusement at a young age. As a clergyman’s daughter from a well-connected family, she had ample opportunity to observe the social customs of the middle class, gentry, and aristocracy.
In her early twenties, Austen began writing a novel titled “The First Impressions,” which would later become Pride and Prejudice. In 1801, her family relocated to the fashionable resort of Bath. Two years later, she sold the initial version of Northanger Abbey to a London publisher. However, her first published novel was Sense and Sensibility, released at her own expense in 1811. This was followed by Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814), and Emma (1815).
Following her father’s death in 1805, the family moved to Southampton and subsequently to Chawton Cottage in Hampshire. Despite this more private life, Austen maintained connections with the wider world through her brothers, who pursued successful careers as a country gentleman, a London banker, and naval officers. Although her novels were published anonymously, she garnered a devoted readership, including the Prince Regent and Sir Walter Scott.
In 1816, her health declining, Austen wrote Persuasion and revised Northanger Abbey. Her final work, Sandition, remained unfinished at her death on July 18, 1817. She was buried in Winchester Cathedral. Austen’s authorship was publicly revealed posthumously by her brother Henry, who oversaw the publication of Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in 1818.
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