Northanger Abbey - More Than Gothic

"The luxury of a...frightened imagination over the pages of Udolpho"
http://www.mollands.net/etexts/northangerabbey/naillus.html

"And are you prepared to encounter all the horrors that a building such as 'what one reads about' may produce? -- Have you a stout heart? -- Nerves fit for sliding pannels and tapestry?" 

Northanger Abbey chapter 20

Event:       JASNA CWNY January Meeting

Topic:       Northanger Abbey discussion led by Celia Easton

When:       Saturday January 19, 2019 at 1 pm
Where:      Pittsford Barnes and Noble, Community Room

We will have registrations available for our February meeting

The History of Chocolate (with samples)

More on that later. For now the registration form can also be found by clicking below

February Meeting Registration Form

This is the year of Northanger Abbey. Although Northanger Abbey was originally published along with Persuasion in 1818, JASNA has made the novel the theme for the 2019 AGM in Williamsburg, VA. So, we begin our year with a discussion of Northanger Abbey led by Celia Easton. Bring along your thoughts and opinions about Northanger Abbey and chime in, or, if you prefer, just enjoy listening to “the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation”.

Northanger Abbey is most often interpreted as Jane Austen’s dissection of the Gothic novel. Catherine Morland’s fascination with gothic novels forms the backbone of the novel. It’s a fascination that leads her into plenty of trouble at Northanger Abbey.

However, one may ask, is there anything more to this novel? As with all of Jane Austen’s novels, the answer is yes. In her paper “Northanger Abbey: Money in the Bank” [1] Sheryl Craig interprets the novel in terms of the 1797 Restriction Act. The Restriction Act basically severed the connection between paper money and the gold that was supposed to provide the value behind paper money. Sheryl writes

“…the 1797 Restriction Act, [was] an event that had an economic impact upon everyone living in Britain at the time as it called into question the value of paper money, the reliability of the Bank of England, and the honesty of the British government.”

Viewed this way, Northanger Abbey is a story about truth, honesty, and reliability.

Celia Easton in “Jane Austen and the Enclosure Movement: The Sense and Sensibility of Land Reform”[2] takes on the issue of enclosure in Jane Austen’s novels. She points out that the issue of land enclosure turns up in many of Jane Austen’s novels. Celia writes,

“Northanger Abbey’s “kitchen garden” is walled, and includes numerous hot houses. Catherine believed “a whole parish to be at work within the inclosure”… Catherine’s immediate view romanticizes farm work: …The enclosed kitchen garden may be blissfully viewed with no evocation of the losses enclosure effected in rural villages. “

As always with Jane Austen’s novels, Northanger Abbey is about many things: economics, land use, and, of course, Laurentina's skeleton.

What do you find most interesting in Northanger Abbey? Is Henry Tilney your favorite Austen hero? Please do come and join us for a discussion of Northanger Abbey. We will keep the skeletons in the closet.

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[1] Sheryl Craig, "Northanger Abbey: Money in the Bank", Persuasions, 32, p. 144, 2010.

[2] Celia Easton, "Jane Austen and the Enclosure Movement: The Sense and Sensibility of Land Reform", Persuasions, 24, p 71, 2002.