Claire and I missed the last discussion of our Notting Hill Napoleon’s series and, from what we’ve heard; our presence would have represented a reaction to Northanger Abbey much different from the norm. In short, we liked it! I liked it even more than Claire, finding it a charming, kind-hearted satire directed at the novels of Miss Austen’s day, including those she herself wrote.
Perhaps it was such a pleasant diversion for me because of its contrast with my other reading of late. Yes, I had been through my umpteenth re-reading of James Thurber’s My Life and Hard Times in recent days, but mostly it’s been sermon preparation, slogging through some stuff on N.T. Wright and the "New Perspective" on Saint Paul in order to converse more profitably with Dana Hall out in Colorado; the John Ciardi translation of Purgatorio, and a couple of Civil War books – both the subject of earlier posts here at The Book Den.
Whatever the background to my enjoyment, though, I delighted in Northanger Abbey’s playful spirit, fast pace (only a few times in the 165 pages did I become a little impatient), fine use of language, and the tender teasing she gave the genres of romance, thriller and historical novels. Regarding this last element, Claire and I (and I believe several of the Napoleons) were motivated to search out and read those novels Austen most clearly targeted: The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Romance of the Forest by Ann Radcliffe, The Monk by Matthew Lewis, Camilla by Fanny Burney, and The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole. That any work provides motivation for additional reading is always a strong point in its favor.
Northanger Abbey was also an eminently quotable novel, surprisingly so for its brevity and modest purpose. I list here just a few of my favorites:
“She grew clean as she grew smart.”
“Provided they were all story and no reflection, she had never any objection to books at all.”
Through all of her satirical whimsy in the novel, Austen describes the form itself as a “work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest emotions of wit and humor are conveyed to the world in the best chosen landscape.” Nice.
“Dress is at all times a frivolous distinction, and excessive solicitude about it often destroys its own aim.”
“She would gladly be spared a contest, where victory itself was painful.”
On history – “ The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars or pestilences, in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all – it is very tiresome: and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches that are put into the heroes’ mouths, their thoughts and designs – the chief of all this must be invention, and invention is what delights me in other books.”
“Her eloquence was only in her eyes. From them however the eight parts of speech shone out most expressively.”
“After all that romancers may say, there is no doing without money.”
“So much the better. You have gained a new source of enjoyment, and it is well to have as many holds upon happiness as possible.”
“Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them?”
“You have had a long run of amusement, and now you must try to be useful.”
And finally, last but not least among my delights of Northanger Abbey were the lengthy passages in which Henry frighteningly foreshadows the Abbey along with those in which Catherine’s romanticism takes her over the top when she actually gets there. As they say in the commercials – priceless!
Northanger Abbey was a quick read and certainly of a different character than those of my favorite novels. But for what it attempted to be, it was a true success. And, as such, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
