All good things come to an end. Reviewing Northanger Abbey finalizes my happy stint as the chair of the Jane Austen Book Club.
While Northanger Abbey was Jane Austen’s first completed novel in 1803, it was only published posthumously together with Persuasion in 1817.
The book follows 12 months in the life of 17-year-old Miss Catharine Morland who lives in a happy family with comfortable means (her father is a country clergyman). Catharine is naive as befits young ladies of her age. She likes reading (heyyy!); her favourites are Gothic horror books, such as Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe – which is a real book. Somebody please review it!
There is a narrator that comments humorously and even bitingly. It is clearly the voice of a young writer named Jane Austen.
To get the party starting, Catherine is invited to Bath (again this very town!) by the Allens who are friends and neighbours of the family. Bath is obviously exciting and entertaining to young and inexperienced Catharine. Mrs Allen, her chaperone, is not stimulating company; luckily, though, they run into her old friend Mrs Thorpe. And through her Catherine is introduced to her children, Isabella and John Thorpe. The latter is a friend of Catharine’s older brother at Oxford. Isabella and Catherine take a liking to each other. Now the party starts (ie, the social life commences) for Catherine; she is also introduced to the Tilneys: Henry, Eleanor and Frederick, as well their father, the stern General Tilney, owner of Northanger Abbey.
The Thorpe siblings turn out to be baddies (as far as there are such persons in Jane Austen’s world). Henry and Eleanor Tilney are their opposites.
At some point Henry and Eleanor invite Catherine to Northanger Abbey. As the name implies, it is an old abbey with old abbey vibes: gothic and spooky; damp and cold; dark and sooty; full of empty rooms and corners. In fact, everything a young girl with a penchant for gothic novels and having an active imagination would love to explore.
The visit starts the gothic horror section which is relative short respite in the middle of the book. A literary middle eight if you like. Catherine is affected greatly by the milieu and the death of Mrs Tilney which she finds mysterious.
Yet it is so funny! Somehow I can see with my own eyes the folks at Infocom (the creators of the greatest interactive fiction in the early 1980s) giving it a go in an alternative universe:
>CLIMB STAIRS You and Miss Tilney ascend a broad staircase of shining oak, which after many flights and landing-places, brings you upon a long, wide gallery. On one side it has a range of doors, and on the other windows providing lighting. You can see a chamber door. >EXAMINE CHAMBER DOOR It is closed. Miss Tilney opens the door and enters the chamber. >ENTER CHAMBER You follow Ms Tilney to a large chamber which is not as gloomy as you were expecting to believe based on Mr Tilney's description. The bed is in the east wall. There is a window on the north wall. There is an enormous chest by the fireplace. There is also a high, old-fashioned black cabinet by the west wall. You see Miss Tilney in the middle of the room. She turns to you and says 'I will leave to prepare for the dinner. Please make as little alterations to your dress, if any! Here, I leave you with a candle.' Miss Tilney puts the candle on the table before leaving the chamber. She closes the chamber door with a lound clank. Her footsteps echo for a while. Then it is silent. Dead silent. >EXAMINE CABINET It is a large ebony cabinet. >EXAMINE CHEST A heavy chest lies by the fireplace. It is made from cedar and inlaid with some darker wood. It has a silver lock. >EXAMINE LOCK The silver lock is tarnished from age; at each end were the imperfect remains of handles also of silver, broken prematurely by some strange violence. On the centre of the lid is a mysterious cipher, in the same metal. >EXAMINE CIPHRE Ciphre: not found. >EXAMINE CIPHER You bent over the lid intently. In the relatively dim light you can only make out the last letter which is T. >OPEN LOCK Which lock, the cabinet lock or the silver lock? >OPEN SILVER LOCK With trembling hands you seize the hasp of the lock and start to open the lid but suddenly there is violent knocking on the door. You let go of the lid with a loud thud. A maid open the chamber door and enters. 'Good evening, Miss. I'm here to be of your assistance.'
The adventure practically writes itself! Incidentally, there is one classic Infocom adventure in the romance genre called Plundered Hearts by Amy Briggs (https://if50.substack.com/p/1987-plundered-hearts).
Quickly, Catherine is evicted from Northanger Abbey by General Tilney due to subterfuge of John Thorpe. He is nasty. The misunderstanding is later cleared and the normal flow and wish fulfillment of a Jane Austen novel is resumed. You know what I mean.
On Codas
In every Jane Austen book the final chapter wraps the story up. Sometimes quite extensively as often there is a potential book or two to be expanded. That reminds of another classic small snippet of dialogue from a movie far, far away from Jane Austen:
– You fought in the Clone Wars?
– Yes, I was once a Jedi Knight, the same as your father.
I don’t know how common it used to be. I should be reading more classic novels. Maybe I will!
SUMMARY, or Why I love Jane Austen
So. Northanger Abbey was the sixth and final Jane Austen book to be reviewed. It has been a pleasure to read all six books. My ranking is as follows:
1. Pride and Prejudice. There is really no contest here. We love our heroines that have agency and are witty. Mr Darcy is not that bad once you get to know him. Moreover, me and missus’s story mirrors Liz and Darcy’s story, except that I make more than 10,000 a year; then again, missus makes even more.)
2. Sense and Sensibility. How Elinor observes, hides pain, keeps her family intact and slowly guides them towards a better future! The #2 position despite Edward Ferrars the bloody useless tosser.
3. Persuasion. It is nice to see a ‘mature’ (27…) heroine. The you-know-what letter is fabulous, but I would have like to have more drama before and after it. The book depicts working class people as active and intelligent which is a definitely plus.
4. Mansfield Park. Fanny Price is pure, so pure. It takes too long for her to finally gain agency because she is so pure. I have to say – most ardently – that I like Miss Mary Crawford the independent and modern thinker a lot even if Jane Austen clearly did not.
5. Northanger Abbey. It is an early work needing a rewrite. The Gothic middle part is refreshing. Love that Catherine’s family is normal and loving (just think of the fathers in Persuasion and Emma, or Mrs Bennett in Pride and Prejudice).
6. Emma. She experiences very little character growth; her destined husband, Mr Knightl*y (name obscured as not to spoil anything), is irritatingly correct all the time. And he’s been in love with Emma since she was 13 and he 29. That does not sound as romantic any more. But the major drag is the middle part which never seems to end. Movies, such as Clueless or the latest Emma. (with a dot, but why?) manage to tighten the plot considerably.
I finalized this chapter in my life by rewatching The Jane Austen Book Club (2007). Recommended!
