Northanger Abbey

English language

Published April 27, 2003

ISBN:
978-0-14-143979-2
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(5 reviews)

Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel and a satire of Gothic novels written by Jane Austen. Austen was also influenced by Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote (1752). Northanger Abbey was completed in 1803, the first of Austen's novels completed in full, but was published posthumously in 1817 with Persuasion. The story concerns Catherine Morland, the naïve young protagonist, and her journey to a better understanding of herself and of the world around her. How Catherine views the world has been distorted by her fondness for Gothic novels and an active imagination.

11 editions

Zwischen Romanfantasie und Wirklichkeit – Mein vergnüglicher Aufenthalt in Jane Austens Northanger Abbey

Als ich Northanger Abbey las, hatte ich das Gefühl, eine liebevolle Parodie zu betreten – ein Augenzwinkern an alle, die sich schon einmal von Büchern in fremde Welten entführen ließen. Die junge Catherine Morland, unschuldig, lebhaft und mit einem Kopf voller Schauerromane, ist eine Heldin, die mir sofort ans Herz gewachsen ist.

Austen begleitet Catherine von ihrem beschaulichen Heimatdorf ins gesellschaftliche Treiben von Bath. Ich konnte fast das Murmeln in den Ballsälen hören, das Rascheln der Kleider spüren. Catherine begegnet neuen Freunden, darunter der charmante Henry Tilney, und wird schließlich eingeladen, seine Familie in deren Landsitz Northanger Abbey zu besuchen.

Hier beginnt die eigentliche Komödie: Catherines Fantasie, gefüttert von Gothic Novels, verwandelt das alte Haus in eine Bühne für Geheimnisse und Gefahren, die es gar nicht gibt. Ich habe mich köstlich amüsiert – und zugleich gespürt, wie Austen die Grenzen zwischen Einbildung und Realität mit feiner Ironie auslotet.

Was mich …

Pleasant, but not entirely satisfying.

Maybe 3.5 stars. While Austen has a facility with the language, and an excellent ability to convey a convincing character, there are too many authorial issues which intrude for my tastes. I am not a fan of the author's frequent breaches of the fourth wall, though I recognize that authorial interjection was much more prevalent in previous times. I also feel that the overall novel is a bit of a mash-up, combining merely another of Austen's tales of romance and socio-economic standing with her supposed satirical take on the atmosphere-heavy Gothic novels of the period. The latter seems a bit too wedged into the former, with the titular Abbey itself not even appearing until two-thirds into the novel. Catherine's melodramatic predictions and fears may be overturned one by one by the banalities of reality in a fairly amusing manner, but it has little to do with the rest of the …

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