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Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, Sanditon
Northanger Abbey depicts the misadventures of Catherine Morland, young, ingenuous, and mettlesome, and an indefatigable reader of gothic novels. Their romantic excess and dark overstatement feed her imagination, as tyrannical fathers and diabolical villains work their evil on forlorn heroines in isolated settings. What could be more remote from the uneventful securities of life in the midland counties of England? Yet as Austen brilliantly contrasts fiction with reality, ordinary life takes a more sinister turn, and edginess and circumspection are reaffirmed alongside comedy and literary burlesque. Also including Austen's other short fictions, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon, this valuable new edition shows her to be as innovative at the start of her career as at its close.
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First published January 1, 1818
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 335 reviews
October 26, 2018
I am a Jane Austen fan. I have read most of her work and love them all. Northanger Abbey is one of my favorites. While it started out slower than what I was expecting, it leads a great path to the growth of an adventurous mind. Overactive imaginations are a wonderful thing especially for writers. But in the time period for young ladies looking for love, they were very troublesome. I could read this over and over again. Oh wait, I already have.
September 8, 2019
I've been off-handedly looking for Austen's novels for my home library for a while, and Northanger Abbey was the last one that remained. Thanks to a recent trip to the used bookstore, I now have a well-worn but intact copy of this edition, which includes not only NA, but the other short and incomplete works mentioned in the title. Each has its own unique tone and subject matter, and I was glad to have the opportunity to read them all.
*
Northanger Abbey: Way back when, this novel was in a collection that one of my instructors used as part of an 18th-century literature class in college. The collection also included selections from Castle of Otranto and Mysteries of Udolpho. Northanger Abbey wasn't part of the assignment and so I didn't read it--let's just say I wasn't an extraordinarily diligent student--and over the intervening years I had assumed that this began and ended as a comedic satire of Gothic literature.
There are elements of that in the latter half of the story, but rather than being its centerpiece, the "gothic" elements are more about setting up a misunderstanding on the part of the heroine, Catherine, showing us how easily influenced and naive she is. Her fevered imagination leads to some shamed self-reflection. Much like Emma, her growth as a person and her finding love go hand-in-hand.
The sections in Bath at the beginning are great, setting up Catherine's budding relationship with Henry Tilney and introducing us to the terrible, self-centered Thorpe siblings: Isabella the greedy flirt, and John who has nothing in his brain except manly stuff like horses and dogs. From there, Catherine goes on to visit the titular abbey that is the home of the Tilneys, and gets to know General Tilney, the patriarch of the family, and Eleanor, Henry's sister. Eleanor and Catherine have a very sweet, almost sister-like friendship.
The ending is a little rushed, and Austen even acknowledges that within the ending itself, but at least it does its job of clearing up all the misunderstandings and also clearing the way for Catherine to (not much of a spoiler). I would have enjoyed it a lot more if we got some more scenes of Henry teasing Catherine, or even got more than just a few pages of summary! Other than that, this short novel was wonderful, way beyond what I had led myself to expect.
*
"Lady Susan": our titular character is quite a change from Austen's other protagonists. She's confident, emotionally self-sufficient, plays skillfully to whatever her current audience is, and is well capable of turning tough situations to her own advantage. She's also completely amoral.
Interestingly, the women in this story are the players, and the men are played. Even Lady Susan's daughter Frederica, who is presumed to be timid and dull by her mother and her aunt, shows a strong will from very early on, and gets the man she wants in the end.
The epistolary format means we miss out on Austen's authorial asides and descriptions of social occasions, but it also leaves a lot of room for the reader to enjoy the characters' deceptions and cross-purposes.
*
The Watsons: the first of two incomplete novel fragments, this is the shorter at a little more than 40 pages. It was abandoned shortly after Austen's father died. Terry Castle, who wrote the introduction to this edition, speculates that Austen felt that the plot and characters were too unpleasant to continue with, but it could have been trunked for any number of reasons.
I didn't find this as rough going as Castle did. It's maybe on the gloomy side compared to some of Austen's other works that I've read, but there's certainly hope for Emma Watson (no relation) as long as she manages to return to the company of Mrs. Blake and Mr. Holmes, who seemed like genuinely decent people.
*
Sanditon: and here is the second of the two novel fragments, written shortly before Austen's death. A health resort on a beach wouldn't be the first setting I'd imagine for an Austen novel! Our point-of-view character, Charlotte, is the reader's eyes and ears as she, and we, are introduced to the various residents and visitors in Sanditon. Sadly, the story is still in the setup phase when it abruptly ends.
*
Northanger Abbey: Way back when, this novel was in a collection that one of my instructors used as part of an 18th-century literature class in college. The collection also included selections from Castle of Otranto and Mysteries of Udolpho. Northanger Abbey wasn't part of the assignment and so I didn't read it--let's just say I wasn't an extraordinarily diligent student--and over the intervening years I had assumed that this began and ended as a comedic satire of Gothic literature.
There are elements of that in the latter half of the story, but rather than being its centerpiece, the "gothic" elements are more about setting up a misunderstanding on the part of the heroine, Catherine, showing us how easily influenced and naive she is. Her fevered imagination leads to some shamed self-reflection. Much like Emma, her growth as a person and her finding love go hand-in-hand.
The sections in Bath at the beginning are great, setting up Catherine's budding relationship with Henry Tilney and introducing us to the terrible, self-centered Thorpe siblings: Isabella the greedy flirt, and John who has nothing in his brain except manly stuff like horses and dogs. From there, Catherine goes on to visit the titular abbey that is the home of the Tilneys, and gets to know General Tilney, the patriarch of the family, and Eleanor, Henry's sister. Eleanor and Catherine have a very sweet, almost sister-like friendship.
The ending is a little rushed, and Austen even acknowledges that within the ending itself, but at least it does its job of clearing up all the misunderstandings and also clearing the way for Catherine to (not much of a spoiler). I would have enjoyed it a lot more if we got some more scenes of Henry teasing Catherine, or even got more than just a few pages of summary! Other than that, this short novel was wonderful, way beyond what I had led myself to expect.
*
"Lady Susan": our titular character is quite a change from Austen's other protagonists. She's confident, emotionally self-sufficient, plays skillfully to whatever her current audience is, and is well capable of turning tough situations to her own advantage. She's also completely amoral.
Interestingly, the women in this story are the players, and the men are played. Even Lady Susan's daughter Frederica, who is presumed to be timid and dull by her mother and her aunt, shows a strong will from very early on, and gets the man she wants in the end.
The epistolary format means we miss out on Austen's authorial asides and descriptions of social occasions, but it also leaves a lot of room for the reader to enjoy the characters' deceptions and cross-purposes.
*
The Watsons: the first of two incomplete novel fragments, this is the shorter at a little more than 40 pages. It was abandoned shortly after Austen's father died. Terry Castle, who wrote the introduction to this edition, speculates that Austen felt that the plot and characters were too unpleasant to continue with, but it could have been trunked for any number of reasons.
I didn't find this as rough going as Castle did. It's maybe on the gloomy side compared to some of Austen's other works that I've read, but there's certainly hope for Emma Watson (no relation) as long as she manages to return to the company of Mrs. Blake and Mr. Holmes, who seemed like genuinely decent people.
*
Sanditon: and here is the second of the two novel fragments, written shortly before Austen's death. A health resort on a beach wouldn't be the first setting I'd imagine for an Austen novel! Our point-of-view character, Charlotte, is the reader's eyes and ears as she, and we, are introduced to the various residents and visitors in Sanditon. Sadly, the story is still in the setup phase when it abruptly ends.
September 2, 2020
"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel must be intolerably stupid."
Northanger Abbey follows the fortunes of Catherine Morland who spends the 'season' in Bath with family friends. Catherine is an avid reader of novels and has a vivid imagination. This is an important point because Catherine frequently jumps to conclusions which luckily she usually keeps to herself. For example, she believes that one character has murdered his wife by neglect and takes it upon herself to investigate. Whilst on another occasion, Catherine's love interest, Henry Tilney, weaves a story of intrigue involving a dark cabinet with a secret map within the bed chamber in which she is to stay when she visits the eponymous abbey. This she unlocks and explores late at night to find what she believes to be a long forgotten scroll but in the light of day turns out to be a roll of discarded laundry lists.
Throughout the book there are many references to Gothic novels and Austen constantly pokes fun at the excesses of this kind of literature but she also features some of the moral, philosophical and social issues of the day regarding young women looking for love and ultimately marriage.
Catherine is warm and guileless so when she is befriended by the Thorpes she is blind to their faults. Isabella is self-obsessed and constantly lying whilst her brother is a self-serving braggart, both are on the lookout for a financially beneficial marriage proposal.
Included within this book is also the short story Lady Susan, and the unfinished stories The Watsons and Sandition. Lady Susan is written in the form of letters, the eponymous character is manipulative and totally outrageous and I must admit that I loved her. In contrast the two unfinished stories give an insight into the author's thought process but held little interest to me.
Likes most books written during this era it is peppered with words that are no longer in regular use and have longer sentences which all takes a little to get used to, but once you settle into the cadence of the speech things tend to go smoothly.
Overall, there is little action throughout and I found it an OK read rather than a gripping one.
Northanger Abbey follows the fortunes of Catherine Morland who spends the 'season' in Bath with family friends. Catherine is an avid reader of novels and has a vivid imagination. This is an important point because Catherine frequently jumps to conclusions which luckily she usually keeps to herself. For example, she believes that one character has murdered his wife by neglect and takes it upon herself to investigate. Whilst on another occasion, Catherine's love interest, Henry Tilney, weaves a story of intrigue involving a dark cabinet with a secret map within the bed chamber in which she is to stay when she visits the eponymous abbey. This she unlocks and explores late at night to find what she believes to be a long forgotten scroll but in the light of day turns out to be a roll of discarded laundry lists.
Throughout the book there are many references to Gothic novels and Austen constantly pokes fun at the excesses of this kind of literature but she also features some of the moral, philosophical and social issues of the day regarding young women looking for love and ultimately marriage.
Catherine is warm and guileless so when she is befriended by the Thorpes she is blind to their faults. Isabella is self-obsessed and constantly lying whilst her brother is a self-serving braggart, both are on the lookout for a financially beneficial marriage proposal.
Included within this book is also the short story Lady Susan, and the unfinished stories The Watsons and Sandition. Lady Susan is written in the form of letters, the eponymous character is manipulative and totally outrageous and I must admit that I loved her. In contrast the two unfinished stories give an insight into the author's thought process but held little interest to me.
Likes most books written during this era it is peppered with words that are no longer in regular use and have longer sentences which all takes a little to get used to, but once you settle into the cadence of the speech things tend to go smoothly.
Overall, there is little action throughout and I found it an OK read rather than a gripping one.
July 18, 2019
I have now come to the part in my research, which requires me to read Austen’s works, finished and unfinished.
I think this was my third or fourth time reading Northanger Abbey and I’m surprised and delighted how every subsequent read is just as entertaining and as fresh as the first read.
I have to say, though, that having done as much research on Austen’s life and work, I’m baffled by the harsh critique some critics give poor Catherine Morland.
She deserves a lot more credit than I have seen her receive throughout my research and sometimes I wonder, if these critics truly see Catherine for who she is and becomes. Or if they only build on a previous critic’s notion, which since has become undisputed fact.
Another point I vehemently stress is that Northanger Abbey isn’t really a satire. It’s a comedy with gothic elements and, obviously, plenty of Austen’s wit and humour.
Even though I am only at the beginning of my venture through Austen’s novels, going in chronological order and paying close attention to my proposed thesis point, I must confess Northanger Abbey will always remain my favourite.
The other three works that are included in this volume, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon were all new to me and provided a lot of food for thought.
I found Lady Susan equally shocking and impressive and now I understand why some people call it an important piece of early feminist writing.
Austen’s decision to create a character so completely unlikeable, rude and unabashed is remarkable and begs the question as to why she chose to put someone like her in the centre of the story.
Truthfully speaking, I did not like Lady Susan. It gave me no pleasure reading it, although it was highly interesting.
What I found worthy of noting in The Watsons is the fact that most of the plot, as much as there was of it in the little of the manuscript that exists, is driven by dialogue.
The characters were highly intriguing, I enjoyed Austen’s description of the proceedings of a ball. I was never able to get a good account on how such an event was organized and executed.
Scholars suspect Austen gave up writing The Watsons, because of her change in situation; her abrupt and permanent removal from her home in Steventon and her father’s death only a few years later.
I can also see how this would have been a difficult story to finish, structurally. What we now have of The Watsons is entertaining, but I wonder how the plot could have advanced in a plausible way.
The text was unedited, without any chapter breaks and barely any paragraph breaks and quotation signs to indicate dialogue from narration, which made the block of text a bit difficult to read.
Either way, I enjoyed it.
I had a hard time getting into the story of Sanditon. The beginning was rather slow, but that could have also been because of my lack of time, which forced me to read it in little snippets.
Something I can’t stand.
Once I got into the story, I was invested. The characters were charming and there were so many points of interesting plot twists Austen already set up that I am feeling a true sense of loss right now, for this story will never be finished as it was intended to unfold.
Overall, I’m glad I had the opportunity to read Northanger Abbey again and even more delighted I finally took the time to read her unfinished works. They are a must read for every Austen enthusiast.
ElliotScribbles
I think this was my third or fourth time reading Northanger Abbey and I’m surprised and delighted how every subsequent read is just as entertaining and as fresh as the first read.
I have to say, though, that having done as much research on Austen’s life and work, I’m baffled by the harsh critique some critics give poor Catherine Morland.
She deserves a lot more credit than I have seen her receive throughout my research and sometimes I wonder, if these critics truly see Catherine for who she is and becomes. Or if they only build on a previous critic’s notion, which since has become undisputed fact.
Another point I vehemently stress is that Northanger Abbey isn’t really a satire. It’s a comedy with gothic elements and, obviously, plenty of Austen’s wit and humour.
Even though I am only at the beginning of my venture through Austen’s novels, going in chronological order and paying close attention to my proposed thesis point, I must confess Northanger Abbey will always remain my favourite.
The other three works that are included in this volume, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sanditon were all new to me and provided a lot of food for thought.
I found Lady Susan equally shocking and impressive and now I understand why some people call it an important piece of early feminist writing.
Austen’s decision to create a character so completely unlikeable, rude and unabashed is remarkable and begs the question as to why she chose to put someone like her in the centre of the story.
Truthfully speaking, I did not like Lady Susan. It gave me no pleasure reading it, although it was highly interesting.
What I found worthy of noting in The Watsons is the fact that most of the plot, as much as there was of it in the little of the manuscript that exists, is driven by dialogue.
The characters were highly intriguing, I enjoyed Austen’s description of the proceedings of a ball. I was never able to get a good account on how such an event was organized and executed.
Scholars suspect Austen gave up writing The Watsons, because of her change in situation; her abrupt and permanent removal from her home in Steventon and her father’s death only a few years later.
I can also see how this would have been a difficult story to finish, structurally. What we now have of The Watsons is entertaining, but I wonder how the plot could have advanced in a plausible way.
The text was unedited, without any chapter breaks and barely any paragraph breaks and quotation signs to indicate dialogue from narration, which made the block of text a bit difficult to read.
Either way, I enjoyed it.
I had a hard time getting into the story of Sanditon. The beginning was rather slow, but that could have also been because of my lack of time, which forced me to read it in little snippets.
Something I can’t stand.
Once I got into the story, I was invested. The characters were charming and there were so many points of interesting plot twists Austen already set up that I am feeling a true sense of loss right now, for this story will never be finished as it was intended to unfold.
Overall, I’m glad I had the opportunity to read Northanger Abbey again and even more delighted I finally took the time to read her unfinished works. They are a must read for every Austen enthusiast.
ElliotScribbles
January 11, 2016
Another classic I need to read again soon.
September 11, 2021
Northanger Abbey - 3 stars
Lady Susan - 4 stars
The Watsons - unread
Sanditon - unread
Lady Susan - 4 stars
The Watsons - unread
Sanditon - unread
February 25, 2011
I've talked smack about Jane Austen before, not so much to discount her ability as a writer—if you question that, then oh, we will throw down—but to compare her unfavourably to George Eliot. What can I say? I was young and stupid two years ago!
Today I would like to apologize to Miss Austen. Since Middlemarch I've come a long way and read a lot more of Austen's works, and while Eliot's novel remains uneclipsed by Austen's novels, my awe and appreciation of Austen's abilities has only increased. Though I considered Sense and Sensibility somewhat disappointing, Emma more than made up for it, and now Northanger Abbey has only confirmed this opinion.
Reading four of Austen's works, two of which are unfinished drafts, all in one volume was very interesting. It provides a breadth to the Austen experience unavailable from a single novel, and unlike some editions of her work, I actually found the critical opinions in this edition helpful. The introduction provides something that we modern readers sorely lack, context. In particular, it explains the relationship between Northanger Abbey and gothic novels, a genre with which I am entirely unfamiliar. There is also a delightful set of explanatory notes at the back of the book that explain particular social references and literary allusions through these four works that otherwise would have gone right past me. Not only have I read more Austen, but I've had an educated and enlightening glimpse into the rural English society of that time.
I'm going to review each work separately, proceeding backward from the order in the text, since I'm saving the best for last.
Review of Sandition
It's difficult to review an unfinished work. I empathize with the editors for the difficult choices they made in typesetting Sandition and The Watsons. There are no paragraphs in Sandition, and paragraphs are one structural item in modern writing that I find indispensable. I have rejected books that I'm sure are otherwise amazing as a result of this very personal prejudice, so I am proud that I managed to slog through Sandition and give it a fair hearing. Because it's mostly very good.
Sandition stands out from Austen's other work because its setting is quite different from the villages and estates present in Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, etc. The eponymous coastal town is undergoing a renewal in the form of health tourism, an industry vigorously promoted by Mr. Parker. The protagonist is apparently Charlotte Heywood, daughter of an innkeeper who befriends the Parkers when they travel in search for a physician for their venture. Austen spends a considerable amount of time on the setting, the intricacies of Parker's real estate plans, and the zeitgeist in a town that is trying to make the transition from a rural habitation to a commercial resort. She's exploring her usual topics of money, status, social mobility, etc., but she does so from a different angle. Charlotte doesn't attend a dance or, so far, start courting suitors; she is more of a witness to Sandition's attempts to attract affluent tourists.
The stylistic, editorial problems with Sandition made it a chore to read. However, it is very short, and it is a shame that Austen did not complete it. Good or bad, it was definitely quite promising.
Review of The Watsons
Compared to Sandition, The Watsons is even rougher in plot and narrative. It is also more traditional, in the sense that we have a female heroine who struggles to find a suitable, likeable husband while dealing with family issues. Notably, the Watsons are one of Austen's poorer families; though they do not quite live off the charity of a relative like the Dashwoods do, Emma's return to the family after the death of the aunt with whom she was living signifies an increased burden. Best to get her married right quick!
The bulk of the extant text consists of a ball that Emma attends as a guest of a richer family. Her sister Elizabeth usually attends this annual affair, and Emma's unfamiliarity with the people and the event are a source of tension. Emma attracts attention to herself when she dances with a young child, Charles, whose sister reneged on a promise to dance with him in favour of dancing with an eligible young man. In particular, the Watsons later receive a visit from none other than Lord Osborne himself, and we know what that means.
Like Sandition, The Watsons is promising, but I'm very hesitant to judge it as is. It is an obviously unfinished, unpolished work, and not something I would be likely to read were it not for the author and her status.
Review of Lady Susan
An actual finished work from Jane Austen, Lady Susan is the epistolary account of the manipulations of the eponymous flirty widow, Susan Vernon. And it is amusing, almost laugh-out-loud funny.
The short length of the letters, combined with their shifting points of view, presents a very different experience from Austen's other work. While a narrator shows up at the very end, the bulk of the novel consists of the first-person accounts of Lady Susan and various other correspondents. Each of these characters have a delightfully distinct voice, and I love watching Austen switch between them. From the schemes of Lady Susan and her low opinions of her own daughter we quickly jump to her sister-in-law, Catherine Vernon, complaining to her mother about Susan's behaviour.
Despite the intensity of her wit and humour here, Lady Susan does manage to make me care about its characters and the conflict. Susan is a duplicitous bitch who schemes to get her own way and neglects her daughter. I don't want to see Frederica marry Reginald any more than Frederica does! Yet there's also something intriguing about Susan. She has twin roles: widow and flirtatious woman. She can marry again, but she doesn't want to give up that freedom. Susan is a very different character from Austen's other heroines, who are mostly young and somewhat innocent. Susan is neither, and even though she is not a nice person per se, she is a very interesting one.
I'll go so far as to call Lady Susan a hidden gem. It's something you might miss if you focus only on Austen's better-known works, and that would be a shame.
Review of Northanger Abbey
Though not published until after he death, Northanger Abbey is the first novel Austen sold to a publisher. The editors of this edition call it both a parody of and an homage to the gothic novel. I find it the most obviously self-aware of Austen's works. Austen's narrator vehemently defends the novel as a literary form from its detractors:
That is a small snippet from a much longer diatribe on the infidelity of other novelists to their own form. I love it; it's Austen with attitude.
I found it easy to identify with Catherine. Like her, I've often wondered what my life would be like with elements of favourite fictions included. Austen creates moments of suspense as Catherine pokes around Northanger Abbey that are absent from her other stories. There's plenty of tension in Emma and Pride and Prejudice, but the emulation of the gothic form lends a different atmosphere to this book.
Of course, central to the book are the relationships of the main characters, particularly Catherine's friendship with Isabella Thorpe and her budding romance with Henry Tilney. Isabella and her brother, John, are obviously bad influences on Catherine; the scenes in which they inveigle her "with gentle violence" to accompany them on a country carriage ride at the expense of an engagement with Eleanor Tilney are delightfully awkward. Poor Catherine is unsure of how to extricate herself from what she sees as terrible rudeness, especially when her current "best friend" and her own brother are among those encouraging her! It's like high school peer pressure, albeit everyone is better dressed and there are no drugs involved.
Once Catherine goes to Northanger Abbey, her relationship with Isabella becomes entirely epistolary. We learn about Isabella's infidelity and flirtatiousness at the expense of Catherine's brother. As with Lady Susan, the letters from different people allow us a rare glimpse at another person's perspective on the matter. Despite Isabella's entreaties, Catherine remains constant once she learns from her brother of what Isabella did, which is something I found interesting. I thought for sure there would have to be an attempt at reconciliation by the both of them, but I was wrong; Catherine is stronger than that. Good for her! That is, naturally, the point: Austen sets the stage for Catherine to choose between friends, Eleanor or Isabella. Eleanor is the obvious better choice, but it takes a while for Catherine, who is a little naive, to understand the depth of Isabella's shallowness.
I don't know if "the most uncomplicated" of Austen's leading males is the right phrase to describe Henry Tilney, but I think it captures the gist of what I want to say about him. He is not dark and brooding like Mr. Darcy, and the dynamic between Catherine and Henry is quite different from the one established between Emma and Mr. Knightley, mostly owing to the differences in maturity between the two heroines. Henry is Catherine's first love and her first real exposure to a potential husband. She conflates his true personality with those of heroes from her gothic novels, conjuring up a fantastic backstory of betrayal and murder for his father, the General. This is the most serious obstacle to their union, aside from General Tilney's short-lived objections.
The abruptness of the conclusion to Northanger Abbey is its weakest part. Austen lampshades this, mentioning, "the anxiety … as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity." I still don't like it. The Morlands just happen to improve enough in their financial situation to obviate the General's objections to the marriage; Austen invokes a narrative fiat to create a happy ending and remove the conflict. It's effective but crude and a little undermining for the rest of the story.
As always, I've read and reviewed this book with an emphasis on how it compares to Austen's other stories. Northanger Abbey is not my favourite Austen novel, nor is it my least favourite. It exhibits the best and worst of Austen's traits as a writer, a humourist, and a careful descriptor of the relationships of her chosen demographic. I especially liked the insight it provides into how Austen viewed the novel form and gothic novels, something I admit was emphasized by the editors to the benefit of my historical edification.
Today I would like to apologize to Miss Austen. Since Middlemarch I've come a long way and read a lot more of Austen's works, and while Eliot's novel remains uneclipsed by Austen's novels, my awe and appreciation of Austen's abilities has only increased. Though I considered Sense and Sensibility somewhat disappointing, Emma more than made up for it, and now Northanger Abbey has only confirmed this opinion.
Reading four of Austen's works, two of which are unfinished drafts, all in one volume was very interesting. It provides a breadth to the Austen experience unavailable from a single novel, and unlike some editions of her work, I actually found the critical opinions in this edition helpful. The introduction provides something that we modern readers sorely lack, context. In particular, it explains the relationship between Northanger Abbey and gothic novels, a genre with which I am entirely unfamiliar. There is also a delightful set of explanatory notes at the back of the book that explain particular social references and literary allusions through these four works that otherwise would have gone right past me. Not only have I read more Austen, but I've had an educated and enlightening glimpse into the rural English society of that time.
I'm going to review each work separately, proceeding backward from the order in the text, since I'm saving the best for last.
Review of Sandition
It's difficult to review an unfinished work. I empathize with the editors for the difficult choices they made in typesetting Sandition and The Watsons. There are no paragraphs in Sandition, and paragraphs are one structural item in modern writing that I find indispensable. I have rejected books that I'm sure are otherwise amazing as a result of this very personal prejudice, so I am proud that I managed to slog through Sandition and give it a fair hearing. Because it's mostly very good.
Sandition stands out from Austen's other work because its setting is quite different from the villages and estates present in Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, etc. The eponymous coastal town is undergoing a renewal in the form of health tourism, an industry vigorously promoted by Mr. Parker. The protagonist is apparently Charlotte Heywood, daughter of an innkeeper who befriends the Parkers when they travel in search for a physician for their venture. Austen spends a considerable amount of time on the setting, the intricacies of Parker's real estate plans, and the zeitgeist in a town that is trying to make the transition from a rural habitation to a commercial resort. She's exploring her usual topics of money, status, social mobility, etc., but she does so from a different angle. Charlotte doesn't attend a dance or, so far, start courting suitors; she is more of a witness to Sandition's attempts to attract affluent tourists.
The stylistic, editorial problems with Sandition made it a chore to read. However, it is very short, and it is a shame that Austen did not complete it. Good or bad, it was definitely quite promising.
Review of The Watsons
Compared to Sandition, The Watsons is even rougher in plot and narrative. It is also more traditional, in the sense that we have a female heroine who struggles to find a suitable, likeable husband while dealing with family issues. Notably, the Watsons are one of Austen's poorer families; though they do not quite live off the charity of a relative like the Dashwoods do, Emma's return to the family after the death of the aunt with whom she was living signifies an increased burden. Best to get her married right quick!
The bulk of the extant text consists of a ball that Emma attends as a guest of a richer family. Her sister Elizabeth usually attends this annual affair, and Emma's unfamiliarity with the people and the event are a source of tension. Emma attracts attention to herself when she dances with a young child, Charles, whose sister reneged on a promise to dance with him in favour of dancing with an eligible young man. In particular, the Watsons later receive a visit from none other than Lord Osborne himself, and we know what that means.
Like Sandition, The Watsons is promising, but I'm very hesitant to judge it as is. It is an obviously unfinished, unpolished work, and not something I would be likely to read were it not for the author and her status.
Review of Lady Susan
An actual finished work from Jane Austen, Lady Susan is the epistolary account of the manipulations of the eponymous flirty widow, Susan Vernon. And it is amusing, almost laugh-out-loud funny.
The short length of the letters, combined with their shifting points of view, presents a very different experience from Austen's other work. While a narrator shows up at the very end, the bulk of the novel consists of the first-person accounts of Lady Susan and various other correspondents. Each of these characters have a delightfully distinct voice, and I love watching Austen switch between them. From the schemes of Lady Susan and her low opinions of her own daughter we quickly jump to her sister-in-law, Catherine Vernon, complaining to her mother about Susan's behaviour.
Despite the intensity of her wit and humour here, Lady Susan does manage to make me care about its characters and the conflict. Susan is a duplicitous bitch who schemes to get her own way and neglects her daughter. I don't want to see Frederica marry Reginald any more than Frederica does! Yet there's also something intriguing about Susan. She has twin roles: widow and flirtatious woman. She can marry again, but she doesn't want to give up that freedom. Susan is a very different character from Austen's other heroines, who are mostly young and somewhat innocent. Susan is neither, and even though she is not a nice person per se, she is a very interesting one.
I'll go so far as to call Lady Susan a hidden gem. It's something you might miss if you focus only on Austen's better-known works, and that would be a shame.
Review of Northanger Abbey
Though not published until after he death, Northanger Abbey is the first novel Austen sold to a publisher. The editors of this edition call it both a parody of and an homage to the gothic novel. I find it the most obviously self-aware of Austen's works. Austen's narrator vehemently defends the novel as a literary form from its detractors:
… they were still resolute in meeting in defiance of wet and dirt, and shut themselves up, to read novels together. Yes, novels;—for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding—joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust.
That is a small snippet from a much longer diatribe on the infidelity of other novelists to their own form. I love it; it's Austen with attitude.
I found it easy to identify with Catherine. Like her, I've often wondered what my life would be like with elements of favourite fictions included. Austen creates moments of suspense as Catherine pokes around Northanger Abbey that are absent from her other stories. There's plenty of tension in Emma and Pride and Prejudice, but the emulation of the gothic form lends a different atmosphere to this book.
Of course, central to the book are the relationships of the main characters, particularly Catherine's friendship with Isabella Thorpe and her budding romance with Henry Tilney. Isabella and her brother, John, are obviously bad influences on Catherine; the scenes in which they inveigle her "with gentle violence" to accompany them on a country carriage ride at the expense of an engagement with Eleanor Tilney are delightfully awkward. Poor Catherine is unsure of how to extricate herself from what she sees as terrible rudeness, especially when her current "best friend" and her own brother are among those encouraging her! It's like high school peer pressure, albeit everyone is better dressed and there are no drugs involved.
Once Catherine goes to Northanger Abbey, her relationship with Isabella becomes entirely epistolary. We learn about Isabella's infidelity and flirtatiousness at the expense of Catherine's brother. As with Lady Susan, the letters from different people allow us a rare glimpse at another person's perspective on the matter. Despite Isabella's entreaties, Catherine remains constant once she learns from her brother of what Isabella did, which is something I found interesting. I thought for sure there would have to be an attempt at reconciliation by the both of them, but I was wrong; Catherine is stronger than that. Good for her! That is, naturally, the point: Austen sets the stage for Catherine to choose between friends, Eleanor or Isabella. Eleanor is the obvious better choice, but it takes a while for Catherine, who is a little naive, to understand the depth of Isabella's shallowness.
I don't know if "the most uncomplicated" of Austen's leading males is the right phrase to describe Henry Tilney, but I think it captures the gist of what I want to say about him. He is not dark and brooding like Mr. Darcy, and the dynamic between Catherine and Henry is quite different from the one established between Emma and Mr. Knightley, mostly owing to the differences in maturity between the two heroines. Henry is Catherine's first love and her first real exposure to a potential husband. She conflates his true personality with those of heroes from her gothic novels, conjuring up a fantastic backstory of betrayal and murder for his father, the General. This is the most serious obstacle to their union, aside from General Tilney's short-lived objections.
The abruptness of the conclusion to Northanger Abbey is its weakest part. Austen lampshades this, mentioning, "the anxiety … as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages before them, that we are all hastening together to perfect felicity." I still don't like it. The Morlands just happen to improve enough in their financial situation to obviate the General's objections to the marriage; Austen invokes a narrative fiat to create a happy ending and remove the conflict. It's effective but crude and a little undermining for the rest of the story.
As always, I've read and reviewed this book with an emphasis on how it compares to Austen's other stories. Northanger Abbey is not my favourite Austen novel, nor is it my least favourite. It exhibits the best and worst of Austen's traits as a writer, a humourist, and a careful descriptor of the relationships of her chosen demographic. I especially liked the insight it provides into how Austen viewed the novel form and gothic novels, something I admit was emphasized by the editors to the benefit of my historical edification.
October 22, 2017
On a flight somewhere earlier this year I watched Love and Friendship (2016), the deeply enjoyable film directed by Whit Stillman that is based on Jane Austen’s Lady Susan and stars Kate Beckinsale as the “lovely, calculating, and utterly amoral widow” herself (quoting Claudia L. Johnson’s “Introduction” to the Oxford World’s Classics edition). 2017 being the two hundredth anniversary of Austen’s far-too-early death, it was high time I read the novel itself—as well as The Watsons and Sanditon, all conveniently reprinted in this edition of Northanger Abbey (1798-9), which I didn’t reread.
Lady Susan (“probably written in 1794 and recopied by Austen in 1805”, p. xxvii) is a delight: a novel told via forty some letters, in which “the young Austen tests herself as well as the limits of the epistolary novel by transforming its most famous anti-hero Lovelace, the libertine arch-machinator of Samuel Richardson’s mid-[eighteenth] century masterpiece Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady, into a woman seeking dominion over men and a fortune for herself” (p. xxvii).
The Watsons is an unfinished sketch, begun ca. 1803-4, about Emma Watson, brought up “where all had been comfort and Elegance” (p. 290) by her aunt until that aunt’s remarriage means she must return to her impoverished home to live with an invalid father and too many unmarried sisters. Austen’s acerbic character sketches are in evidence:
Sanditon, which Austen began in January 1817 and had to abandon when she became too ill to continue writing, is no less acerbic, but altogether brighter in tone.
Given that Austen was ill when she began writing, it is poignant to read her spirited critique of the hypochondriacs who figure so large in the story:
It is a cause for universal regret (if I may put it that way) that Austen did not live a longer life in better health: one can see how the situation she first sketched in The Watsons is developed in Mansfield Park, but where might she have taken Sanditon?
Lady Susan (“probably written in 1794 and recopied by Austen in 1805”, p. xxvii) is a delight: a novel told via forty some letters, in which “the young Austen tests herself as well as the limits of the epistolary novel by transforming its most famous anti-hero Lovelace, the libertine arch-machinator of Samuel Richardson’s mid-[eighteenth] century masterpiece Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady, into a woman seeking dominion over men and a fortune for herself” (p. xxvii).
The Watsons is an unfinished sketch, begun ca. 1803-4, about Emma Watson, brought up “where all had been comfort and Elegance” (p. 290) by her aunt until that aunt’s remarriage means she must return to her impoverished home to live with an invalid father and too many unmarried sisters. Austen’s acerbic character sketches are in evidence:
He [Tom Musgrave] played [cards] with spirit, and had a great deal to say and tho’ with no wit himself, could sometimes make use of the wit of an absent friend; and had a lively way of retailing a commonplace, or saying a mere nothing, that had a great effect at a Card Table. (p. 288)But Emma’s situation is bleak:
…she was become of importance to no one, a burden on those, whose affection she could not expect, an addition in an House, already overstocked, surrounded by inferior minds with little chance of domestic comfort, and as little hope of future support. (p. 290)
Sanditon, which Austen began in January 1817 and had to abandon when she became too ill to continue writing, is no less acerbic, but altogether brighter in tone.
Mrs P[arker] was as evidently a gentle, amiable, sweet tempered Woman…but not of capacity to supply the cooler reflection which her own Husband sometimes needed, and so entirely waiting to be guided on every occasion, that whether he were risking his Fortune or spraining his Ancle [sic], she remained equally useless. (p. 302)
He [Sir Edward Denham] seemed very sentimental, very full of some Feelings or other, and very much addicted to all the newest-fashioned hard words—had not a very clear Brain she [Charlotte Heywood] presumed, and talked a great deal by rote. (p. 323)
Given that Austen was ill when she began writing, it is poignant to read her spirited critique of the hypochondriacs who figure so large in the story:
Some natural delicacy of Constitution in fact, with an unfortunate turn for Medecine [sic], especially quack Medecine, had given them an early tendency at various times, to various Disorders;—the rest of their sufferings was from Fancy, the love of Distinction and the love of the Wonderful. (p. 334)
It is a cause for universal regret (if I may put it that way) that Austen did not live a longer life in better health: one can see how the situation she first sketched in The Watsons is developed in Mansfield Park, but where might she have taken Sanditon?
November 21, 2009
This is my favourite of Austen's novels but it's not as straightforward as it appears on first reading...its very demanding of the reader and too many people miss the intelligence behind it and see only the naive silliness of a herione who lives in the world of the Gothic Romance's she's reading rather than the real world.
I love the characterisation in this novel - General Tilney is cast by the heroine Catherine as the perfect Gothic villain, Isabella Thorpe is an arch maipulator and represents all that is vulgar and improper about Bath Society & Henry Tilney is an educator who helps the heroine grow and learn about the world around her without allowing her lose her innocence or spoiling her endearing straightforwardness.
Almost all of the plot is pretty much taken from [Author: Samuel Richardson]'s [Book: Camilla] and other aspects of the story mirror the works of [Author: Ann radcliffe], [Author: Frances Burney] and [Author: Maria Edgeworth] - the density of these literary allusions offers the knowing reader a kind of game or puzzle and invites the reader to spot the connections. This adds weight to the messages Austen is trying to get across about attitudes to reading and fiction in general & explains the full extent of the humour employed.
Austen is also able to make sharp observations about the materialist comodity culture in Bath that relies on 'objects' and displays of wealth to denote a person's worth in the early days of capitalism. Fashionableness itself is parodied and this sets up the eventual moral of the story when Catherine chooses a small community existance at a parsonage over overt display's of wealth and status that she might have had at Northanger Abbey. - Its this element of the novel that acts as a timely reminder of what we ought to value in life and makes the book remarkably current as well as perfect deptiction of 18th Century Bath.
In my opinion, Northanger Abbey should not be read in isolation but as part of a wider serious debate about fiction. Also - this novel is far more politically and socially aware than any of the other novels Austen wrote. A purely superficial reading of this book does not do it justice and I think this may be part of the reason why so many people dislike Northanger Abbey when they read it for the first time. Their expectations are high from the best loved of Austen's works (Pride and Prejudice or Emma for example). This is nothing like Austen's other works and should be taken on its on merits. I'd beg anyone who disliked this novel to give it another go! - Its fabulous!
Ally
I love the characterisation in this novel - General Tilney is cast by the heroine Catherine as the perfect Gothic villain, Isabella Thorpe is an arch maipulator and represents all that is vulgar and improper about Bath Society & Henry Tilney is an educator who helps the heroine grow and learn about the world around her without allowing her lose her innocence or spoiling her endearing straightforwardness.
Almost all of the plot is pretty much taken from [Author: Samuel Richardson]'s [Book: Camilla] and other aspects of the story mirror the works of [Author: Ann radcliffe], [Author: Frances Burney] and [Author: Maria Edgeworth] - the density of these literary allusions offers the knowing reader a kind of game or puzzle and invites the reader to spot the connections. This adds weight to the messages Austen is trying to get across about attitudes to reading and fiction in general & explains the full extent of the humour employed.
Austen is also able to make sharp observations about the materialist comodity culture in Bath that relies on 'objects' and displays of wealth to denote a person's worth in the early days of capitalism. Fashionableness itself is parodied and this sets up the eventual moral of the story when Catherine chooses a small community existance at a parsonage over overt display's of wealth and status that she might have had at Northanger Abbey. - Its this element of the novel that acts as a timely reminder of what we ought to value in life and makes the book remarkably current as well as perfect deptiction of 18th Century Bath.
In my opinion, Northanger Abbey should not be read in isolation but as part of a wider serious debate about fiction. Also - this novel is far more politically and socially aware than any of the other novels Austen wrote. A purely superficial reading of this book does not do it justice and I think this may be part of the reason why so many people dislike Northanger Abbey when they read it for the first time. Their expectations are high from the best loved of Austen's works (Pride and Prejudice or Emma for example). This is nothing like Austen's other works and should be taken on its on merits. I'd beg anyone who disliked this novel to give it another go! - Its fabulous!
Ally
February 7, 2023
i LOVE miss austen in theory. she takes the piss out of everything and it’s wonderful. but in practice? it’s so painful i’m so sorry.
April 28, 2017
I love Jane Austen and these stories are no exception.
Northanger Abbey - this is a short novel as it is less than 200 pages. The heroine, Catherine Morland, spends some time in Bath, where she meets the Tilney's and falls in love with the younger Mr. Tilney. Catherine is invited by his father, General Tilney, to spend some time with the family at Northanger Abbey which Catherine is overjoyed at as she is big fan of Gothic literature. Sadly, Catherine is abruptly turned out by General Tilney and forced to make her journey home (over 70 miles away) in a public carriage with no servant to accompany her. Catherine does not know what she has done but it turns out that General Tilney found out she wasn't as rich as he thought she was. Anyway it all turns out nicely and she does end up with Mr. Tilney. This did seem a bit of a departure to Austen's normal story and I really enjoyed all the references to Burney's Camilla which is one of my favourite books. Austen seemed to choose this novel to discuss a lot more society's view on novels and what it is proper to read. I really enjoyed all of these references.
Lady Susan - this is a short epistolary story and is a real departure from Austen's usual form. It was great to read something in a completely different format than Austen usually writes in and I tend to enjoy letter novels anyway. You get to read the letters of many characters in this novel and they all focus around Lady Susan, a highly duplicitous and beautiful woman who loves to wind men around her little finger and is motivated by money. It is a real departure from the characters Austen normally writes and is highly enjoyable
The Watsons - this is a very short story as it is unfinished but it definitely had the start of a great Austen novel. Emma Watson was raised by her aunt who was a lady of fortune but after her aunt marries for a second time, Emma is sent back to her poor family to live. Emma catches the eye of the gentry in the neighbourhood at her first ball but also the eye of a rogue. I think this would have been a great story if it had been continued.
Sanditon - this again is a very short story as it is also unfinished but unlike 'The Watsons', I couldn't see which direction this was being taken in. Two families meet due to an unfortunate accident and the daughter of one then spends some time with the other family and the story is the first impressions of who she meets in that village. I couldn't see who she would end up with so I wish there had been more detail on this.
Austen died far too young!
I should say that this was my second reading of this book but it has been so long since I have read it that I couldn't remember much from the first time round.
Northanger Abbey - this is a short novel as it is less than 200 pages. The heroine, Catherine Morland, spends some time in Bath, where she meets the Tilney's and falls in love with the younger Mr. Tilney. Catherine is invited by his father, General Tilney, to spend some time with the family at Northanger Abbey which Catherine is overjoyed at as she is big fan of Gothic literature. Sadly, Catherine is abruptly turned out by General Tilney and forced to make her journey home (over 70 miles away) in a public carriage with no servant to accompany her. Catherine does not know what she has done but it turns out that General Tilney found out she wasn't as rich as he thought she was. Anyway it all turns out nicely and she does end up with Mr. Tilney. This did seem a bit of a departure to Austen's normal story and I really enjoyed all the references to Burney's Camilla which is one of my favourite books. Austen seemed to choose this novel to discuss a lot more society's view on novels and what it is proper to read. I really enjoyed all of these references.
Lady Susan - this is a short epistolary story and is a real departure from Austen's usual form. It was great to read something in a completely different format than Austen usually writes in and I tend to enjoy letter novels anyway. You get to read the letters of many characters in this novel and they all focus around Lady Susan, a highly duplicitous and beautiful woman who loves to wind men around her little finger and is motivated by money. It is a real departure from the characters Austen normally writes and is highly enjoyable
The Watsons - this is a very short story as it is unfinished but it definitely had the start of a great Austen novel. Emma Watson was raised by her aunt who was a lady of fortune but after her aunt marries for a second time, Emma is sent back to her poor family to live. Emma catches the eye of the gentry in the neighbourhood at her first ball but also the eye of a rogue. I think this would have been a great story if it had been continued.
Sanditon - this again is a very short story as it is also unfinished but unlike 'The Watsons', I couldn't see which direction this was being taken in. Two families meet due to an unfortunate accident and the daughter of one then spends some time with the other family and the story is the first impressions of who she meets in that village. I couldn't see who she would end up with so I wish there had been more detail on this.
Austen died far too young!
I should say that this was my second reading of this book but it has been so long since I have read it that I couldn't remember much from the first time round.
Want to read
May 11, 2024The Watsons is the first section of this book I read. It is a "fragment"/unfinished work that was published posthumously. I wonder if I am guilty of bringing a 21st Century awareness to this work. Emma returns to the home of her immediate family after more than a decade of being raised by a wealthy aunt with no explanation as to why she was sent away from her siblings as a young child, etc. Emma is described very specifically:
“no more than of the middle height – well made and plump, with an air of healthy vigour. – Her skin was very brown but clear, smooth, and glowing --; with which a lively Eye, a sweet smile, and an open Countenance, gave beauty to attract, and expression to make that beauty improve on acquaintance.”
Several more times in these 46 pages Emma is described as “dark-skinned.” I expected this to lead to discussion of prejudice and discrimination, particularly as there is no mention as to why Emma was sent to live with a wealthy aunt for over a decade during her childhood/adolescence…and thereby separated from her siblings. Is this because her biological mother was NOT the Mrs. Watson who is now deceased? Those were my thoughts regarding this work... According to the scholar who wrote the introduction, this work could be considered "anticipatory" of Mansfield Park which was published 6 years later in 1811. Interesting... Now I am motivated to read Mansfield Park!
“no more than of the middle height – well made and plump, with an air of healthy vigour. – Her skin was very brown but clear, smooth, and glowing --; with which a lively Eye, a sweet smile, and an open Countenance, gave beauty to attract, and expression to make that beauty improve on acquaintance.”
Several more times in these 46 pages Emma is described as “dark-skinned.” I expected this to lead to discussion of prejudice and discrimination, particularly as there is no mention as to why Emma was sent to live with a wealthy aunt for over a decade during her childhood/adolescence…and thereby separated from her siblings. Is this because her biological mother was NOT the Mrs. Watson who is now deceased? Those were my thoughts regarding this work... According to the scholar who wrote the introduction, this work could be considered "anticipatory" of Mansfield Park which was published 6 years later in 1811. Interesting... Now I am motivated to read Mansfield Park!
December 31, 2024
Northanger Abbey: ⭐️⭐️ a true crime girlie before her time but my god nothing happens
Lady Susan: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ camp, gossipy fun told through letters sent back and forth between the characters
The Watsons: ⭐️⭐️ hard to rate when, once again, nothing happens but this time in less than 50 pages
Sanditon: ⭐️⭐️ need to find out how ITV made 3 series out of 12 chapters of an unfinished novel
Lady Susan: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ camp, gossipy fun told through letters sent back and forth between the characters
The Watsons: ⭐️⭐️ hard to rate when, once again, nothing happens but this time in less than 50 pages
Sanditon: ⭐️⭐️ need to find out how ITV made 3 series out of 12 chapters of an unfinished novel
May 20, 2021
The Watsons: 3 stars
Sanditon: 3 stars
Sanditon: 3 stars
December 21, 2022
I loved this book so much and was greatly helped by reading this edition’s end notes, reading in community, & also following the Literary Life Podcast. I think this book can stand alone but it’s outstanding and hilarious when you understand the satirical context.
June 9, 2018
I've had this weird goal for years. I wanted to read a Jane Austen novel before I saw the movie. Since I had seen almost all the versions of all but one of her books, my choice was narrowed down to Northanger Abby. I did buy the Felicity Jones & JJ Fields film before I read the book, and it sat in its wrapper for years. I will confess that I was a little nervous about reading Austen. I thought her language might be a little too much for me. However, after listening to Middlemarch last year, that nervousness disappeared.
What did I know about Northanger Abby beforehand? I knew that it was about a young heroine, Catherine Moreland, who has a taste for gothic romance and there's some misunderstanding. That's pretty much it. I too have a love of Wilkie Collins, so I was ready for the mashup.
The book I got was actually four novels, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sandition. I got way more out of my goal than I had initially intended. So, here we go!
Northanger Abbey
I love Henry Tilney. He is my favorite hero of all Austen's works. I love Henry because he's funny and charming, and refreshingly not stoic or stuffy. And while the book is Lizzy Bennett meets Jane Eyre, it was the classic High School moments that I loved the most. Our heroine, Catherine, lived to catch even a glimpse of Henry. That's what I related to the most.
The problem I had with the story was that it was too short. I wanted more of everything. I had hoped that the movie would expand on the story. It did in some ways, but not in a way that satisfied me. Felicity and JJ were perfect. I can't imagine anyone else playing those parts.
And if the novel and the film weren't enough, I also listened to Audible's fantastic full cast version, which I highly recommend. Our newly crowned Dame Emma Thompson was the narrator and did the job you would expect.
I loved this story in all its versions.
Lady Susan
Oh good Lord, Lady Susan. I had seen Love & Friendship before reading Lady Susan. I didn't really care for it. Kate Beckinsale gave one of her best performances, but I didn't care enough about any of the people to catch what was going on. I had forgotten most of the movie shortly after viewing it. I was interested in reading the story to see if I would enjoy it more. The answer is yes and no. Reading the book did allow me to understand and follow what was going on, but I still didn't like the characters.
My biggest problem is Lady Susan's open animosity to her daughter. We are not supposed to like Lady Susan, but seriously? She doesn't have a motherly bone in her body. Her daughter Frederica is the most empathetic character in the story, but Austen's use of letter writing doesn't allow us to get her point of view. There's a lot that happens off stage, which further distances you from the characters and the story.
Bottomline: Lady Susan is my second least favorite of Austen's stories.
The Watsons
In a word, heartbreak. I had zero knowledge of The Watsons going into it, which was divine. I had the true Austen experience I had genuinely longed for, each page was a mystery to me, and loved every word, that is until it abruptly ended. Sadly, The Watsons (and Sandition) are unfinished works. Waaah!! I want to know what happened next! Austen had just finished establishing who was who and it was over. I now know that various people have completed the work. I am not sure what I think about that? I already have in my head how I would want it to end, but that might not be in line with what other people think.
The real highlight for me of The Watsons getting an eagle-eyed view of a ball. The full day's preparations to the carriage ride home. It is fun to see how it all played out, even the kind of dull bits.
If nothing else, The Watsons gives us a glimpse of what we would have gotten if Austen had lived longer. It is truly heartbreaking. We must be grateful for what we have.
Sandition
My least favorite of Austen's work. Oy! Knowing going into it that I wasn't going to get the whole story, I struggled to finish it. I didn't care about any of the characters. I could see where the story could go, but there wasn't a hook for me with this one. I just plain didn't care. Even our greatest writers can't knock it out of the park every time. I'm okay that she didn't finish this one.
What did I know about Northanger Abby beforehand? I knew that it was about a young heroine, Catherine Moreland, who has a taste for gothic romance and there's some misunderstanding. That's pretty much it. I too have a love of Wilkie Collins, so I was ready for the mashup.
The book I got was actually four novels, Northanger Abbey, Lady Susan, The Watsons, and Sandition. I got way more out of my goal than I had initially intended. So, here we go!
Northanger Abbey
I love Henry Tilney. He is my favorite hero of all Austen's works. I love Henry because he's funny and charming, and refreshingly not stoic or stuffy. And while the book is Lizzy Bennett meets Jane Eyre, it was the classic High School moments that I loved the most. Our heroine, Catherine, lived to catch even a glimpse of Henry. That's what I related to the most.
The problem I had with the story was that it was too short. I wanted more of everything. I had hoped that the movie would expand on the story. It did in some ways, but not in a way that satisfied me. Felicity and JJ were perfect. I can't imagine anyone else playing those parts.
And if the novel and the film weren't enough, I also listened to Audible's fantastic full cast version, which I highly recommend. Our newly crowned Dame Emma Thompson was the narrator and did the job you would expect.
I loved this story in all its versions.
Lady Susan
Oh good Lord, Lady Susan. I had seen Love & Friendship before reading Lady Susan. I didn't really care for it. Kate Beckinsale gave one of her best performances, but I didn't care enough about any of the people to catch what was going on. I had forgotten most of the movie shortly after viewing it. I was interested in reading the story to see if I would enjoy it more. The answer is yes and no. Reading the book did allow me to understand and follow what was going on, but I still didn't like the characters.
My biggest problem is Lady Susan's open animosity to her daughter. We are not supposed to like Lady Susan, but seriously? She doesn't have a motherly bone in her body. Her daughter Frederica is the most empathetic character in the story, but Austen's use of letter writing doesn't allow us to get her point of view. There's a lot that happens off stage, which further distances you from the characters and the story.
Bottomline: Lady Susan is my second least favorite of Austen's stories.
The Watsons
In a word, heartbreak. I had zero knowledge of The Watsons going into it, which was divine. I had the true Austen experience I had genuinely longed for, each page was a mystery to me, and loved every word, that is until it abruptly ended. Sadly, The Watsons (and Sandition) are unfinished works. Waaah!! I want to know what happened next! Austen had just finished establishing who was who and it was over. I now know that various people have completed the work. I am not sure what I think about that? I already have in my head how I would want it to end, but that might not be in line with what other people think.
The real highlight for me of The Watsons getting an eagle-eyed view of a ball. The full day's preparations to the carriage ride home. It is fun to see how it all played out, even the kind of dull bits.
If nothing else, The Watsons gives us a glimpse of what we would have gotten if Austen had lived longer. It is truly heartbreaking. We must be grateful for what we have.
Sandition
My least favorite of Austen's work. Oy! Knowing going into it that I wasn't going to get the whole story, I struggled to finish it. I didn't care about any of the characters. I could see where the story could go, but there wasn't a hook for me with this one. I just plain didn't care. Even our greatest writers can't knock it out of the park every time. I'm okay that she didn't finish this one.
July 11, 2022
3.5 ⭐️ for Northanger Abbey only. It was a slow story with villains, misunderstandings, and love by the end. General Tillney was especially creepy. It is obvious this was one of her first stories and not as developed as the others. Still, enjoyable by the end.
October 14, 2023
isabella thorpe the original pick me girl
June 15, 2013
“Blaize Castle!” cried Catherine; “what is that?”
“The finest place in England – worth going fifty miles at any time to see.”
“What, is it really a castle, an old castle?”
“The oldest in the kingdom.”
“But is it like what one reads of?”
“Exactly – the very same.”
“But now really – are there towers and long galleries?”
“By dozens.”
The irony of this dialogue between the imaginative young ingénue Catherine and her would-be suitor, the boorish John Thorpe, is that Blaise Castle is neither the oldest castle in the kingdom (it was only built in 1766) nor are there dozens of towers and galleries (the three-cornered folly has only three towers and two floors). To these two themes of irony and ingenuousness are added the twin essences of parody and pastiche to furnish the reader of this Austen novel with gothic contrasts and dualities galore.
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto: a Gothic story is regarded as the original ‘gothick’ horror tale; first published in 1764, it now seems rather tame and rambling with its over-the-top supernatural happenings (particularly the appearance of a giant flying helmet), its convoluted über-melodramatic plot and its unengaging characters. But it set off a trend for similar novels featuring creepy castles, hidden chambers, darkened passages, villainous father figures, fainting heroines and secrets waiting to be revealed; in fact, precisely the kind of novels that were eventually to be lovingly sent up by Northanger Abbey.
Before embarking on a discussion of this novel it’s worth our while to consider the titles of Jane Austen novels and the three main groups they neatly fall into. The first is a group typified by abstractions: titles such as Persuasion and the two with alliterative pairings, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. (The latter of course was originally called First Impressions and then apparently re-named following publication of another novel with the same title.) The second group takes on the names of personages, Emma, for example, or Elinor and Marianne (as the first draft of Sense and Sensibility was called) or Susan, which was later revised as Catherine due to the appearance of another novel of the same name, and published posthumously as Northanger Abbey.
And then we have the group which reflects significant place-names, most famously Mansfield Park and, of course, Northanger Abbey (which, as noted above, Austen originally intended to be published as Catherine).
The chief reasons for changes of name are either another novel pre-empting the title or a posthumous re-naming by Austen’s family. In the case of Northanger Abbey we can see that it began life as Susan, then was revised so that the young heroine was re-named Catherine, and finally published after Austen’s death under the title we know today. It’s worth noting this evolution to gain an inkling of how Northanger Abbey is sometimes misjudged for what it is not rather than what it is. Can we judge a book by its cover or can the title misdirect us? I suspect the name change, plus the frequently cited label ‘Gothic parody’, has led many readers (me included) to expect a full-blown melodrama, only to be disappointed; whereas in truth it appears to be another take on Austen’s usual comedy of manners.
The plot concerns a young ingénue, Catherine Morland, who leaves her home in Wiltshire with the older Allens as chaperones to spend time in Bath, then a popular venue for English society. Gauche at first, she meets first the Thorpe family and then the Tilneys, becoming friends with her contemporary Isabella Thorpe and then enamoured of Henry Tilney. Partly to escape the tedium of the Bath season, partly because of her partiality to gothic novels, she accepts an invitation to the Tilney home of Northanger Abbey in Gloucestershire, believing it to be the very stuff of romance. Once there she falls victim to her overheated imagination before the modern world intrudes, at first painfully, and then with an Austen-esque happy ending. The novelist Joan Aiken suggested (in Persuasions, the journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America) that the plot of Northanger Abbey is, as conceived at the close of the 18th century, “much less complex than any of the three later novels. There is a simple chain of events: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.” Aiken gamely speculated on how Jane may have later tried to revise the narrative before finding herself defeated, but mostly we will have to make do with what we find.
However, the apparent simplicity of the plot is for us made more confusing by the fact that we don’t get to the much vaunted abbey till well after the second half of the novel (Volume II as it was first published) has started. The first volume of Northanger Abbey is largely set in Bath (the city, incidentally, where Jane’s parents were married) and reflects the fashionable streets and meeting places that can still be seen today, two centuries and more later. Jane Austen produced, we're told, her first draft of Susan somewhere between 1798 and 1799, at a time when she apparently first visited Bath. The social events and rituals that the young Catherine Morland takes part in will have been based on Jane’s own experiences in her early twenties, long before the Austens’ residency in Bath in 1801 to 1806, during which Susan was revised and placed with a publisher. The second volume, however, is set in a fictional country house, where perhaps we as much as the first readers (let alone Catherine) are led to expect dark goings-on.
As her own Advertisement in Northanger Abbey makes clear, “this little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediate publication”. We don’t know why the bookseller never did issue it, but Austen apologises that her treatment of “places, manners, books, and opinions” are now, thirteen years later, “comparatively obsolete”. (As it was, Northanger Abbey was published, not in 1816, but after her death at the tail end of 1817.) However, the public’s appetite for gothick horror hadn’t actually disappeared: 1818 was to see the appearance of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein followed by Polidori’s The Vampyre a year later. So, if we don’t get to visit Northanger Abbey till the second volume, why did Jane’s family not publish the novel as Catherine, her own choice? Did Catherine sound a bit tame as a title? Were they trying to, as it were, cash in on the public’s taste for the supernatural? Or was this Jane’s own ironic choice? Did she see a place-name title such as Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto or Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho as a magnet to draw in a readership that today might be attracted to teenage vampire romances or zombie horror stories? Did it suggest, to quote a frisson-filled Catherine Morland, something horrid?
I mentioned that Northanger Abbey is a novel of dualities: two titles (if we discount the earlier Susan); two main settings, one real, one imaginary; two suitors, one boorish, one heroic; two female friends, one false and one steadfast; two views of the owner of Northanger Abbey, one mistakenly as a murderer in the best Gothick tradition, the other more truly as an ungentlemanly father seeking status in the profitable marriage of his eligible son. There is also the contrast between what is plausible reality and what is romantic fantasy, though of course the novel, as is the way with all metafiction (my favourite word at present), is fantasy, pure and simple.
Is this truly parody? The attempt by Isabelle and John Thorpe to force Catherine into a carriage to drive to Blaize Castle certainly borders on parody, echoing the frequent abductions in gothick literature. Catherine’s imaginings of the father of the honourable Henry as a wicked murderer, though as it turns out he is merely pecuniary, seems more like pastiche. Does Northanger Abbey celebrate rather than mock the work it imitates? I confess I’m in two minds about it. Referential but not reverential is how I prefer to think of it in relation to the standards of the genre.
Since we’re stuck with the novel’s title we now have, let’s consider how Austen means us to picture the Abbey. Is it like the imposing residential folly built by William Beckford, Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire? Or a more modest but still impressive remodelling as at Lacock Abbey in the same county? It may be, as with the misdirection Austen gives in her description of Blaize Castle, that like Catherine we may be imagining the towering edifice of Fonthill, while the reality is that we should be expecting the more edifying Lacock. Either way, Northanger Abbey is a witty subversion of many of our expectations while, conversely, giving us much of what we hope from an Austen novel.
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“The finest place in England – worth going fifty miles at any time to see.”
“What, is it really a castle, an old castle?”
“The oldest in the kingdom.”
“But is it like what one reads of?”
“Exactly – the very same.”
“But now really – are there towers and long galleries?”
“By dozens.”
The irony of this dialogue between the imaginative young ingénue Catherine and her would-be suitor, the boorish John Thorpe, is that Blaise Castle is neither the oldest castle in the kingdom (it was only built in 1766) nor are there dozens of towers and galleries (the three-cornered folly has only three towers and two floors). To these two themes of irony and ingenuousness are added the twin essences of parody and pastiche to furnish the reader of this Austen novel with gothic contrasts and dualities galore.
Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto: a Gothic story is regarded as the original ‘gothick’ horror tale; first published in 1764, it now seems rather tame and rambling with its over-the-top supernatural happenings (particularly the appearance of a giant flying helmet), its convoluted über-melodramatic plot and its unengaging characters. But it set off a trend for similar novels featuring creepy castles, hidden chambers, darkened passages, villainous father figures, fainting heroines and secrets waiting to be revealed; in fact, precisely the kind of novels that were eventually to be lovingly sent up by Northanger Abbey.
Before embarking on a discussion of this novel it’s worth our while to consider the titles of Jane Austen novels and the three main groups they neatly fall into. The first is a group typified by abstractions: titles such as Persuasion and the two with alliterative pairings, Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice. (The latter of course was originally called First Impressions and then apparently re-named following publication of another novel with the same title.) The second group takes on the names of personages, Emma, for example, or Elinor and Marianne (as the first draft of Sense and Sensibility was called) or Susan, which was later revised as Catherine due to the appearance of another novel of the same name, and published posthumously as Northanger Abbey.
And then we have the group which reflects significant place-names, most famously Mansfield Park and, of course, Northanger Abbey (which, as noted above, Austen originally intended to be published as Catherine).
The chief reasons for changes of name are either another novel pre-empting the title or a posthumous re-naming by Austen’s family. In the case of Northanger Abbey we can see that it began life as Susan, then was revised so that the young heroine was re-named Catherine, and finally published after Austen’s death under the title we know today. It’s worth noting this evolution to gain an inkling of how Northanger Abbey is sometimes misjudged for what it is not rather than what it is. Can we judge a book by its cover or can the title misdirect us? I suspect the name change, plus the frequently cited label ‘Gothic parody’, has led many readers (me included) to expect a full-blown melodrama, only to be disappointed; whereas in truth it appears to be another take on Austen’s usual comedy of manners.
The plot concerns a young ingénue, Catherine Morland, who leaves her home in Wiltshire with the older Allens as chaperones to spend time in Bath, then a popular venue for English society. Gauche at first, she meets first the Thorpe family and then the Tilneys, becoming friends with her contemporary Isabella Thorpe and then enamoured of Henry Tilney. Partly to escape the tedium of the Bath season, partly because of her partiality to gothic novels, she accepts an invitation to the Tilney home of Northanger Abbey in Gloucestershire, believing it to be the very stuff of romance. Once there she falls victim to her overheated imagination before the modern world intrudes, at first painfully, and then with an Austen-esque happy ending. The novelist Joan Aiken suggested (in Persuasions, the journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America) that the plot of Northanger Abbey is, as conceived at the close of the 18th century, “much less complex than any of the three later novels. There is a simple chain of events: boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl.” Aiken gamely speculated on how Jane may have later tried to revise the narrative before finding herself defeated, but mostly we will have to make do with what we find.
However, the apparent simplicity of the plot is for us made more confusing by the fact that we don’t get to the much vaunted abbey till well after the second half of the novel (Volume II as it was first published) has started. The first volume of Northanger Abbey is largely set in Bath (the city, incidentally, where Jane’s parents were married) and reflects the fashionable streets and meeting places that can still be seen today, two centuries and more later. Jane Austen produced, we're told, her first draft of Susan somewhere between 1798 and 1799, at a time when she apparently first visited Bath. The social events and rituals that the young Catherine Morland takes part in will have been based on Jane’s own experiences in her early twenties, long before the Austens’ residency in Bath in 1801 to 1806, during which Susan was revised and placed with a publisher. The second volume, however, is set in a fictional country house, where perhaps we as much as the first readers (let alone Catherine) are led to expect dark goings-on.
As her own Advertisement in Northanger Abbey makes clear, “this little work was finished in the year 1803, and intended for immediate publication”. We don’t know why the bookseller never did issue it, but Austen apologises that her treatment of “places, manners, books, and opinions” are now, thirteen years later, “comparatively obsolete”. (As it was, Northanger Abbey was published, not in 1816, but after her death at the tail end of 1817.) However, the public’s appetite for gothick horror hadn’t actually disappeared: 1818 was to see the appearance of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein followed by Polidori’s The Vampyre a year later. So, if we don’t get to visit Northanger Abbey till the second volume, why did Jane’s family not publish the novel as Catherine, her own choice? Did Catherine sound a bit tame as a title? Were they trying to, as it were, cash in on the public’s taste for the supernatural? Or was this Jane’s own ironic choice? Did she see a place-name title such as Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto or Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho as a magnet to draw in a readership that today might be attracted to teenage vampire romances or zombie horror stories? Did it suggest, to quote a frisson-filled Catherine Morland, something horrid?
I mentioned that Northanger Abbey is a novel of dualities: two titles (if we discount the earlier Susan); two main settings, one real, one imaginary; two suitors, one boorish, one heroic; two female friends, one false and one steadfast; two views of the owner of Northanger Abbey, one mistakenly as a murderer in the best Gothick tradition, the other more truly as an ungentlemanly father seeking status in the profitable marriage of his eligible son. There is also the contrast between what is plausible reality and what is romantic fantasy, though of course the novel, as is the way with all metafiction (my favourite word at present), is fantasy, pure and simple.
Is this truly parody? The attempt by Isabelle and John Thorpe to force Catherine into a carriage to drive to Blaize Castle certainly borders on parody, echoing the frequent abductions in gothick literature. Catherine’s imaginings of the father of the honourable Henry as a wicked murderer, though as it turns out he is merely pecuniary, seems more like pastiche. Does Northanger Abbey celebrate rather than mock the work it imitates? I confess I’m in two minds about it. Referential but not reverential is how I prefer to think of it in relation to the standards of the genre.
Since we’re stuck with the novel’s title we now have, let’s consider how Austen means us to picture the Abbey. Is it like the imposing residential folly built by William Beckford, Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire? Or a more modest but still impressive remodelling as at Lacock Abbey in the same county? It may be, as with the misdirection Austen gives in her description of Blaize Castle, that like Catherine we may be imagining the towering edifice of Fonthill, while the reality is that we should be expecting the more edifying Lacock. Either way, Northanger Abbey is a witty subversion of many of our expectations while, conversely, giving us much of what we hope from an Austen novel.
http://wp.me/p2oNj1-or
January 11, 2021
Northanger Abbey: An All-Purpose Literary Prescription
Good to supplement wistful moods, romantic moods, adventurous moods, and curious moods.
Best experienced on a gothically stormy day, when the rain is gently drumming against the window. Candlelight is ideal, but it must be sufficient – don’t strain your eyes for the sake of the aesthetic. Any low, warm reading light will do. This reader personally advises a cup of Earl Grey and a chocolate cranberry cookie (recipe on demand) as accompaniment.
A criminally underrated Austen novel.
Good to supplement wistful moods, romantic moods, adventurous moods, and curious moods.
Best experienced on a gothically stormy day, when the rain is gently drumming against the window. Candlelight is ideal, but it must be sufficient – don’t strain your eyes for the sake of the aesthetic. Any low, warm reading light will do. This reader personally advises a cup of Earl Grey and a chocolate cranberry cookie (recipe on demand) as accompaniment.
A criminally underrated Austen novel.
September 9, 2023
This second reading was just as fun as the first, if not moreso. Catherine Morland is a wonderful, funny, full of life character. I again loved all of the allusions to literature and the case against reading fiction 😁 I am sure this was a fun book to write!
January 17, 2024
Haloo, Jane spojila goticku satiru, paródiu na vtedajšie novely, believable romance a kritiku high class do jednej naloženej knihy.
June 9, 2021
Northanger Abbey: 4/5
Lady Susan: 4/5
The Watsons: 4/5
Sandition: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
Safe to say I rather like Austen and am excited to read more of her!
Lady Susan: 4/5
The Watsons: 4/5
Sandition: 3/5
Overall rating: 4/5
Safe to say I rather like Austen and am excited to read more of her!
November 20, 2021
“…for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.”
this book is the 1800s version of reality tv about rich people drama
this book is the 1800s version of reality tv about rich people drama
March 23, 2021
This is a rating for Northanger Abbey only, as I've yet to read either Lady Susan (although I have seen the splendid Kate Beckinsale movie adaptation Love & Friendship) or Sanditon (having bailed out of the sexed-up Andrew Davies ITV adaptation).
Whilst not up to the heights of Emma or Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey is a worthy inclusion in the Austen canon. Catherine Morland is more obviously a reaction to the prevailing state of heroines in the novels of the time than a fully rounded character like Emma Woodhouse or Elizabeth Bennet, in that she spends most of the novel as kind-hearted but airheaded.
Nonetheless Austen uses Catherine's character to great effect to skewer the portrayal of other female protagonists, using her gothic-novel genre-savviness as a reference point to illustrate how removed from reality those kinds of heroines are. And Austen can't resist giving Catherine a suitable character arc, where she actually learns from her experiences rather than blundering on unchangingly until her knight in shining armour scoops her up. As ever, Austen demonstrates finesse and command of the tropes before expertly dismantling them.
The villains are well observed - especially the Thorpes, with Isabella in particular being a bit of a Becky-Sharp-in-training - and it is gratifying to see Catherine finally see through their selfish and manipulative behaviours.
The prose is not as sharp as the other Austen works that I've read, and she does have a tendency to use proto-Victorian circumlocutions that might lead a modern ear to sometimes wish for a bit more brevity (and of course there were rather too few exploding spaceships for my specialist tastes), but it is nonetheless a charming and amusing read, most pointedly with Austen's delightful parting words once her heroine and love interest are safe to enjoy their deserts:
"... I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience."
Whilst not up to the heights of Emma or Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey is a worthy inclusion in the Austen canon. Catherine Morland is more obviously a reaction to the prevailing state of heroines in the novels of the time than a fully rounded character like Emma Woodhouse or Elizabeth Bennet, in that she spends most of the novel as kind-hearted but airheaded.
Nonetheless Austen uses Catherine's character to great effect to skewer the portrayal of other female protagonists, using her gothic-novel genre-savviness as a reference point to illustrate how removed from reality those kinds of heroines are. And Austen can't resist giving Catherine a suitable character arc, where she actually learns from her experiences rather than blundering on unchangingly until her knight in shining armour scoops her up. As ever, Austen demonstrates finesse and command of the tropes before expertly dismantling them.
The villains are well observed - especially the Thorpes, with Isabella in particular being a bit of a Becky-Sharp-in-training - and it is gratifying to see Catherine finally see through their selfish and manipulative behaviours.
The prose is not as sharp as the other Austen works that I've read, and she does have a tendency to use proto-Victorian circumlocutions that might lead a modern ear to sometimes wish for a bit more brevity (and of course there were rather too few exploding spaceships for my specialist tastes), but it is nonetheless a charming and amusing read, most pointedly with Austen's delightful parting words once her heroine and love interest are safe to enjoy their deserts:
"... I leave it to be settled, by whomsoever it may concern, whether the tendency of this work be altogether to recommend parental tyranny, or reward filial disobedience."
January 22, 2020
Overall 4 ⭐
[Northanger Abbey - 4⭐]
I quite enjoyed this for the amount of wit and sarcasm in it. Especially the laundry receipts circling back at the end. I also enjoyed the parody of gothic novels and indulging in those ideas with Catherine even though I know there won't be anything as sinister. I felt hurt when Catherine is booted out and was genuinely irritated by John Thorpe. I only wish things didn't happen so much outside of our main character even though it made for a good, perhaps too quick, reveal and resolution at the end.
[Lady Susan - 4⭐]
I rather enjoyed reading about these characters talk about each other behind each others backs in this epistolary story. It was rather refreshing to read about a character which I first said was devious for the sake of it but when discussing in class I realised there are more layers than that. 60 pages of about 40, not too long, letters was a good length for the story.
[The Watsons - 3⭐]
Of the two unfinished novels this is the one I prefer and like the characters of much better. It was enjoyable enough in the beginning and I think the family dynamic would have been an interesting one if it was continued.
[Sanditon - 3⭐]
Hard to rate because we don't know where the story was going but this felt the most detached from what I was expecting of Austen. Instead of coupling we have ecominc concerns and a family that are fashionably sick. Towards the end of the fragment a lot of characters were introduced which I found hard to keep track of.
[Northanger Abbey - 4⭐]
I quite enjoyed this for the amount of wit and sarcasm in it. Especially the laundry receipts circling back at the end. I also enjoyed the parody of gothic novels and indulging in those ideas with Catherine even though I know there won't be anything as sinister. I felt hurt when Catherine is booted out and was genuinely irritated by John Thorpe. I only wish things didn't happen so much outside of our main character even though it made for a good, perhaps too quick, reveal and resolution at the end.
[Lady Susan - 4⭐]
I rather enjoyed reading about these characters talk about each other behind each others backs in this epistolary story. It was rather refreshing to read about a character which I first said was devious for the sake of it but when discussing in class I realised there are more layers than that. 60 pages of about 40, not too long, letters was a good length for the story.
[The Watsons - 3⭐]
Of the two unfinished novels this is the one I prefer and like the characters of much better. It was enjoyable enough in the beginning and I think the family dynamic would have been an interesting one if it was continued.
[Sanditon - 3⭐]
Hard to rate because we don't know where the story was going but this felt the most detached from what I was expecting of Austen. Instead of coupling we have ecominc concerns and a family that are fashionably sick. Towards the end of the fragment a lot of characters were introduced which I found hard to keep track of.
May 22, 2021
Severely underrated, extremely enjoyable, and a source of much joy. Northanger Abbey is one of the few books that makes me grin like an idiot throughout the entire thing. Catherine is one of my favourite protagonists- in the hands of a lesser writer her naïveté could have become grating. Not so with Austen- her growth in maturity is realistic and earned, and her earlier flights of fancy and belief in the goodness of all (even those who clearly aren’t worthy of such appraisal) provide a lot of entertainment, and really endear me to her. I love every bit of it!
February 3, 2022
سررت لرؤية ترجمة لرواية جديدة لجين أوستن، واستغللت فرصة قراءتها على تطبيق أبجد وبدأت في ذلك.. وللأسف خيبت أملي.
يتميز القرن الـ١٨ والـ١٩ بالتمهل والبطء، تأني زائد في الحركة والحياة.. وقد تطبعت بعض الروايات بنفس الطبع.
كانت الأحداث تشويقًا مزيفًا، فواضح من عدة مواضع في الرواية أنها أرادت الخروج عن التيمات المعتادة والتقليدية. وتمثل ذلك في مقاربة أقوال هنري تيلني التي بدافع اجراء حديث مسلي، وما قرأته من روايات الأدب القوطي.
وتصادف ذلك مع مفارقات حدثت تشبه ما رواه هنري، والكثير من الخيال والسعي خلف المغامرة وكسر الروتين.
وللأسف لست من محبين تلك الطريقة.
❞ لقد جمعتُ الأحداث تيسيرًا على القراء، وعليهم هم تقسيمها للتيسير عليَّ. ❝
وهذا التعبير فيها ما لا يتناسب مع الرواية وأحداثها، فهي آية في البطء والتفاصيل الزائدة عن الحد.. لكن حين تكون هناك بعض الأحداث التي قد تعطي روحًا أو تشويقًا إن ذُكِرت في مواضعها فيجب التيسير؟!
يتميز القرن الـ١٨ والـ١٩ بالتمهل والبطء، تأني زائد في الحركة والحياة.. وقد تطبعت بعض الروايات بنفس الطبع.
كانت الأحداث تشويقًا مزيفًا، فواضح من عدة مواضع في الرواية أنها أرادت الخروج عن التيمات المعتادة والتقليدية. وتمثل ذلك في مقاربة أقوال هنري تيلني التي بدافع اجراء حديث مسلي، وما قرأته من روايات الأدب القوطي.
وتصادف ذلك مع مفارقات حدثت تشبه ما رواه هنري، والكثير من الخيال والسعي خلف المغامرة وكسر الروتين.
وللأسف لست من محبين تلك الطريقة.
❞ لقد جمعتُ الأحداث تيسيرًا على القراء، وعليهم هم تقسيمها للتيسير عليَّ. ❝
وهذا التعبير فيها ما لا يتناسب مع الرواية وأحداثها، فهي آية في البطء والتفاصيل الزائدة عن الحد.. لكن حين تكون هناك بعض الأحداث التي قد تعطي روحًا أو تشويقًا إن ذُكِرت في مواضعها فيجب التيسير؟!
June 14, 2025
i am SO sad to finally finish all of Austen’s published works now, and I will forever mourn she was never able to finish writing Sanditon or write anything again.
1. Northanger Abbey - 4.5 ! i loved Catherine’s overimagination and whimsy, and that she stuck to her principles even when being mislead. I loved Henry, too, and am only saddened that they didn’t have more romantic sentiments towards each other
2. Lady Susan - 5 ! this was so full of dramatic language and characters, and i flew through this reading. austen is so funny, and she writes humour well in letter form. i loved the fact it was written entirely in letters
3. The Watsons - 3.5 ! not my favourite but still enjoyable
4. Sanditon - 4 ! Heartbreaking that Jane Austen never managed to finish this. They way it ends so abruptly too, it makes me quite sad.
1. Northanger Abbey - 4.5 ! i loved Catherine’s overimagination and whimsy, and that she stuck to her principles even when being mislead. I loved Henry, too, and am only saddened that they didn’t have more romantic sentiments towards each other
2. Lady Susan - 5 ! this was so full of dramatic language and characters, and i flew through this reading. austen is so funny, and she writes humour well in letter form. i loved the fact it was written entirely in letters
3. The Watsons - 3.5 ! not my favourite but still enjoyable
4. Sanditon - 4 ! Heartbreaking that Jane Austen never managed to finish this. They way it ends so abruptly too, it makes me quite sad.
August 18, 2017
Austen’s early, sideswiping send-up of the Gothic genre overturns its conventions of horrid crimes, unlit passages, and dark hearts overflowing with passion, in order to relate Catherine Morland’s first visit to Bath, overflowing with little more horrible than the hypocrisy of a newfound friend, or the rodomontade and unsought solicitations of Mr Thorpe. At Northanger Abbey,however, Catherine’s fondness for Gothic novels tempts her to assume the worst and come to comical conclusions about a shopping list, a hasped chest and her host himself. When not in parodic mode it often reads like a parody of Austen’s own style.
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