Northanger Abbey

English 4210: English Novel

Northanger Abbey Response Topics

 

1. How is Northanger Abbey a satire of the Gothic?

2. What does Northanger Abbey satirize, apart from Gothic conventions, and how?  Why?

3. Consider the quotation about novels at the end of Volume 1 Chapter 5. It begins, “Yes, novels—for I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom . . .” and ends at the end of the chapter. (It’s on pages 29-30 in the Longman edition).  Marilyn Gaull, the editor of the Longman edition, claims that this is part of the parody (footnote, p. 30; there are serious discussions of poetry and literature in other Gothic novels that might inspire such a parody).  But can this passage be read seriously?  If so, what serious point is Austen's narrator making here?  What purpose does this digression serve?

4. On a related topic, how does Northanger Abbey function as literary criticism?

5. Choose your own adventure.