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Austen

Love Story

Like many other novels she wrote, Northanger Abby is also a complicated love story. Although this novel was written decades ago, it is interesting how most of the women today are similar as the main character; Catherine. Most women today in … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen

Northanger Abbey x Shaun of the Dead

Want to start off with a quick personal note here – didn’t know parody was so central to Austen’s work. Enjoyed Northanger Abbey much more than I expected. A couple of things really interest me about the work. One involves … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen

Northanger Abbey

I’ve tried to read Austen a few times over the years but never had much luck, and I expected Northanger Abbey to be much the same as her other works. Not so! Although the first few pages were a bit tricky, I got through them and really enjoyed the read. There were a few things about this […] Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen

Gatsby, is that you?

Might I begin this blog post with this statement: Not too shabby Northanger Abbey. (Oh hey, that rhymed!) At first, not having read the summary on the back, I walked right into that thing without a clue of what to expect. Come to think of it, I’m still uncertain of the era I pictured the […] Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen

an independent woman? unheard of!

I’m going to start this blog post by stressing the fact that I can’t make the lecture on Monday, much to my dismay, because I have class during that time. I read the email and immediately swore at the unfortunate timing. Anyway, when it comes to the world of Austen there is much to talk […] Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen, jane austen, northanger abbey

General education

At the beginning of the term I was looking forward to Northanger Abbey/Shawn of the Dead, even though I’ve tried to read Jane Austen in the past (including this book) and I’ve always found her books difficult to get through. I just figured that maybe I stood a chance this time, and I managed to […] Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb5-2-2013 | Tagged with Austen, jane austen, northanger abbey

Maybe Jane Austen doesn’t need to die in a dark, dank hole.

So here is my first literary blogpost of the year and I think this is a good book/reading to start with. this is not my first time around the Austen rodeo. In the past I have read Sense and Sensibility, … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb4-2013 | Tagged with Austen

Northanger Abbey

Reading this is like an 1800′s version of Twiliht. Just no vampires or werewolves. Just a bunch of rich white boys and all these apparently “stupid” ladies which seem to be actually the only smart beings in the book besides … Continue reading →Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb3-2013 | Tagged with Austen

Northanger Abbey: An Uncanny Novel

As I was reading Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey, I was struck by its similarities to Ann Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance. What made this more interesting is that Austin’s characters do note in the novel that they have enjoyed reading Radcliffe, which leads me to believe that the similarity between the two novels was intentional. The novels share somewhat of a similar plot, but also setting, character profiles, and themes.

The plot is similar in that both feature a love triangle where the main character is running away from and towards one gentleman over the other. In the case of Northanger Abbey, Catherine is running away from Mr. Thorpe in pursuit of Mr. Tilney. Radcliffe’s Julia and Austin’s Catherine also share some character traits in that they both are…what’s the word? Immature? Julia faints often for no apparent reason, and Catherine is entirely upset over her candle going out, and can hardly bear being more than a couple of paces from the chest in her room once she notices it. Both stories take place in a gothic setting: Radcliffe’s in Sicilian castles, and Austen’s at Northanger Abbey.

What’s most interesting to me is how both the authors demonstrate the uncanny. Using Freud’s definition, “the uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and old established in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression”. As the “uncanny” is assuredly linked with gothic sublimity, which is no doubt a main theme of the novel, aspects of the uncanny are present within the Austen’s novel.

Like A Sicilian Romance, the mother figure in Austen’s Northanger Abbey can be analyzed in relation to the uncanny. In fact, when Catherine suspects General Tilney of murdering his wife, the only other possibility that comes to her mind is that General Tilney has instead suppressed his wife and must give her food nightly; a situation which exactly mirrors that of A Sicilian Romance (likely because Catherine has read the book). In this way, Mrs. Tilney is seen to embody the uncanny in the same way that the mother figure does in Radcliffe’s novel, which is difficult to explain if you haven’t read Radcliffe’s novel. In what other ways is Mrs. Tilney used to represent the uncanny aspects of Austen’s novel? How do Catherine’s actions also represent the uncanny?

What is the significance of Austen’s novel being a remaking of Radcliffe’s A Sicilian Romance? Does it bear resemblance only because they are both gothic novels, or does the similarity extend beyond their respective genres?

Could Austen convey what she wanted to convey with Northanger Abbey using a different genre? To what extent does the Gothic genre contribute or inhibit Jane Austen’s story?

Another interesting take on this novel is the ways in which reading novels influences our opinions and ways of viewing the world around us. Catherine, after having read Radcliffe’s novels, among other gothics, began to think about her world as if it was set in a gothic novel itself. She made assumptions and inquiries reminiscent of the events of A Sicilian Romance, which ended up being quite an embarrassment for her. Reading so much, Catherine was less able to separate fiction from reality. To what extent does reading or watching television in our modern age affect how we see the world? Is the effect a positive, negative, or neutral one? Does awareness of the effects of fiction affect our engagement in it?

Continue reading →

Posted in blogs, lb3-2013 | Tagged with Austen

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