northanger abbey (jane austen)

What to make of Jane Austen? Why should she be such a mainstay of the canon?

There are various angles to the answering of these questions, and the first is to say it’s quite unfair to ask them on the back of reading Northanger Abbey, the first Austen I have read in over thirty years. At the same time, her influence on the culture is pervasive, both in terms of visibility as an author and a denominator of a certain British style. So taking this early, flawed novel as an exemplar, let’s see where we get to.

Northanger Abbey is in some ways most enjoyable because of its limitations as a novel. It is composed of two main sections. The first occurs in Bath, where Catherine, the youthful heroine, is introduced to a world of balls and society. The second occurs in Northanger Abbey itself, and this section is a pastiche of the Gothic novel which Austen notes was so popular at the time. It feels as though the author herself is having a lot of fun in the writing of this slight novel. She is not afraid to mock her heroine and society in general, but it is a gentle, affectionate mockery. This is a coming of age story, which at times has the flavour of an Eric Rohmer film. Catherine, Austen notes, is a little wiser by the end of the novel, but not much. She misinterprets her suitor’s passion, we are informed in an almost waspish aside by the author: “I must confess that his affection originated in nothing better than gratitude, or, in other words, that a persuasion of her partiality for him had been the only cause of giving her a serious thought.” Catherine’s learning, where it does occur, is in realising that the darker fantasies inspired by her Gothic reading are nothing but foolish fantasies. She must come to terms with mundanity of the life she has been given to lead, one which though banal is really quite idyllic. “To begin perfect happiness at the respective ages of twenty-six and eighteen is to do pretty well”.

Austen lived in a house near my school in Winchester. There was a blue plaque there, and the tourists would stop by. I wouldn’t wonder if nearly half a century later, it hasn’t become even more popular, as her fame has grown with the multiple screen adaptations. In many ways, this part of the world was indeed, idyllic. The Georgian house might have been cold in winter but these houses are a splendid architectural design. The house is near the water meadows and the city, a lovely balance between nature and urban living. It is a kind of model which has become a paradigm in post-Thatcherite Britain. Northanger Abbey is set in Bath and near Salisbury, but these towns are very much in keeping with an idea that persists of perfect happiness if you are middle class Britons. Enough of society to keep you entertained, but also the joys of nature and the sense of possibly becoming a lord or lady of the manor. (Something Nicolson’s Arcadia touches on.) At the same time, this is a resolutely twee vision of South West England, a far cry from the land of Hardy for example, or the rural visions of Clare, Austen’s contemporary. There is no hint of politics or revolution, and the continent is a space of dark, threatening mystery, as embodied in the novels which distort Catherine’s healthy view of the world. Colonialism, which infiltrates the work of Charlotte Bronte or Thackery is not alluded to.

What we are left with is a safe, timid tale of middle class manners. Austen appeals precisely because the British, whilst they enjoy being titillated by gothic fantasies, are smart enough to untangle themselves from their pernicious threads. Northanger Abbey promises drama, and at one moment seems as though it might go down the path of Jane Eyre, but delivers something far more romantically convincing, an upbeat, feel good finale. Keep those scary visions at arm’s length, it whispers, and all your dreams might come true.