Jane Austen (1775-1817) is rightly famous for “marriage plot” novels that represent the social intrigues of the British landed classes in the eighteenth century. Northanger Abbey, though published posthumously, is actually the first novel that Austen completed for publication, in 1803. Mixing aspects of the social realism her later novels would become known for and a parody of the conventions of Gothic fiction, Northanger Abbey reads in some ways like a statement of artistic purpose. Critiquing the sentimentalism of earlier novels, as well as the sensationalism of Gothic horror, Austen clearly grasps at a different standard of realism. We might even say that Northanger Abbey includes aspects of “metafiction” (fictional writing about writing) that offers a compelling commentary on the ability of the novel form to accurately represent everyday life, in particular the specific social issues and confinements women face.
So: what are some of the moments in our excerpts from Northanger Abbey in which Austen and/or her characters reflect on questions of novelistic form and women’s writing? For the asynchronous assignment, find a passage where Austen gets “metafictional.” Comment here with a paragraph or two discussing what that passage reveals.
Throughout this first section of Northanger Abbey, the narrator makes multiple direct references to the heroine and the situation in which she is presenting some examples of metafiction. In the first chapter, Austen provides a thorough description of Catherine’s physical features and personality. Catherine prefers to play sports rather than dolls and not particularly the most attractive woman. At the end of this chapter, Austen writes “when a young lady is to be a heroine, the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her. Something must and will happen to throw a hero in her way.” Austen calls to mind the classic Gothic tropes for the reader as a reminder of what a heroine should be and how Catherine does not match those characterizations.
Austen also makes this direct call in chapter 2, writing “The company began to disperse when the dancing was over… and now was the time for a heroine, who had not yet played a very distinguished part in the events of the evening, to be noticed and admired.” The extent of admiration Catherine received was being called pretty by two men. Austen again acknowledges the form of her work as a novel by mentioning the situation Gothic heroines are in, and again shows that Catherine is not this type of heroine. Austen draws a contrast between the readers’ expectations of Gothic novels and the satirical take on the characters in Northanger Abbey in both quotes.