Northanger Abbey is a novel by Jane Austen, written in the late 1790s and published after her death, in December 1817. Young Catherine Morland, a great reader of Gothic novels, visits Bath and then the abbey of the Tilney family, where her imagination runs wild. The book is both a love story and a parody of Gothic fiction.
The story
Catherine, a clergyman's daughter, goes to Bath with family friends. She meets the witty Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, and the scheming Thorpe siblings.
Invited to Northanger Abbey, she expects secret passages and hidden crimes, and suspects General Tilney of a dark past. Reality turns out to be more ordinary, and less kind, than she imagined.
A parody
Austen makes fun of the novels of Ann Radcliffe, such as The Mysteries of Udolpho, which Catherine and her friend Isabella devour.
Yet the narrator also defends novels as works of genius, in a famous passage against those who look down on them.
A long delay
Austen sold the novel, then called Susan, to a publisher in 1803 for ten pounds, but it was never printed. She bought it back years later.
It finally appeared together with Persuasion, a few months after her death, with a biographical notice by her brother Henry.
Anecdotes
The horrid novels
Isabella Thorpe gives Catherine a list of seven horrid novels to read. For a long time readers thought they were invented, but all seven were real books of the 1790s.
Bath
Austen lived in Bath from 1801 to 1806. The Pump Room, the Assembly Rooms and the streets described in the novel can still be visited.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Catherine Morland?
The young heroine, who loves Gothic novels.
When was Northanger Abbey published?
In December 1817, after Austen's death, though dated 1818.
Which novelist does it parody?
Mainly Ann Radcliffe.