Pubblicato anche in Italia con il titolo Northanger Abbey. Anche se pubblicata dopo la sua morte, Northanger Abbey è il primo romanzo completo di Jane Austen, la cui protagonista è una giovane donna la cui passione per i romanzi gotici diventa più reale quando visita Northanger Abbey.
Northanger Abbey is my third favorite novel by Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice and Emma being at the top), but it’s been years since I read it so, last week, I decided to take it up again and I couldn’t put it down and finished in a few days. The protagonist is seventeen-year-old Catherine Morland who, on her first trip to Bath, is easily caught by the friendship with Isabella and the attraction to Henry Tilney. Young, naive and inexperienced, Catherine is easily manipulated by Isabella who is not happy about Catherine’s friendship with the Tilneys. Throughout the novel, Catherine develops and mature, although her passion for gothic novels in general, and The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe in particular, make her see her stay at Northanger Abbey as her own real life gothic novel, leading her to believe that Henry’s father murdered his mother.
Probably finished in 1803, Northanger Abbey is the first full novel completed by Jane Austen, but it was only published posthumously in 1817, together with Persuasion. What I loved most about this novel, apart from the gothic theme, is the character development of Catherine, whose desire to please everyone makes her a bit frustrating at the beginning, but she is also willing to learn and I enjoyed how she matures.
