Book Description
'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.' With this famous declaration Jane Austen launches into the story of the five Bennet sisters. It is a story that on first reading is full of suspense, surprise and, ultimately, satisfaction, and which on re-reading commands, in addition, admiration for the author's supreme skill in managing a deceptively complex plot to its triumphant conclusion. First published in 1813, and Austen's most popular novel in her own lifetime, Pride and Prejudice has since been widely recognised as one of the finest novels in the English language. The volume provides comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction covering the context and publication history of the work, a chronology of Austen's life, and an authoritative textual apparatus. This edition is an indispensable resource for all scholars and readers of Austen.
Customer Reviews:
THE Annotated Pride and Prejudice.......2007-03-26
This is the work of a scholar. Granted, it is expensive. But compared to other editions of Pride and Prejudice that imply scholarly expertise, this edition is a scholarly work. And Rogers credits his sources, too! Kudos to Professor Rogers!
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- Fill out your Austen collection
- Northanger Abbey: Janeites rejoice in this light and lively tour de force
- Part satire of Gothic novels, part comedy of manners
- Fragmented, and Written Before Her Major Works: Not Her Best
- Classic Austen
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Northanger Abbey (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen)
Jane Austen
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Similar Items:
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Mansfield Park (Signet Classics)
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Emma (Penguin Classics)
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Persuasion (Tor Classics)
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Mansfield Park (Penguin Classics)
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Sense and Sensibility (Penguin Classics)
ASIN: 0521824192 |
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Though Northanger Abbey is one of Jane Austen's earliest novels, it was not published until after her death--well after she'd established her reputation with works such as Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Of all her novels, this one is the most explicitly literary in that it is primarily concerned with books and with readers. In it, Austen skewers the novelistic excesses of her day made popular in such 18th-century Gothic potboilers as Ann Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho. Decrepit castles, locked rooms, mysterious chests, cryptic notes, and tyrannical fathers all figure into Northanger Abbey, but with a decidedly satirical twist. Consider Austen's introduction of her heroine: we are told on the very first page that "no one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine." The author goes on to explain that Miss Morland's father is a clergyman with "a considerable independence, besides two good livings--and he was not in the least addicted to locking up his daughters." Furthermore, her mother does not die giving birth to her, and Catherine herself, far from engaging in "the more heroic enjoyments of infancy, nursing a dormouse, feeding a canary-bird, or watering a rose-bush" vastly prefers playing cricket with her brothers to any girlish pastimes.
Catherine grows up to be a passably pretty girl and is invited to spend a few weeks in Bath with a family friend. While there she meets Henry Tilney and his sister Eleanor, who invite her to visit their family estate, Northanger Abbey. Once there, Austen amuses herself and us as Catherine, a great reader of Gothic romances, allows her imagination to run wild, finding dreadful portents in the most wonderfully prosaic events. But Austen is after something more than mere parody; she uses her rapier wit to mock not only the essential silliness of "horrid" novels, but to expose the even more horrid workings of polite society, for nothing Catherine imagines could possibly rival the hypocrisy she experiences at the hands of her supposed friends. In many respects Northanger Abbey is the most lighthearted of Jane Austen's novels, yet at its core is a serious, unsentimental commentary on love and marriage, 19th-century British style. --Alix Wilber
Book Description
One of the first of Jane Austen's novels to be written, and one of the last to be published, Northanger Abbey is both an amusing story of how a naive girl enters society and wins the affection of a witty young clergyman, and a high-spirited parody of the lurid Gothic novels that were popular during Austen's youth. In the process it features a vivid account of social life in late eighteenth-century Bath, and Austen's famous defence of the novel as a literary form. This edition, based on the text of the novel as published posthumously in 1818, is accompanied by explanatory notes, and an appendix summarising the plots and situations of the Gothic fictions that form the basis of much of Austen's comedy. In addition there is an extensive critical introduction covering the context, publication, and critical history of the novel, a chronology of Austen's life, and authoritative textual apparatus.
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Fans of Jane Austen will delight in this engaging, lesser-known work.
Customer Reviews:
Fill out your Austen collection.......2007-07-31
As a lover of Austen novels, it is well worth reading "Northanger Abby", which was Austen's first (but last published) novel. As her first novel, her writing style is still rough and lacks some of the refinment of her later works, but she still brings her sharp eye for satire and examination of societal/marriage topics. Catherine Morland pales in comparison to later strong heronies like Elizabeth Bennet or Fanny Price, but she's delightful to read and chuckle about her naive outlook on life.
Northanger Abbey: Janeites rejoice in this light and lively tour de force.......2007-07-12
Northanger Abbey is a gem. Jane Austen (1775-1817)has written a charmiing little novel about a charming little lady named Catherine Moreland. Catherine is 15 as the novel begins in Wiltshire. She and the hilariously stupid Mrs. Allen go on a six week trip to nearby Bath to take the waters. Catherine meets the fashionable and fast Isabella Thorpe. Catherine dances with the clergyman Henry Tilney at a ball becoming infatuated with the clever young man. Henry and Catherine share a love for the Romantic Gothic novels of such authors as Ann Radcliff and Fanny Burney. Complications ensue but in the end the couple are wed.
The first half of the novel deals with doings in Bath; the second half is a trip taken by Catherine to the Tilney estate Northanger Abbey. Catherine thinks the house may contain a ghost as she is influenced in her thinking by a vivid imagination fueled by her sensational Gothic reading.
Minor characters are of interest: Captain Frederick Tilney the ladies man brother of Henry; old General Tilney the gruff father of Fred and Henry; Catherine's parents and Eleanor Tilney the kind and lovely sister of the two Tilney boys with whom Catherine forms a solid friendship.
The book includes a spirited defense of the art of novel writing by Miss Austen. It is a light and commonplace tale of young love told with the wit and wisdom of one of England's greatest authors. This less well known Austen novel is a delightful way to become an addict of the spinster from Hawton parsongage!
Part satire of Gothic novels, part comedy of manners .......2007-07-04
Northanger Abbey was one of Jane Austen's earlier works, and, reading it , you can definitely see her gift of writing in its infancy. While this work is not perfect by any means, it is a fine-tuned effort that any Austin fan will enjoy and appreciate. Basically it works as part comedy/drama of manners and part parody of Gothic literature, taking many of the elements of Ann Radcliffe's work The Mysteries of Udolfo, and slightly satirizing it. The ending's closure--where Austin ties everything together nicely--is something seen in many of her other, more popular works, where all loose ends are tied and questions are answered.
The first part of the novel focuses on Catherine Morland, her family, and her acquaintances. Catherine goes away from her family and stays with the Allen family. While there, she meets the Thorpe family, and becomes an acquaintance and friend of Isabella Thorpe. She has to fight off the advances of Isabella's brother. Later on, at a dance, she also meets Henry, a man who she will eventually fall in love with. She finally gets the opportunity to stay with the Tilney family at Northanger Abbey. Because of her love of novels, and her chance to become better acquainted with Henry and his sister, Catherine is excited to go. The second part of the novel begins with Catherine staying at Northanger Abbey.
One of the funnier aspects of the novel is the 2nd part, when Catherine goes to Northanger Abbey and immediately becomes entranced with the many Gothic elements she seems to have read about. This is when her knowledge and love of Gothic literature tales runs away with her imagination. At one point, she believes that Henry's father has murdered or imprisoned Henry's mother, or that he is keeping her stowed away and doing malicious and evil things. There is also a moment when Catherine is alone in her room late at night and sees a chest, and fears that it has something awful inside it--so naturally she goes to investigate. It seems that all her suppositions and fears are well-founded to her, but we see that she clearly has taken some things too far in her mind, and perhaps there is an anti-climax in her not finding anything noteworthy.
What makes Catherine a likeable heroine is that there are faults to her, so she is perfect by no means. For one thing, she is oblivious to many events that are seemingly obvious to others, namely the romance that begins with her brother and Isabella. She also has some trouble expressing herself in the earlier parts of the novel, but as time wears on she becomes more assertive and mature. Also, her love for novels can be seen as a weakness because she tends to over dramatize and fantasize about them--this seems to be Austen's way of lightly poking fun at reading novels, something you have to admire from a great writer. Over all though, she is a character that is fun to read about and follow around in her adventures.
While the story does have moments where it may drag a little, it still is a fun and adventurous read and is a must for Austen fans. This review is in reference to the Dover books version of the novel.
Fragmented, and Written Before Her Major Works: Not Her Best.......2007-07-01
I do not like the title since only part of the story takes place in the Northanger Abbey. The novel has some fame as a parody of Gothic novels, but that is not the primary focus of the novel. This is a novel written by Jane Austen at least a decade before her famous novels. It is similar to the later novels but it is less sophisticated, shorter, and it seems fragmented - as I discuss below. It was sold for publication in 1803. It is her earliest work but it was not a success. She bought back the rights and it was published after her death in 1818.
As background information, I have read all of Austen's novels, and I have read various analyses of Austen's work. Jane Austen's formula for success was to write a novel about of a financially disadvantaged young woman who meets and marries a wealthier man. The exception is her novel "Emma" where the protagonist has her own means. There are no axe murders in an Austen novel or any nasty elements. Her stories take place in small English towns and they all have a variety of characters including a few willful women and usually one male rogue.
"Pride and Prejudice" is Jane Austen's finest novel. That book is the perfect balance of story, prose, structure, and interesting characters. It evokes many emotional responses in the reader. That novel is among the greatest novels of all time on par with for example Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" or Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina." From a strictly literary point of view, "Mansfield Park" is the most complicated and sophisticated literary work penned by Austen.
So, where does that leave "Northanger Abbey" among her works? All of her five mature novels share a certain fixed writing style and a common structure, or the Austen formula as mentioned above. She uses the early pages to introduce the families, and other characters, and give start the story. She moves characters around from place to place in part for time shifting. She does a wrap up in the last few chapters. This is her sixth major work but written earlier. That Austen formula is partially present in the plot and structure. The first half of the novel is good. Catherine is a sympathetic protagonist and John Thorpe is a suitable rogue. Her love interest, Henry Tilney, seems a bit weak or enigmatic. The story is good for about half the novel. When the action moves to the Abbey it seems to become very fragmented and disorienting for the reader. But the Abbey section is not too long, and then story returns to more what we would expect from Austen near the end.
Most Austen fans will find the piece to be interesting but a bit confusing in parts and not her best.
Classic Austen.......2007-06-25
Northanger Abbey is a classic in several senses of the word: It's pure Jane Austen; it's set in the early 1800s, mostly in a Gothic abbey; it's dramatic and overwrought and wonderfully written. Any Austen fan who has not yet picked up this little gem of a novel should do so immediately because you are sure to be delighted!
Catherine Morland, aged 17, is expanding her horizons by visiting Bath with her neighbors, The Allens. While there, she becomes entangled with the Thorpe family, who are not quite what they seem to be, and the Tilney family, with whom she forms a sincere attachment that leads her to visit their family home, Northanger Abbey. Catherine has spent a good deal of time reading novels, and she allows her imagination to run wild once she finds herself in the dark corridors of the abbey; the appearance of Henry, her hopeful love interest, helps quell her theatrics a bit but she still finds herself drawn into situations she doesn't understand. Classic Austen includes misunderstanding and love, and this novel has both in abundance.
This is a slim novel, and from what I gather, one of Austen's earliest. The characterizations are not perhaps as finely tuned as some of her other works, but overall this is a satisfying read with the delights of the time period. Sit back, curl up, and enjoy!
Book Description
Covering many aspects of Jane Austen's life, works and historical context, this collection of essays provides the most complete one volume introduction to her life and times. The generously illustrated collection of concise contributions is arranged alphabetically, and covers topics ranging from biography to portraits, critical responses to translations, agriculture to transport. An essay on the reception of Austen's work is also included, showing how criticism of Austen has responded to literary movements and fashions.
Book Description
Jane Austen's remarkable juvenilia date from 1787, when she was eleven, to 1793, when she was seventeen. She preserved these early writings in three manuscript notebooks, entitled, with mock solemnity, 'Volume the First', 'Volume the Second', and 'Volume the Third'. Most of these works are short fictions, but Austen also wrote the opening of what could have become a full-length novel, 'Catharine', as well as dramatic sketches, verses, and a few non-fictional pieces. Astonishingly sophisticated and inventive, these writings are now receiving the scholarly attention they deserve. This edition provides a fresh transcription of Austen's manuscripts, with comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction, covering the context and publication history of the juvenilia, a chronology of Austen's life, and an authoritative textual apparatus. It also prints, for the first time, the copious satirical marginalia that Austen wrote on her copies of Oliver Goldsmith's History of England.
Customer Reviews:
a grown-up's bath book.......2004-12-30
The madcap stories and parodies in this collection will have you sputtering with laughter. Any fan of Jane Austen will be guaranteed to adore this book.
But, there is a bonus benefit to this particular edition. When I received my copy in the mail, I was a little startled, because the book weighed a ton, and each of its pages was thick and nearly laminated. The cover looked like it was produced on a dot-matrix printer from clip art, and it had the overall appearance of being a pre-release edition. There was even an apologetic note from Amazon, saying that this was the best available edition, and if I didn't like it I could return it, etc. But, I soon realized that this 'bad' plastic edition had a wonderful advantage - I could take it in the bath with me, and it didn't even get damp. There's something very zen about laughing like a maniac while in a hot bathtub. I wholeheartedy recommend the experience to you.
Book Description
Emma is Austen's most technically accomplished novel. The full implications of its hidden plot are only revealed by a second reading. Presented here for the first time with the spelling and the punctuation of the first edition of 1816, the text allows readers to see the novel as Austen's contemporaries first encountered it. The volume includes comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction covering the context and publication history of the work, and a chronology of Austen's life as well. This edition is an indispensable resource for all scholars and readers of Austen.
Book Description
Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen's first published novel (1811), introduced its readers to many of the themes which would dominate Austen's future work. On one level it is a simple story of two sisters finding fulfilment within a society bounded by regulations and restrictions. But on another it is a comprehensive exploration of the moral dilemmas facing young women in the choices they have to make about their lives. Austen writes about everyday events of her own time with a subtlety and sensitivity unprecedented in the English novel. This edition takes as its copytext the second edition of 1813, which corrects some errors of the first edition. The volume provides comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction covering the context and publication history of the work, a chronology of Austen's life, and an authoritative textual apparatus. This edition is an indispensable resource for all scholars and readers of Austen.
Book Description
Each volume of this fully annotated scholarly edition of Jane Austen's complete works features an extensive introduction covering the context and publication history of the work, full explanatory notes to the text and an authoritative text. The Cambridge Austen is the definitive edition for the twenty-first century. This introductory set includes the first three out of the nine volumes in the edition and includes Mansfield Park, Emma and a volume of essays on Austen's time and contexts: Jane Austen in Context,
Book Description
The accident of death makes Persuasion Jane Austen's final novel. It deserves its position by its innovative treatment of passion and rhetorical style and its development of those themes of memory and time, public and private history, inner and outer lives, language and literature, emotion and restraint that have marked all Austen's work. Where the other works move towards a new symbolic and physical home for the heroine, Persuasion begins with her ejection and ends with her understanding that home is not a place at all but an ambiance and an acceptance of change. The volume provides comprehensive explanatory notes, an extensive critical introduction covering the context and publication history of the work, a chronology of Austen's life, and an authoritative textual apparatus. This edition is an indispensable resource for all scholars and readers of Austen.
Book Description
In recent years, Mansfield Park has come to be regarded as Austen's most controversial novel. It was published in two editions in her lifetime and the 1814 and 1816 texts are fully collated in this work--allowing readers to see the differences between the first edition and the second. This includes some important amendments made by Jane Austen herself. Also included, with a brief note on Elizabeth Inchbald, is the text of Lovers' Vows, the play around which much of the plot of Mansfield Park revolves.
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The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen 9 Volume HB Set
Jane Austen
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Austen, Jane
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Hardcover
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| ( A )
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ASIN: 0521868408 |
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Persuasion (The Cambridge Edition of the Works of Jane Austen)
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