Northanger Abbey

I’ve always thought that Jane would have reworked this novel had she the time to return to it. It was her first purchased manuscript even though the publisher failed to publish it until after her death, and to me, it is her least developed story. It was written as a satire on the gothic novels of Jane’s day, and to that end, it does succeed on a few points.

The main character, Catherine Morland, is a naïve soul. She’s gullible, young and silly--after all, she is only 17. And her youth, inexperience and love of gothic novels lead her into silly scrapes and melodramatic misunderstandings. Her imagination runs away with her before she has all the facts on numerous occasions.

Now as most people know, I love Austen’s works and rarely struggle to warm to her characters, however, I find myself embarrassed for Catherine rather than charmed by her follies. It may be due to the comparisons between Catherine’s silly immaturity and the striking intelligence found in so many of Austen’s heroines like Anne Elliot or Lizzie Bennett. Not that I am a beacon of said brilliance myself, but I do prefer the more mature and developed heroines.

So, I was highly curious how this, my least favorite Jane Austen novel, would work as a film. Taken on its own merits as merely a period film, it wasn’t bad. The acting was done pretty well, and the characters were mostly right. But as an Austenite, I saw a whole lot more to talk about: things were rushed, scenes were mixed up, assumptions were made, the ending was changed, etc. It was confusing.

Now will I need to own a copy? Well, probably...I need the complete set, you know.