Ending Notes

            Austen grapples with the exercise she set up for herself with Northanger Abbey. It is meant to pay homage while simultaneously mocking it. The gothic novel is always anti-climatic because the stories always end with the revelation of the alleged ghost (or whatever supposedly supernatural element is at play within the text) being exposed as human and real. Austen embraces this convention of ending quickly as made evident by the conclusion of Northanger Abbey with Henry and Catherine’s impending marriage.

<!           Pg 185- the reference to compression is acknowledging the hurried development and ending of the story and to a larger extent the gothic genre. This is very “Fielding-esque” in pointing out the conventions of the genre throughout the text.

The book can only end with Henry and Catherine marrying because it is a comedy rather than a tragedy. The conventions of the genre dictate the conclusion is a marriage. The question is how will this come about considering the bleak separation of the characters during the novel. It can only be done thematically when Catherine is purged of her preoccupation with the gothic novel and she realizes that they are not reality. The second is plot-wise she has become disillusioned in some sense. This mechanics of this involves the mother trying to find an essay on the conduct of young women (once again using literature as a basis for how to live), but with the arrival of Henry we all know how the conflict will resolve.

<!-        Pg 178-the passage is another example of how real life trumps books. Mrs. Morland leaves to find the book and while she is gone she misses the action of Henry coming.

            Pg 186- Eleanor’s marriage is another example of narrative contrivance. She marries “the most charming man in the world.” He is a generic character that rescues Henry and Catherine by rescuing Eleanor. This goes back to the theatrical technique of deus ex machine- this is the most obvious, painful contrivance to resolve conflict.

Austen draws self-consciously on the work of Fielding. When she reaches these conclusions she still creates a basically benevolent world. Bad characters are only mildly punished in the sense they are usually just dissatisfied with their lives.

CLASS SUMMARY

One of the great values of the 18^th Century novel is that we are watching the novel being formed into what we recognize today. It is the only time in which we can see this. The novel became the dominant form in the mid-19^th century. This is ironic considering many writers of the 18^th century, who were in fact inventing the form, rejected the title “novel.” Jane Austen was the first writer who defended the novel while still writing. Other forms of literature began to suffer in response to the rise of the novel. Ex. The “great English drama” becomes nonexistent and epic poetry declines.  The great novelists began to emerge from Dickens to Stowe instead of the poets of centuries before. The 20^th century continues this theme all the way to globalization and transnationalism, because the novel is a genre that is inseparable from modernity. As modernization occurred the novel changed, evolved and expanded with the world. This is because it has some claim in reality. It is both art and a representation of reality. Modernity asks the question “what is real?” Now the novel faces new developments as visual media takes precedence in the cultural mind frame. Film has to some degree displaced the novel just as the novel displaced the epic and theater. This reveals frightening aspects of modernity and post-modernity as the new media demands much less of us especially in terms of time. These 18^th century works demand time of us. When we demand that we get absorbed into these novels we are resisting the changes in modernity.

Close Readings:

#1: Pp.178-79: “Catherine said no more, and, with an endeavor to do right, applied to her work; but after a few minutes, sunk again, without knowing it herself, into languor and listlessness...Mrs. Morland watched the progress of this relapse; and seeing, in her daughter's absent and dissatisfied look, the full proof of that repining spirit which she had now begun to attribute her want of cheerfulness, hastily left the room to fetch the book in question, anxious to lose no time in attacking so dreadful a malady. It was some time before she could find what she looked for, and other family matters occurring to detain her, a quarter of an hour had elapsed ere she returned down stairs with the volume from which so much was hoped. Her avocations above having been shut out all noise but what she created herself, she knew not that a visitor had arrived within the last few minutes, till, on entering the room, the first object she beheld was a young man whom she had never seen before.”

By examining this scene, we can see that real life frequently trumps the fictional world of books in Northanger Abbey. Austen acknowledges that books are wonderful, but ultimately living your own life is more important than the information we can find in books. The scenario here is a simple illustration of this concept: while Mrs. Morland is looking for the book to answer Catherine’s problems, the man who can really solve the problem shows up downstairs. We can see here that Mrs. Morland looses out because she isn’t present for the key moment that's going on in real life, instead she's looking for a book. It is important to note that although we often see Austen defending the novel as a literary form in Northanger Abbey, she does not go to the extreme that we should all try to live our lives by their every word. In a way, Austen is promoting a proper relationship between books and life- Catherine must learn the difference between the conventions of a gothic novel and the real story of her life- and when she does, we find that she has grown up and is ready to get married to Henry Tilney. 

#2: Pp. 185: “The anxiety, which in this state of their attachment must be the portion of Henry and Catherine, and of all who loved either, as to its final event, can hardly extend, I fear, to the bosom of my readers, who will see in the tell-tale compression of the pages* before them, that were all hastening together to perfect felicity.  The means by which their early marriage was effected can be only doubt; what probable circumstance could work upon a temper like the General’s?  The circumstance which chiefly availed, was the marriage of his daughter with a man of fortune and consequence, which took place in the course of the summer – an accession of dignity that threw him into a fit of good-humour, from which he did not recover till after Eleanor had obtained his forgiveness of Henry, and his permission for him ‘to be a fool if he liked it!’”

Northanger Abbey can only end with Henry and Catherine getting married because the novel is intended to be a comedy, a genre in which novels conventionally end in marriage.  The marriage of these two characters can only happen if Catherine lets go of her preoccupation with the gothic novel and realizes its fiction.  This passage illustrates how Austen is grappling with a problem she set herself in the exercise of Northanger Abbey – simultaneously mocking and glorifying the gothic novel.  Gothic novels have a typical type of ending.  Everything is revealed to be real as opposed to supernatural, a kind of Scooby Doo ending that feels rushed.  Austen alludes to this rushed feeling – “the tell-tale compression of the pages” – in a manner very reminiscent of Fielding in that they both acknowledge the conventions of the genre within the actual work.

Text Referent

pg. 20 "The conversation turned upon those subjects , of which the free discussion has generally much to do in perfecting a sudden intimacy between two young ladies; such as dress, balls, flirtations, and quizzes."

The term "quiz" is used multiple times over the course of the novel and is referenced in two of the endnotes. The endnote for page 20 cites the Old English Dictionary as defining a quiz as both a jest and a thing that would be the subject of such a jest. In both its noun and verb forms, the word "quiz" at the time of Northanger Abbey was slang. At times, the novel has an interest in words and their proper use, as when Henry teases Catherine about her use of the adjective "nicest." However, the only people who seem to use the term in Northanger Abbey are John and Isabella Thorpe, who frequently throw it into conversation to emphasize their own wittiness and self-importance.

Also, if you are interested in more detail for this referant and others, I would encourage you to visit the Northanger Abbey page on the Pemberley website (a huge site devoted to Austen): http://www.pemberley.com/pemb/adaptations/na/NA_FAQ.html#pump

This page includes a searchable text of the novel, which might be useful for studying, a list of characters and a calendar of events in the novel, as well as answers to questions about things like quizzes, the pump room, and the real nature of the Morland family's finances!

Good luck studying!