The Annotated Northanger Abbey

Tunbridge actually complemented Bath, because its high season was the summer, the least popular time at Bath.

What this additional fortnight was to produce to her beyond the pleasure of sometimes seeing Henry Tilney, made but a small part of Catherine’s speculation. Once or twice indeed, since James’s engagement had taught her what could be done, she had got so far as to indulge in a secret “perhaps,” but in general the felicity of being with him for the p

So far her improvement was sufficient—and in many other points she came on exceedingly well; for though she could not write sonnets, she brought herself to read them; and though there seemed no chance of her throwing a whole party into raptures by a prelude on the pianoforte,43 of her own composition,44 she could listen to other people’s performanc

A pocketbook was a small book, used for writing down notes, that could be carried by men or women. It had begun to be furnished with pouches used for carrying small items; over the next century this latter function would develop to the point that a pocketbook became synonymous with a purse.

for though she could not, dared not expect that Mr. Tilney should ask her a third time to dance, her wishes, hopes and plans all centered in nothing less. Every young lady may feel for my heroine in this critical moment, for every young lady has at some time or other known the same agitation. All have been, or at least all have believed themselves

James and Isabella led the way; and so well satisfied was the latter with her lot, so contentedly was she endeavouring to ensure a pleasant walk to him who brought the double recommendation of being her brother’s friend, and her friend’s brother, so pure and uncoquettish were her feelings, that, though they overtook and passed the two offending you

In the countryside, the genteel class consisted of wealthy landowners and local clergy, possibly supplemented by retired military officers and their families. Any given neighborhood would contain only a few such families, and the slowness and difficulty of travel, especially over rural dirt roads, precluded regular visiting with those farther afiel

Northanger Abbey’s parody falls into two phases.1 In the first, spanning the first half of the novel, Austen tells the story of the heroine to the frequent accompaniment of brief witty asides contrasting her character, behavior, or experiences with the far more extravagant versions found in other novels, particularly sentimental ones. This method a

Another precedent can be found in Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals (1775), one of the most popular plays of the century (and mentioned in Mansfield Park): its upper-class heroine is so entranced by the illicit elopements found in novels that her lover is forced to disguise himself as an illicit poor suitor in order to win her affection.