For a student who had spent her life hiding out in literature (see yesterday’s post), Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey struck a chord. Although it’s the most lightweight of Austen’s six great novels, Mary learned a lot about herself when she studied it. Northanger Abbey is a coming-of-age novel about young Catherine Morland. In a visit […]
Tag Archives: Jane Austen
Moving beyond Gothics to Reality
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Coming of age novel, Maturation, Northanger Abbey Comments closed
Reading Austen to Handle Adversity
In recent posts I have been writing about how young people in the 18th century found moral guidance in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones, even though the novel was attacked for corrupting them. Over the next four posts I will tell an inspirational story about one of my students who found guidance in the novels of […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Adversity, Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, Pride and Prejudice, reading, Sense and Sensibility Comments closed
The Rebellious Thrill of Gothics
Emily in the Castle of Udolpho In yesterday’s post I discussed anxious parents and proposed Northanger Abbey as a sane approach to teenage reading (and movie watching and internet using). I elaborate here. I start first with the reading material in question. Heroine Catherine Moreland and her best friend Isabella Thorpe are enthralled with the […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged adolescence, Anne Radcliffe, Italian, Mysteries of Udolpho, Northanger Abbey, Novel reading Comments closed
Mocking Adult Anxieties about Novels
“Before,” by William Hogarth (1736) What can happen to your daughters if they read novels? According to William Hogarth, something like the above. Check out the lower left hand corner where a side table is falling over. The drawer has been left casually but deliberately open so that one can see the book that is […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged "Before", adolescence, Child rearing, Northanger Abbey, Novel reading, Rambler #4, Richard Sheridan, Samuel Johnson, School for Scandal, William Hogarth Comments closed
