Shaunalei Boyer Andersen, Department of Humanities
The Project
From January to May 1995, for my honors thesis project, I studied the text of Jane Austen’s novel Northanger Abbey. My intent was to unravel the mystery behind her at times conflicting allusions to nov· els and literature in the work-to try to decipher the connection between her concurrent criticism and praise of certain literary genres and practices.
The Methodology
Four emphases of study seemed logical approaches to proceed toward my goal. First, I felt it essential to take extensive notes of ALL direct and indirect allusions to literary forms, author, titles of novels, etc. in Abbey. Next, I paid careful attention to the narrator’s subtle comments on literary practices in juxtaposition to Austen’s intentional exaggeration and manipulation of her characters and setting, to try to learn what exactly she lauded and what she criticized in the novel. Third, I read and studied The Mysteries of Udolpho to try to understand Austen’s mutually positive and negative comments on Radcliffe’s book, and her short parody of a couple of the scenes from the novel. And after taking all of these notes, I compared the literary details in Udolpho to those in Abbey.
My Conclusion
After researching Northanger Abbey, I came to several important conclusions: First, that the work is more concerned with depicting and commenting on literary practices than with portraying a realistic story of a heroine’s development; Second, that Austen’s juxtaposed favorable and negative comments on novels and novelists ultimately reveal her desire to promote academic acceptance of her genre (possible only if novelists wrote well); and Third, that Austen’s comments on and parody of The Mysteries of Udolpho seem to be more critical of readers who get carried away with horror in novels than of Radcliffe or her work.
The Originality of the Study
0ne aspect of my study that no scholars of Northanger Abbey have addressed, to my knowledge, is that of Austen’s selectivity in alluding to and depicting The Mysteries of Udolpho. For example, I found in my reading of Radcliffe’s novel that she, like Austen, included metafictional commentary critical of poorly-written sentimental novels and their bad effects on characters. Taking into account that Austen herself wrote in a letter that she enjoyed reading Udolpho, I found many aspects of this novel that she could’ve lauded in Abbey but which she chose to ignore. My ideas on why she was selective in this regard may be very interesting to Austen scholars, and it has been suggested to me that I attempt to publish the Udolpho section of my honors thesis in Persuasions, the periodical dedicated to Austen studies.
For those interested in the subject, a hardbound copy of my thesis, entitled “‘Yes, Novels’: An Analysis of the Metafiction in Jane Austen’s Novel Northanger Abbey and Subsequent Search for Literary Values depicted therein,” is located in the Harold B. Lee Library.