Oh, Those Literary Janes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    Where would literature, past and present, be, without its Janes?  Start with Jane Eyre, the fictional creation of Charlotte Bronte, then there are those real life literary Janes--Austen and Smiley!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If you care about fiction, darlings, you have to read both!!!!!!!!!!!

                                       Actually, this all started with Christine Magnan, and her novel "Tangerine."  In researching her, I found she did her thesis on Eighteenth Century Gothic Literature, which peaked my interest.  I wondered what books--novels--she had read for her research, and that is when I discovered the "Northanger Horrid Novels," which are referenced in Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey."  I own a complete set of Austen, but had not been near her in awhile, so I decided to start a Summer Reading Project, where I would re-read "Northanger Abbey," and follow up with the "Horrid Novels."  I have just finished the Austen, so I will discourse on that.

                                       I always thought Jane's first novel was "Sense And Sensibility."  It may have been the first one published, but I discovered that "Northanger Abbey" was the first of the masterworks she wrote--in 1803--and then published, posthumously, in 1818.  With this in mind, I have to say, the writing style has the feel of a writer trying to find her way, but not quite hitting the stride she made with later works, like "Sense And Sensibility," "Pride And Prejudice," and "Emma."

                                        "Northanger Abbey" is about Romanticism, and how some of us girls need it.  Catherine Morland is a spinster, and if you think being a spinster is rough today, it was worse in Jane's day.  Jane was fortunate, coming from a well do and loving family, but a girl in Austen's day, with no marital prospects, was a social pariah, who was either kept in an attic, away from others, and treated like the "poor relation" she was, or fielded off right away, to the convent!   I am not saying it is any better being a spinster today, but thank God options have improved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                            Like many spinsters--no, not just spinsters, but the lonely  or introspective--Catherine is a reader, and what she reads are the Gothic romances of the day, which were, of course, better written, than those of today.  On page 28, of my copy, the titles are mentioned, and each one is real.  The best parts of "Northanger Abbey," the parts I connected to best, was when Catherine immersed herself in reading, or there was a discourse on the pros and cons of the novel form.  The more Catherine reads, and this is true of all readers, the more enraptured she becomes, so that she sees herself, and her life experiences, as through the eyes of her Gothic heroines. Her arrival and departure from the abbey, with its storms, flowing curtains, and pounding rain, is when the book is at its Gothic best.

                                            Jane was going for something psychologically deep here; maybe too deep for 1803, but not too deep for 1818, with the times having changed, and Jane now a known entity.

                                             Of course, in true Jane tradition, hope springs eternal, and every spinster finds her mate.  Hey, it happened to me, girls, so maybe it pays to read Jane Austen.

                                              Jane switched from the Gothic to the exclusively Romantic.  I wish she had explored the latter more.

                                              With "Northanger Abbey," she showed every indication of being a potential forerunner of the Brontes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!