Readers on here will be familiar with me saying I do not like to commit myself to trilogies or series books. Not that some of them are not worthwhile--Tolkien and Harry Potter, for example--but, to this day, I cannot see why everyone is still making so much of a fuss over Elena Ferrante's "Neapolitan Novels." The first and third took my breath away, but the second and last did not. Such inconsistency does not make for good reading.
Nevertheless, I am intrigued by the discovery of what have come to be called "The Northanger Horrid Novels." And, yes, that is as in "Northanger Abbey," by Jane Austen. Apparently, it started with her. In fact, should I take this on, I will have to start by re-reading "Northanger Abbey," which I have not done in awhile, and have read less frequently than Austen's other works.
Apparently, in that novel, these novels are mentioned. Which ones, or how much, I cannot say, until I reread Austen. Apparently, they caused a furor at the time. Most readers thought they were fictitious references. Imagine the shock, when it was discovered that not only they were real, but, when Austen was not writing her masterworks, she was reading these!!!!!!!!!! It was her so-called guilty pleasure. In today's literary parlance, it would be like discovering Donna Tartt had been reading "Fifty Shades Of Grey." Only, we all know Tartt has better sense, and taste, and that what might have been considered trash in Austen's time is mined gold in ours. I can assure you, no one will be writing about 'Fifty Shades' a century from now.
According to what I have discovered, a complete collection is only on Kindle! I do have one, but, if I am going to read this period literature, it has to be in the right form. And these pics look like paperback editions. Where can I get my hands on them, darlings????????????
And must they be read in any particular order???????
I am just SO psyched, for period thrills!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AP English, my ass! These were never in any curriculum I studied.
Were the teachers just too ignorant????????????
2 comments:
Have you looked on amazon?
They are back in print!!
Victoria,
I went to the bookstore on
East 93rd, and they did it
for me. This will be my
Summer Reading Project!
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