Excited to hear your thoughts on what people have liked / not liked about Northanger Abbey. For it always felt not quite fully realized. Like it was promising more than it delivered.
That is more or less my view, but I am often stuck by just how much some people love this book. I suspect that it is one of those books that works much better for most people when they are in the middle of all the cultural debates and context.
I agree with you, even though I enjoyed it well enough. I think the flaw for me as a modern reader was in the structure - the only significant obstacle to Catherine achieving what she wants (ie snagging Henry) appears late in the novel when the General sends Catherine home, and then that conflict is fairly quickly resolved with minimal action taken. I personally think this marks the novel as an immature work. But then immature works have their charms!
Enjoyed that. Thanks. I do think that, of all Austen's heroes, Henry Tilney is best at talking while dancing.
haha a niche achievement but a very important one!
I couldn't see a transcript, is it sth that could be added in future?
I think Substack makes one and you can see it on desktop?
Excited to hear your thoughts on what people have liked / not liked about Northanger Abbey. For it always felt not quite fully realized. Like it was promising more than it delivered.
That is more or less my view, but I am often stuck by just how much some people love this book. I suspect that it is one of those books that works much better for most people when they are in the middle of all the cultural debates and context.
I agree with you, even though I enjoyed it well enough. I think the flaw for me as a modern reader was in the structure - the only significant obstacle to Catherine achieving what she wants (ie snagging Henry) appears late in the novel when the General sends Catherine home, and then that conflict is fairly quickly resolved with minimal action taken. I personally think this marks the novel as an immature work. But then immature works have their charms!