The Composition of Northanger Abbey

Author(s): Cecil S. Emden

Source: The Review of English Studies , Aug., 1968, Vol. 19, No. 75 (Aug., 1968), pp. 279-
287
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/513140

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 THE COMPOSITION OF
NOR THANGER ABBEY

By CECIL S. EMDEN

T HE first three novels of Jane Austen were a long time on the stocks
for a variety of reasons, such as conscientious authorship and discour-
agement from publishers. It naturally followed that all three were subjected
to sundry revisions. Much can be learnt about her craftsmanship and her
development as a novelist by investigating the circumstances in which
these novels were amended. Northanger Abbey' is specially worth this
kind of study because it was, as I shall argue here, the object of a major
revision, as well as minor revisions spread over a number of years. Attempts
to establish the dates of the first version and of the major revision can be
facilitated by noting variations in the author's tone and manner, which are
often attributable to her changing attitudes of mind. Clear evidence is to be
found of similarities between features in her juvenilia and features in those
portions of the book which include satire of the silly sentimental novel and
of contemporary manners. Contrariwise, there is little, if any, sign of the
influence of her juvenilia on those parts, about a quarter of the whole,
which aim at burlesquing the horror-novel. Moreover, the behaviour of
the heroine in the burlesque passages and that in the light satire of the
main portion are often incompatible. I intend, therefore, in this article to
elaborate the arguments I advanced in 19502 to the effect that the main
body of the novel was written in about 1794, and that the sections burles-
quing horror-novels, and Mrs. Radcliffe's The Mysteries of Udolpho in
particular, were added some four years later.
As early as 1913, William Austen-Leigh and R. A. Austen-Leigh pointed
out, in their Life and Letters,3 that there is considerable weakness in the
structure of NA, namely, the unsatisfactoriness of the Gothic episodes in
relation to the rest of the story. They remarked on the evident superiority
of interest and lightness of touch in the Bath episodes; and they added that,
though this disparity was doubtless inherent in the scheme of the story,
the author would hardly have tolerated such a defect at a later stage in her
career. This kind of point was taken up again in 1939 by Miss Mary
Lascelles, in her Jane Austen and her Art (Oxford, 1939), where she
I In this article abbreviated NA. The references to this novel are to the Oxford Illus-
trated Edition, ed. R. W. Chapman (London, 1933).
2 N. & Q., cxcv (I95o), 407-10. 3 p. 97.

R.E.S. New Series, Vol. XIX, No. 75 (1968)

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280 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY

notices that the skit on the Gothic sensational novel is 'not ... well woven
into the rest of the fabric', and, furthermore, that there is but

slight connexion between Catherine's fancied adventures and her actual adven-
tures at the climax of the story .... And not all the light, gay references to her
heroineship at the end can draw these two together. (p. 64)

After this, little, if anything, was written about such problems until I
published my suggestions with a view to developing the comments made
by the Austen-Leighs and Miss Lascelles. Since 195o, a few literary
critics have made close studies of NA, and they, too, have found difficul-
ties in the disharmony between the Bath and the Gothic episodes. As I
have, since 1950, been able to augment and, I hope, strengthen the argu-
ments in favour of my theory, it will be best if I mention some of the views
expressed by other people in the last fifteen years or so before expounding
my contentions afresh.
Some of the comments of recent critics, though illuminating and
valuable, do not reach the point of asserting that the Gothic passages are
incongruous with the non-Gothic. Professor Mudrick recognizes that Jane
Austen provided herself with a problem when she wrote a novel which was
to be at the same time realistic and burlesque.' Mr. A. D. McKillop
regards the 'playful anti-Gothic satire' as subordinate to the satire on the
sentimental novel, and to be a rather crude intrusion on the story.z
Two quite recent comments refer expressly to my theory. Mr. B. C.
Southam deals with it sympathetically:
In Northanger Abbey the patterns of burlesque are elaborate and ingenious, but
they are not always exactly related to the course of the heroine's experiences and
adventures, and there is a good case for Mr. Emden's theory: that Jane Austen
added the Gothic element to a story which was originally concerned with a young
girl's entry into society, not unlike the adventures of Catharine Percival [in
Catharine, or the Bower, one of Jane Austen's juvenilia].3

Professor Litz regards my argument as 'in some ways an attractive hypo-

thesis' and surmises that 'the specifically Gothic extensions of her burlesque
occurred to Jane Austen while she was at work on Northanger Abbey, and
that they were painlessly inserted during the drafting of the first version'.
The word 'painlessly' presumably refers to his impression that the inter-
polations can be readily identified, a point which I shall discuss later.
Professor Litz, however, considers that there seems to be no warrant for
postulating an early satire on the sentimental novel.4
x M. Mudrick, Jane Austen, Irony as Defense and Discovery (Princeton, 1952), p. 39.
2 'Critical Realism in Northanger Abbey', in Jane Austen, A Collection of Critical Essays,
ed. I. Watt (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., 1963), pp. 52-6I.
3 B. C. Southam, Jane Austen's Literary Manuscripts (Oxford, 1964), p. 62.
4 A. W. Litz, Jane Austen, A Study of her Artistic Development (London, 1965), p. 175.

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 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY 281

Several critics have been minded to attribute an early

have felt inhibited from doing so in view of the part
memorandum prepared by Jane Austen's sister, Cassan
after Jane's death in 1817. The memorandum was wri
of paper. The first includes the dates of composition of
Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Per
on the second leaf: 'North-hanger Abbey was written
& 99.' It looks as if she had been asked if she could add
may, perhaps, have been referring to the date of its co
to all intents finished in 1798, although some small im
doubtless made in 1803, and even in i816. The entry
whereas the entries on the first leaf mostly include det
well have been based on written evidence rather than mere recollection.
In formulating my case for the separate dating of the non-Gothic and
the Gothic passages, I must first try to substantiate that the composition of
the non-Gothic passages was undertaken about 1794. Those parts of NA
which consist of satire of the silly sentimental novel and of contemporary
manners disclose some obvious resemblances to her satire in the whimsical
and often extravagantly phrased diction to be found in much of her
juvenilia (written in 1790-3). Anyone who has studied these youthful
expressions of exuberance will agree that it is not necessary to go beyond
the first chapters of NA for illustrations of this link. On the first page the
author includes an Austen family joke about the name 'Richard', of just
the type that we can discern here and there in the juvenilia. We soon
learn, too, that Catherine's father 'was not in the least addicted to locking
up his daughters', a piece of high-spirited waggishness. Then Catherine's
role as a heroine is portrayed in fanciful terms, reminiscent of the prentice
satires of the sentimental novel: 'But when a young lady is to be a heroine
the perverseness of forty surrounding families cannot prevent her.' Her
falling in love, however, was not without mishaps; and her pillow is
'strewed with thorns and wet with tears'. 'And lucky may she think her-
self if she get another good night's rest in the course of the next three
months." Similar exaggerative sentences are to be found near the end of
the book:

A heroine returning, at the close of her career, to her native village, in all the
triumph of recovered reputation, and all the dignity of a countess, with a long
train of noble relations in their several phaetons, and three waiting-maids in a
travelling chaise-and-four behind her is an event on which the pen of the con-
triver may well delight to dwell. .. .2

These passages have just the farcical quality to be found in many of her
NA, pp. 13, 16, 9o. 2 Ibid., p. 232.

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282 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY

youthful experiments in authorship, where her satire is fr

scent. There can be little doubt that, by 1798, she had
preposterous situations with irrepressible whimsicality.
One or two specific similarities between characters in
those in NA are worth quoting so as to reinforce the
preceding paragraph. In Catharine, or the Bower (1792)
who in several respects anticipates Catherine in NA. Bot
as Miss Lascelles has pointed out,' have similar 'romanti
for friendship, appetite for pleasure, and readiness to
likenesses between the two boon companions of these
more definite, and more striking. Isabella, in NA, is in
close parallel to Camilla in Catharine, or the Bower. The
ficial, and in the same ways. They both set immoderate
they could make by their personal appearance, especiall
were both apt to indulge in extravagant statements; and
they asserted the opposite with equal zest and assuranc
least sign of embarrassment or consciousness of the a
behaviour. They both used the same kind of affected a
doting on people, and calling a man, for instance, 'a hor
girl 'the sweetest creature in the world'.2 They both,
strong contrasts with the heroines, for they were both wo
It is much more likely that the author would have reused s
Catharine and Camilla within two years of their creat
years, by which time her technique and the subjects w
had changed radically. Again, General Tilney, in NA, w
irascibility, combined with his insufferable behaviour
father and his barbarous treatment of Catherine as his
ogre-like that he is easily related to one or two farcical vil
ilia. Jane Austen would hardly have introduced so impo
a novel in 1798.
About the end of I816, she composed an Advertiseme
might today call a prefatory note, for NA, at a time wh
back her manuscript from the publisher to whom she
years earlier, she was again considering publication. So
this note, which I have italicized in the extracts quoted
the view that the book was begun about 1794 rather tha
This little work was finished in the year 1803, and intend
publication. .... Some observation is necessary upon those
which thirteen years have made comparatively obsolete [ch

R.E.S. N.S., iii (i952), 184.

2 Jane Austen, Minor Works, ed. R. W. Chapman (London, I9
NA, pp. 40, 62, I18.

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 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY 283

Gothic portions]. The public are entreated to bear in mind

have passed since it was finished, many more since it was b
that period, places, manners, books and opinions have und
changes.
It is reasonable to suppose that 'many' years means more than the five
years between 1798 and I803. Changes of the kind she mentioned would
have been more likely to have taken nine years than five years.
In so far as we are able to draw up a programme of her literary activities
during the 1790s, it would seem that she had but little free time between
1794 and the autumn of 1798. 'Lady Susan', a short sketch in the form of a
novel-in-letters, about a third of the length of NA, was probably written
early in 1795, and 'Elinor and Marianne' in late 1795 and early 1796.
'First Impressions' occupied the autumn of 1796 and up to August 1797;
and she must have been busy on Sense and Sensibility in November and
December 1797 and until the end of the summer of 1798. Thus we see that,
between the end of 1794 and the autumn of 1798, there were only brief
intervals in her writing activities, mere breathing spaces, or time to think
about the next task. If, as we have assumed, it is more than unlikely that
she could have written in the strain of her juvenilia as late as 1798, we may
conclude that the only period in which the original NA could have been
written is in about 1794-
I recognize that there are two objections which might be made to the
dating of the non-Gothic portions of NA as early as 1794. Dr. R. W.
Chapman, in his edition of the novels, has pointed out that this novel, like
others of hers, seems to have been based on a calendar; and he suggested
that the calendar for 1798 would meet the case. This, however, does not
necessarily fix that year as the date of original composition. It will be
found that other years will fit equally well, 1795 for instance. It might also
be alleged that Jane Austen did not have adequate knowledge of Bath as
early as 1794 to be able to write the Bath episodes at that stage. But her
nephew, James Edward Austen-Leigh, who knew her well, wrote, in the
Memoir, which he published in 1870, that he believed that she sometimes
visited her relations, the Coopers, in Bath 'long before she resided there
herself', from 18oi to 18o6. Furthermore, the authors of the Life and
Letters state that she was supposed to have visited her uncle, Dr. Cooper,
in Bath before he died in 1792. It has also been suggested that she stayed
in Bath with her relations, the Leigh Perrots, at some stage in the period
1790-4-
I must now try to make my arguments acceptable from another point of
view. Having put forward reasons why the non-Gothic portions were
written about 1794, I think it is desirable to give reasons why the Gothic
passages were inserted about 1798. As Udolpho was not published until
19

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284 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY

1794, it is not likely that any considerable skit on it would be

and published until sufficient time had elapsed for a wides
to be made, not only by Udolpho, but by the other horror-no
in the Gothic interpolations, some of which were not publ
and 1798.' We know that Jane Austen was at work on NA
this provides an initial ground for assuming that the Goth
introduced then. The situation was propitious. The o
doubtless proved too short for a novel; and she would ha
seize on any opportunity to enlarge it. Moreover, it is likely t
exploit the stir created among the novel-reading public o
order to improve the prospects of the publication and su
she could introduce a longish burlesque, she could achieve
same time.

The two Catherines, that of the main story and that of the story within
story, are inconsistent. The steady, sensible, and essentially un-me
dramatic Catherine of the non-Gothic passages does not match at all we
with the sensational, irresponsible Catherine in the Gothic passages, whe
for instance, she remarks to Isabella, as a result of her early reading
Udolpho: 'Oh! I am delighted with the book! I should like to spend my
whole life reading it' (p. 40). There is too much affectation about this f
Catherine.
A little later: 'Catherine was then left to the luxury of a raised, restless
and frightened imagination over the pages of Udolpho, lost from all worldly
concerns of dressing and dinner, incapable of soothing Mrs. Allen's fears
on the delay of an expected dressmaker.. .' (p. 51). She could doubtless be
thoroughly intrigued by a horror-novel, but not to the extent of neglecting
her obligations to Mrs. Allen, to whom she always behaved with studious
solicitude, even under provocation. When she was being shown over
Northanger Abbey by her host, 'Catherine could have raved at the hand
which had swept away what must have been beyond the value of all the
rest, for the purposes of mere domestic economy . . .' (p. I84). The real
Catherine would certainly have never 'raved' about any such subject, or
indeed at all.
After Henry had caught her spying in his late mother's bedroom (an
exploit she would never have undertaken), and gently indicated to her how
foolish, and even ill-mannered she had been in her suspicions and actions,
she realized that 'it had all been a voluntary, self-created delusion, each
trifling circumstance receiving importance from an imagination resolved
on alarm, and every thing forced to bend to one purpose by a mind which,
before she entered the Abbey, had been craving to be frightened' (pp. i99-
200). The Catherine of the non-Gothic passages could never have allowed
" NA, pp. 40, 48.

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EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NORTHANGER ABBEY 285

herself to be caught up in such crack-brained flights

she have departed so far from her strict code of good man
would she have preferred the lure of sensationalism to
the young Tilneys. It is impossible to believe that any
passages were written at the same time as the Bath ep
Sometimes the Gothic passages interrupt topics of co
the appearance of clumsy digressions. Two passages, in
(passages which relate to Catherine's pleasure in readi
evidently introduced into the Bath episodes to prepar
exercising the role of investigator of suspected villain
the Abbey. The first of these interpolations interferes wi
a discussion between her and Isabella on the subjec
second involves an abrupt break in a conversation bet
about behaviour to young men. And, in volume i, cha
four brief interpolations, one comprising remarks ab
quite inappropriately to Mrs. Allen, and three about
are introduced, more adroitly, into conversations abo
towards Bristol, and during the drive itself. Their inte
demonstrate Catherine's increasing curiosity about th
and ancient buildings pictured by Mrs. Radcliffe. The
displayed in the antiquity of Northanger Abbey as soon as
would not have been convincing without this preparat
The main, and much the largest Gothic section, cov
pages, and including the account of Catherine's terrify
eventually embarrassing encounter with Henry, at the Ab
in volume ii, chapters 5-9,1 though parts of the original N
place here and there. The first four paragraphs of cha
main Gothic section, after which there is an interpolat
to ease the transition back to the basic story: 'The anxi
began soon to succeed to the alarms of romance.' J
handled her structural problems as palpably as this.
Three short passages describing Catherine's recol
enthralled by sensationalism when at the Abbey (the first
visit there, the second on her way home, and the t
reached home), are inserted in volume ii, chapters 13
tively. No doubt they were introduced so as to help s
that the Udolpho theme is inherent in the plot of the
The readiness with which the Gothic passages can be
that scarcely any rewriting of the surrounding text w
Lascelles evidently noticed this, and she has already be
I In modern one-volume editions, chapters 1-16 of volume ii of t
edition become chapters I6-31.

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286 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NOR THANGER ABBEY

that these passages are 'not ... well woven into the res
We can, moreover, notice marked contrasts in readabi
sprightliness of the satire in the Bath episodes and th
description of Catherine's distressing apprehensions of bog
The Gothic passages tend, in fact, to be heavy-going, ba
name of burlesque, for they often fail to be ludicrous; and
on which they can be said to be amusing is in a pas
chapter 5, where, on the way to the Abbey, Henry Ti
mood, describes to Catherine the horrific situations in
heroine might find herself.
It is generally admitted that the Gothic passages d
satisfactorily with the main story; and it can even be al
detrimental to its merits as a work of art. If I have succeeded in establish-
ing the probability that these easily identifiable passages were added some
years after the date of the first draft, this might well tend to a heightened
recognition of the author's skill. Any experimenter who adopts the bold,
but simple expedient of deleting the interpolations (in a spare copy) will
find that he has not only eliminated the incongruities but has also restored
the story to its original symmetry. And he will have done something more
valuable still: he will have revealed that Catherine, the most entrancing
inginue in English fiction, can by this means be truly appreciated, exempt
from features quite unsuited to her, and with all her lovable qualities
unimpaired.

APPENDIX

REFERENCES TO INTERPOLATIONS

The references to what appear to be the Gothic interpolations in NA

p. 39, line 24 'But my dearest...'
p. 41, line 27 'No, indeed, . . .'
p. 43, line I 'at that time ...'
p. 48, line 17 'Her companions ...'
p. 51, line 30 'The time of...'
p. 83, line 22 'Oh! That...'
p. 85, line 3 'Blaize Castle. ..'
p. 86, line 4 'I should like ...'
p. 86, line 33 'On the other...'
p. 87, line I 'Thorpe talked...'
p. 88, line 7 'Blaize Castle...'
p. xo6, line 21 'It always ...'
p. IIo, line 15 'Consider-if...'
p. I31, line 29 'He cannot ...
p. I3I, line 33 'undisturbed by...'
to p. 40, line 21 '. .. every one of them.'
to p. 42, line 6 ' . . been readable.'
to same page, line 2 '. . skeleton;'
to p. 49, line 26 ' . . affectionate son, as'
to p. 52, line I . .. dress-maker, however.'
to same page, line 25 '... beautiful weatherl'
to same page, line 14 '... cannot go.'
to same page, line 7 '... and corner.'
to same page, line 36 '... any thing.'
to same page, line 3 '... and trap-doors.'
to same page, line 18 '... total darkness.'
to p. io8, line 26 '... dislike travels.'
to same page, line 20 '... the subject.'
to same page, line 32 '... incredible speed.'
to same page, line 35 '... dance down,'

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 EMDEN: COMPOSITION OF NORTHANGER ABBEY 287

p. 140, line 3 'Northanger Abbey! .. .'
p. 141, line 13 'and in addition ...'
p. 157, line 33 'He smiled...'
p. I61, line 24 'was springing...'
p. 163, line I 'A moment's ...'
p. 165, line 3 'and to the rising...'
p. 166, line 29 'The night was .. .'
p. 174, line 2 'and his immediate ...'
p. 177, line 16 'Catherine did not ...'
p. 177, line 28 'however'
p. 179, line 6 'and then...'
p. 182, line 8 'in part'
p. 182, line 9 'being, contrary...'
p. 182, line 15 'which caught ...'
p. 182, line 25 'the costliness .. .'
p. 182, line 32 'Catherine heard,...'
p. 184, line i 'With the walls . . .'
p. 185, line 18 'She felt...'
p. 212, line 7 'and the Abbey...'
p. 227, line 4 'That room, ...'
p. 230, line 29 'The only offence ...'
p. 247, line 13 'Catherine, at any...'
p. 251, line 18 'Concerning the ...'
to same page, line 7 '... calmness.'
to same page, line 28 '. .. ill-fated nun.'
to p. 16o, line 38 '... at all afraid.'
to same page, line 35 '... where she was.'
to p. 165, line 2 '... surprize when.'
to same page, line 17 '... Miss Tilney."
to p. 173, line 37 '... reflection and'2
to same page, line i '. . they are over.'3
to same page, line 27 '... patient discontent.'
to p. 182, line 7 '. . . with them.'
to same page, line 12 '... their return.'
to same page, line 16 '... well-read Catherine.'
to same page, line 27 '. .. fifteenth century.'
to p. 183, line 23 '... and great coats.'
to same page, line 36 '. . . amazed herself.'
to p. 201, line 20 '... alarms of romance.'
to same page, line 13 '... in an abbey!'
to same page, line 18 '. . . or terror.'
to p. 231, line 13 '... impetuous concern.'
to same page, line 16 '... his cruelty.'
to same page, line 25 '... alarming adventures.'

I Add 'and'. 2 Add 'Next morning she ...' 3 Add 'she remarked' at end of sentence.

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