The next installment in the PBS/BBC Jane Austen series is set to air Sunday, January 20th, so I thought it was time to give my impressions of the book. I do not have high hopes for the dramatization, as, with most Austen fans, I found the last week's attempt to be mostly disappointing. Northanger Abbey, however, has been largely ignored by production companies eager to "reinterpret" Austen's work (there is only one film adaptation that I'm aware of), so at least it won't suffer too much by comparison. Northanger Abbey probably has been so overlooked by film makers because is so often overlooked by fans of Austen. It is probably the least popular of her books because it is so very different from her other works. Yes, the basic formula is the same, a young woman of modest means looks for love and eventually finds it. But Catherine Morland is very different from the typical Austen heroine. She is obsessed with the bloodcurdling Gothic novels popular at the time, and allows her fiction-fueled imagination to run away from her. Austen writes in a style imitative of the genre, but it is in a warmly satirical way that may not be well understood by modern readers.
I have to admit it's never been one of my favorite books, but it improves with repeated readings and has found a place in my heart. I am looking forward to seeing the new screen adaptation, and I hope it will do the book justice. It's a good story, with engaging characters, and deserves to be well told.
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