Readers and Reading

Readers and Reading

1. The narrator (Austen) often steps back from the story she's telling to consider the fact that it is a story

   • Rather than just telling us about Catherine, we learn about Catherine as a heroine and as a fictional character
   • Austen wants the reader to know that we are reading a work of at whose features are in large part derived from inherited conventions from other books

2. Gothic novels are referenced and satirised

   • 'The Mysteries of Udolpho' by Ann Radcliffe

3. Northanger Abbey considers both the effects that literature has on its characters as well as the effect Northanger Abbey has on its real world readers

4. Austen directly challenges the clichés of the emerging genre in order to solidify her own voice as a writer