Satire and the Form of the Novel: The Problem of Aesthetic Unity in Northanger Abbey
1965; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 32; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.2307/2872256
ISSN1080-6547
Autores Tópico(s)Gothic Literature and Media Analysis
ResumoThe most important-and most interesting-critical problem concerning Northanger Abbey is the question of its aesthetic unity. Generally critics are forced to conclude that while brilliant in many of its parts, the book as a whole lacks a sufficiently consistent technique or unified form to make it a coherent work of art. Some would point to Henry Tilney's ambivalent position as surrogate ironic commentator for the author and object of her irony; some to the structural detachability of the chapters; some to the shallowness of Catherine's characterization as measured against her ostensibly central role; some to an uneasy coexistence within the same narrative of several narrative modes, ranging from apparently outright literary burlesque and parody to assumedly straightforward naturalistic reportage.' Furthermore, a few characters, notably John Thorpe, never really participate in the Gothic world of Northanger Abbey, while others, notably General Tilney, in straddling its Gothic and its daylight worlds, may fail to inhabit either. Indeed, Catherine's own role as ironic Gothic-sentimental heroine is at best intermittently sustained. Occasionally efforts have been made to reduce the book's apparent disunity to at least a partial order. While few if any recent critics would have us read Northanger Abbey as a consistent burlesque of specific literary works,2 some would impose upon it
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