Title: “Mamma says, I am never within”: Austen Answers Back
Abstract: As the world celebrates the 200Lh anniversary of the publication of some of her most important works, Jane Austen`s popularity in 2013 and the high esteem with which we hold her seems a far cry from the tone of those early reviews and even the negative views of certain critics before the onset of the 1970s feminist movement. Early reviews ruthlessly criticized her as a mere lady writer with a limited imagination, whose books were too light to merit discussion. Feminist critics saw this as a typical patriarchal interpretation of Austen`s writings, and therefore researched the repression of women in patriarchal England in the early 1800s. This paper attempts to allow Austen to answer those early harsh criticisms in defense of herself and her own novels through two main approaches in her first novel Northanger Abbey. Firstly, Austen`s dialogues and narratives in Northanger Abbey are examined to show how she was ready and able to provoke the conservative guardians of patriarchy in 1800s England. Secondly, Austen`s parody of the Gothic novel in her structuring of Northanger Abbey is investigated to show her rejection of the standard patriarchal story and its characters.
Publication Year: 2013
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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