Barbara M. Benedict

Filled with macabre mansions, things that go bump in the night and a healthy dose of farce, ‘Northanger Abbey’ is Jane Austen’s first novel and a satirical parody of the Gothic tradition. As far as being seventeen goes, daydreaming yourself away as center stage in some dramatic and intense story is pretty standard fare. Such is the case for sweet and naïve Catherine Morland, who longs for the sort of adventure she reads about in the popular...