Jane Austen's Posthumous Books

Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship

Sep 15, 2008 Tel Asiado

Three of Jane Austen's novels were published only after she died.

English novelist Jane Austen, born on December 16, 1775, is famous for Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. She also finished several books but passed away before they were published. Three novels published only after her death in 1817 were: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion, and Love and Friendship.

Northanger Abbey

This novel, Northanger Abbey, was begun by Jane Austen in 1790s. It was published posthumously in 1818 although accepted by a publisher in 1803. Austen's shortest major work, the book describes Catherine Morland's growth to maturity and marriage with Henry Tilney. It also attacks and makes fun of the absurdities and prevailing fashion for the Gothic novel, particularly the work of Ann Radcliffe.

Catherine Morland goes to Bath for the season as the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Allen, and there she meets the eccentric General Tilney, his son Henry and his daughter Eleanor. She is invited to the Tilneys' home, The Northanger Abbey. Henry takes an interest in her. Catherine imagines numerous gruesome secrets surrounding the General's house. Henry proves that her suspicions have no substance but, while she is still recovering from the humiliation, she finds herself ordered out of the house by the General. She returns home and is followed by Henry, who explains that the General, mistakenly believing her to be penniless, had been anxious to keep her away from him. Restored to a sensible humour by the truth, the General finally gives his blessing to Henry's marriage to Catherine.

Persuasion

Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, was published in 1818. Despite her rapidly failing health while writing this, this book remains to show her writing power in which the social comedy is skillfully handled and the tone is one of profound reflection as it recounts the fulfillment of a love affair. The novel stands on a significant cultural threshold in its treatment of Sir Walter's misplaced snobbery endorsed in its place, and about the dilemma of marrying for money or for love. The resolution on marriage is attained as Wentworth declares his love at the same time has material means to afford her.

Anne Elliot, the youngest of the three daughters of Sir Walter Elliot, encounters again Captain Frederick Wentworth, whom she had known, loved and refused previously when she had yielded to the well-intentioned advice and persuasion of her godmother and friend. The eventual reunion of Anne and Captain Wentworth was timely as it happens after the bloom of youth has faded so to speak. Anne indirectly exhibits her affections when she declares about the quality of love through a conversation at hearing distance of Wentworth: that a woman's love is more enduring than man's, especially where the object seems lost forever.

Love and Friendship

Love and Friendship, also spelled Love and Freindship, is a juvenile story written when Austen was only 14 years old, dated 1790. It is in epistolary form, and meant for her family's enjoyment. The heroine, Laura, writes the letter to Marianne, the daughter of her friend, Isabel, "La Comtesse de Feullide."

The story form resembles a fairy tale, with turns of fortune and coincidences. Even at a young age, Austen is already determined to lampoon the convention of romantic stories, which always turn out badly for the female characters. The development of Austen's disdain for romantic sensibility and sharp wit is apparent, eventually becoming a characteristic in her mature novels.

Works by Jane Austen

• Sense and Sensibility, 1811
• Pride and Prejudice, 1813
• Mansfield Park, 1814
• Emma, 1816
• Northanger Abbey, 1818
• Persuasion, 1818
• Love and Friendship, 1922

Sources:

Dictionary of Writers, edited by Rosemary Goring, Larousse, 1994

Guide to Women's Writing in English by Lorna Sage, Cambridge UP, 1999

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Jane Austen,c1810 by Cassandra

Austen's Northanger Abbey & Persuasion