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Reading Jane Austen: Northanger Abbey
Oct. 4th, 2019 07:19 pmNorthanger Abbey
And next we have Northanger Abbey, the first of Austen's novels accepted for publication, and heartbreakingly, one of the last two to be published, shortly after she had passed away. Seriously, that must be one of the most infuriating things to happen to the author - the copyright was bought by a printer, who put an advertisement in a paper, and then sat on it unpublished and threatened Austen with legal action if she tried to sell it elsewhere. During her poor years, paying back the ten pounds she'd earned on it was an expense too great, and she had to wait until she had independently reached success before she was able to get the rights back. Her brother, who handled the transaction, made a point of waiting until after the paperwork was done to tell the publisher that he'd been sitting on an unpublished Austen novel. It came paired with Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, and as the pair together bookend themselves in the city of Bath, a teenager on her first big excursion, compared to a woman past her first bloom being sent back to a place full of unhappy memories where it rains a lot, there is a great sense of nuance and irony reading them back to back.
( Read more... )
And next we have Northanger Abbey, the first of Austen's novels accepted for publication, and heartbreakingly, one of the last two to be published, shortly after she had passed away. Seriously, that must be one of the most infuriating things to happen to the author - the copyright was bought by a printer, who put an advertisement in a paper, and then sat on it unpublished and threatened Austen with legal action if she tried to sell it elsewhere. During her poor years, paying back the ten pounds she'd earned on it was an expense too great, and she had to wait until she had independently reached success before she was able to get the rights back. Her brother, who handled the transaction, made a point of waiting until after the paperwork was done to tell the publisher that he'd been sitting on an unpublished Austen novel. It came paired with Austen's last completed novel, Persuasion, and as the pair together bookend themselves in the city of Bath, a teenager on her first big excursion, compared to a woman past her first bloom being sent back to a place full of unhappy memories where it rains a lot, there is a great sense of nuance and irony reading them back to back.
( Read more... )
