One of the first of Jane Austen's novels to be written, and one of the last to be published, Northanger Abbey is both an amusing story of how a naive girl enters society and wins the affection of a witty young clergyman, and a high-spirited parody of the lurid Gothic novels that were popular during Austen's youth. In the process it features a vivid account of social life in late eighteenth-century Bath, and Austen's famous defence of the novel as a literary form. This edition, based on the text of the novel as published posthumously in 1818, is accompanied by explanatory notes and an appendix summarising the plots and situations of the Gothic fictions that form the basis of much of Austen's comedy. In addition there is an extensive critical introduction covering the context, publication and critical history of the novel, a chronology of Austen's life and an authoritative textual apparatus.

'Benedict and Le Faye … provide in their respective volumes a generous, helpful, and historically informed introduction to the work and its reception; a set of informative, judicious explanatory notes; and a meticulously prepared and visually well presented text. … The Northanger Abbey edition is excellent … offers a magnificent summary …'

Devoney Looser - University of Missouri