The purpose of this brief article is to explain some Writing novel tips in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey
In Mary Duffy’s writing guide Textbook for Writers, we find a discussion of the differences among psycho-narration, stream of consciousness, and indirect free speech (IFS).
Let’s see how Jane Austen handles psycho narration and IFS:
“She wished Isabella had talked more like her usual self, and not so much about money, and had not looked so well pleased at the sight of Captain Tilney. How strange that she should not perceive his admiration!”
In the first sentence, the verb ‘wished’ is a linking verb is a verb that expresses a state of being rather than an action. It is the voice of the narrator that tells readers what is going on inside the head of the character. This is psycho-narration as explained by Mary Duffy:
“The theorist Dorrit Cohen invented the label “Psycho-Narration” with which the writer -by means of certain internal-state verbs – gets inside the head of characters (page 191).”
The second sentence (which is an exclamation sentence), ‘How strange that she should not perceive his admiration!’ is an example of ‘indirect free speech’ (IFS). The demarcation between the narrator and the character has been blurred. Readers attribute the thought to the character without the need of the narrator’s voice.
What makes the sentence IFS is the use of the exclamation mark. This is one of the requisites, but there several more with which accomplished writers signify that the thoughts belong to the characters.
Considering that jane austen’s northanger abbey was the first novel she wrote, and when she was only twenty-four years old, one might consider that the literary device of IFS, so widely used today, was indeed invented by her. Of course, many will disagree, as this is a controversial point. In later novels, such as Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen, as a more mature writer, masters the technique throughout the novel.
See for example:
“Had Edward been intentionally deceiving her? Had he feigned a regard for her which he did not feel? Was his engagement to Lucy, an engagement of the heart? No; whatever it might once have been, she could not believe it such at present. His affection was all her own. She could not be deceived in that. Her mother, sisters, Fanny, all had been conscious of his regard for her at Norland; it was not an illusion of her own vanity. He certainly loved her.What a softener of the heart was this persuasion!”
Northanger Abbey is a juvenile story in which the heroine Catherine Morland undergoes the experiences –more in her mind than in the outside world– the adventures, passions, and raptures that the Gothic heroines experience in the Gothic novels. Of great influence is the continuous discussion of Mrs. Radcliffe’s much in vogue novel The Mysteries of Udolfo. Catherine’s heated imagination as fueled by her reading of novels enables Jane Austen to parody the genre, where one will not find the roots of human nature.
For a full discussion of psycho-narration, indirect free speech, and stream of consciousness, refer to Mary Duffy’s textbook: Toolbox for Writers.