Jane Austen and the Gothic Novels: The Reception of Northanger Abbey in China

Abstract

Jane Austen's Gothic parody Northanger Abbey was first published in 1818 and translated into Chinese in 1958 under the title Nuosangjue Si (諾桑覺寺). However, the novel has remained unpopular in China to this day and has received considerably less critical attention than Austen's other works, especially Pride and Prejudice (1813). This article examines the reception of Northanger Abbey in China since the early twentieth century, considering in particular the reasons for contemporary readers' lukewarm response to the novel. It argues that a knowledge of Gothic conventions and elements is crucial to an understanding of the literary satire in Northanger Abbey—and yet Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novels were not available to Chinese readers in translation until very recent decades. It also addresses the difficulties that arose when translating the Gothic-sounding title of Northanger Abbey from English into Chinese and explores the influence of Marxist literary criticism on the first translation of the novel.