Abstract
This essay argues that in Northanger Abbey Austen engages in a contemporary historiographical debate about the role of romance in constructing accounts of the past. She situates this debate within the larger ideological and philosophical conflict between Catholic and post‐Enlightenment Protestant worldviews. By embodying this conflict in Catherine and Henry respectively, Austen reveals that Catherine’s supposed mis‐reading only proves to be a different mode of reading. Catherine’s ability to interpret the past from an alternative perspective allows for her awareness of disturbing present realities, in particular, the violent erasure of women in history.
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