Austen, from Northanger Abbey (Oxford Classics)

For analysis of implied reader. Cf. Darnton's citations from Ong, etc. (179-181).

Every morning now brought its regular duties; -- shops were to be visited; some new part of the town to be looked at; and the Pump-room to be attended, where they paraded up and down for an hour, looking at every body and speaking to no one. The wish of a numerous acquaintance in Bath was still uppermost with Mrs. Allen, and she repeated it after every fresh proof, which every morning brought, of her knowing nobody at all. (14)

With more than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten to the Pump-room the next day, secure within herself of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the morning were over, and ready to meet him with a smile:-- but no smile was demanded -- Mr. Tilney did not appear. Every creature in Bath, except himself, was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every moment passing in and out, up the steps and down; people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see; and he only was absent. 'What a delightful place Bath is,' said Mrs. Allen, as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired; 'and how pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here.' (18)


Stylistic analysis
given-new: normally: 'they had to visit shops' etc. Every morning now brought its regular duties; -- shops were to be visited; some new part of the town to be looked at; and the Pump-room to be attended, where they paraded up and down for an hour, looking at every body and speaking to no one. enforced activities; places drive action; deixis: origo displaced narrator: IRONY, characters as if driven by context
  The wish of a numerous acquaintance in Bath was still uppermost with Mrs. Allen, and she repeated it after every fresh proof, which every morning brought, of her knowing nobody at all. (14)

wish: drives Mrs Allen

no one / nobody

every: totalizing
 
  With more than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten to the Pump-room the next day, secure within herself of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the morning were over, and ready to meet him with a smile:-- but no smile was demanded -- Mr. Tilney did not appear.

Catherine as origo

driven again: eagerness, secure, ready

  
Catherine's point of view: FID (narrator merges with character's perspective) Every creature in Bath, except himself, was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every moment passing in and out, up the steps and down; people whom nobody cared about, and nobody wanted to see; and he only was absent.  

IRONY: hyperbole signals narrator

every / nobody: totalizing
  'What a delightful place Bath is,' said Mrs. Allen, as they sat down near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired; 'and how pleasant it would be if we had any acquaintance here.' (18)    

Points to two levels of reading (two alternative implied readers):

level 1: literal -- popular (romance model: young heroine seeks partner)
level 2: ironic -- literary (social role model: women's education, parody of Gothic)

Northanger amenable to both types of reading. Austen "poised between two aesthetics" (Benedict, p. 63)


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Document prepared November 22nd 2004 / updated November 2nd 2009