The Orphan of the Rhine The Orphan of the Rhine The Orphan of the Rhine was a gothic novel by Eleanor Sleath, listed as one of the seven "horrid novels" by Jane Austen in her novel "Northanger Abbey". Subtitled "A Romance" it was published in four volumes the sensationalist Minerva Press in 1798. It was part of a brief but popular vogue of German tales, a fashion criticized in the "Critical Review" of June 1807 "So great is the rage for German tales, and German novels, that a cargo is no sooner imported than the booksellers' shops are filled with a multitude of translators, who
Northanger Abbey Austen's discussion of "Udolpho" is also used to clearly separate Catherine from John Thorpe, as when Catherine talks about the novel with him, he crudely responds that he "never reads novels," but qualifies his statement by arguing he would only read a novel by Anne Radcliffe, who, as Catherine then points out, is the author of "Udolpho". Here, Austen humorously categorizes "Northanger Abbey's" characters into two spheres: those who read novels, and those who do not. When Catherine and Henry Tilney later discuss reading novels, and Henry earnestly responds that he enjoys reading novels, and was especially titillated by "Udolpho,"