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How did Jane Austen use parody in her early writing?

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Portrait of Jane Austen seated, wearing a light blue dress and bonnet, holding a closed book on her lap with a thoughtful expression. — Jane Austen Jane Austen, a 19th-century engraving likely derived from a portrait by her sister, Cassandra Austen, c. 1810.

In her early writing, Jane Austen frequently employed parody to critique the literary conventions of her time, particularly the genres of the sentimental novel and sentimental comedy.1

Between 1787 and 1793, Austen produced a significant body of work preserved in three manuscript notebooks—Volume the First, Volume the Second, and Volume the Third—which showcased her early talent for satire and parody through plays, verses, and short novels.12

This satirical approach remained a hallmark of her early published novels, most notably in Northanger Abbey. In this work, Austen parodies the popular Gothic thrillers of the era, such as Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. By reducing Gothic plot devices—like haunted castles and supernatural mysteries—to absurdity, she highlights the protagonist Catherine Morland’s inability to distinguish between reality and fiction. Through this lens, Austen critiqued both the social practices of the Regency period and the literary conventions that shaped the expectations of her contemporary readers.345