Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
Frances Burney
-
Standard Name: Burney, Frances
Birth Name: Frances Burney
Nickname: Fanny
Nickname: The Old Lady
Married Name: Frances D'Arblay
Indexed Name: Madame D'Arblay
Pseudonym: A Sister of the Order
Used Form: the author of Evelina
Used Form: the author of Evelina and Cecilia
Used Form: the author of Evelina, Cecilia, and Camilla
FB
, renowned as a novelist in her youth and middle age, outlived her high reputation; her fourth and last novel (published in 1814) was her least well received. Her diaries and letters, posthumously published, were greeted with renewed acclaim. During the late twentieth century the re-awakening of interest in her fiction and the rediscovery of her plays revealed her as a woman of letters to be reckoned with. Today her reputation in the academic world stands high, and productions of her plays are no longer isolated events.
Clarentine was a successful debut. The Critical Review (which opened its brief review on the author's relationship to her elder sister
) said it was greatly superior to novels of the ordinary stamp; and it...
Textual Production
Sarah Harriet Burney
Colburn originally wanted to publish two volumes of tales together; then he agreed to publish The Shipwreck immediately if a second volume could be ready soon after Christmas 1815. He had advertised volume one on...
Family and Intimate relationships
Selina Bunbury
SB
greatly admired Frances Burney
, who was a family connection by marriage—an unfortunate connection, in fact, since Molesworth Phillips
, who married Frances's closest sister, Susan
, and proved a cruel husband, was SB
Literary responses
Frances Brooke
FB
was listed by the Monthly Review as one of the nine British Muses in April 1774. Anna Seward
in 1796 recorded her preference of the lively Brooke to Frances Burney
, of whom each...
Textual Production
Frances Brooke
FB
invited Frances Burney
to collaborate with her on a new periodical; Burney declined.
The date is from Brooke's letter expressing regret.
McMullen, Lorraine. An Odd Attempt in a Woman: The Literary Life of Frances Brooke. University of British Columbia Press.
204-5, 235n2
Friends, Associates
Frances Brooke
As a result of her friendship with the musicologist Charles Burney
(1726-1814), FB
became a friend of his daughter Frances
as well.
McMullen, Lorraine. An Odd Attempt in a Woman: The Literary Life of Frances Brooke. University of British Columbia Press.
135
Frances Burney liked Brooke, but was worried at her close friendship with...
Intertextuality and Influence
Amelia Bristow
The Maniac deals with the effects of the Irish Rebellion. The narrator, Albert, has gone mad after returning home to find his house sacked and wife and children murdered. His sister, Emma, also dies and...
Friends, Associates
Henrietta Maria Bowdler
Frances Burney
preferred HMB
, as more kind and gentle, to her sister Frances Bowdler. Burney amusingly records a visit by herself, HMB and others, to Lady Miller
of Batheaston on 8 June 1780, when...
Literary responses
Elizabeth Bonhote
The Critical Review placed this novel in the middle of the first rank of fiction, calling it very interesting and pleasing
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
1: 468
although too much like Burney
's Cecilia. Andrew Becket
in the Monthly agreed.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press.
1: 468
Friends, Associates
Mary Matilda Betham
Meanwhile Edward Jerningham
, Charlotte's uncle (himself a writer), took an interest in MMB
's development.
Lewis Bettany
has no index entry for MMB
in his Edward Jerningham and His Friends, 1919: unsurprisingly, since...
Literary responses
Anna Maria Bennett
William Enfield
in the Monthly Review thought this book an inferior imitation of Burney
's Cecilia, but added a little faint praise. The Critical, with depressing predictability, censured AMB
's intricate plot and...
Textual Production
Anna Maria Bennett
This was again anonymous; some thought it by Frances Burney
. AMB
dedicated it to another of George III
's children, Prince William Henry
(a naval officer who would be in a position to offer...
Intertextuality and Influence
Anna Maria Bennett
AMB
's usual huge cast of characters ranging from satirical to sentimental is introduced by a preface signed by one of them, explaining that what follows will be the autobiographical tale of her chequered existence...
Friends, Associates
Lady Anne Barnard
LAB
's later social life in London is mentioned in the diary of Frances Burney
.
Graham, Henry Grey. Scottish Men of Letters in the Eighteenth Century. Adam and Charles Black.
345
Sir Walter Scott
renewed his early acquaintance with her after fifty years.
Textual Features
Lady Anne Barnard
In a striking parallel with the young Frances Burney
, she makes her writing her confidante: in thy Breast can secrets rest, / Thy chattering tongue will neer reveal, / What we require thee to...
