The Early Journals And Letters Of Fanny Burney

Volume IV of The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney, covering the years 1780-1781, will be of particular interest to students of Burney as it marks the young author's introduction into the world following the astonishing success of her novel Evelina (1778) and includes her visits to Streatham and her encounters with Hester and Henry Thrale and Dr Johnson. It was an exciting period in her life, which she managed to enjoy despite struggling to repeat her first success while avoiding the often unwelcome attention it brought. But it was also a difficult period in her family life as she dealt with jealous interference by her stepmother, the courtship of her sister Susan by a man she considered untrustworthy, and the misbehaviour of her brothers. Burney's enthusiasm makes the most of her experiences and she describes characters and scenes with all the genius displayed in her novels. Her descriptions contain the four great attributes that distinguish her novels: brilliant handling of detail, total and full recall of conversations characteristic of the speaker, sensibility and empathy for others, and great relish for the ridiculous wherever it occurred.

Novelist and playwright Frances (Fanny) Burney, 1752-1840, was also a prolific writer of journals and letters, beginning with the diary she started at fifteen and continuing until the end of her eventful life. From her youth in London high society to a period in the court of Queen Charlotte and her years interned in France with her husband Alexandre d'Arblay during the Napoleonic Wars, she captured the changing times around her, creating brilliantly comic and candid portraits of those she encountered - including the 'mad' King George, Samuel Johnson, Sir Joshua Reynolds, David Garrick and a charismatic Napoleon Bonaparte. She also describes, in her most moving piece, undergoing a mastectomy at fifty-nine without anaesthetic. Whether a carefree young girl or a mature woman, Fanny Burney's forthright, intimate and wickedly perceptive voice brings her world powerfully to life.

Stewart J. Cooke teaches English at Dawson College --Book Jacket.

This third of 12 projected volumes of a critical edition of English novelist Burney's (1752-1840) journals and letters covers the period from January 1778 to December 1779, the period following the publication of Evelina, or, a Young Lady's Entrance into the World, a universally acclaimed novel that led admirers to place Burney in the ranks of Fielding and Richardson. It reveals Burney's striking transformation to a "celebrity" as she is welcomed into London's literary society, and her mixed delight and terror at this reception. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Stewart J. Cooke teaches English at Dawson College --Book Jacket.

Volume V of The Early Journals and Letters of Fanny Burney covers a period of significant gains and losses for the young writer. Professionally, Burney consolidated her reputation as England's premier novelist with the publication of Cecilia. Through a mutual friendship she gained an appointment as Keeper of the Robes to Queen Charlotte, a position that provided both financial security and an insider's view to life at Court. Burney's professional success during these years was balanced by countless personal setbacks. Deprived of the companionship of her favourite sister following her sister's marriage, she also lost the friendship of Hester Lynch Thrale who grew increasingly distant during her romantic attachment to Gabriel Piozzi (whom she married in 1784). The death of her dear friend and mentor Samuel Crisp causes Burney deep sadness, and her emotional turmoil is further exacerbated by her introduction to George Owen Cambridge, a young clergyman to whom she is clearly attracted but who refuses to either declare himself to her, or leave her in peace. Throughout these trials and triumphs, Burney - an artist with an acute sense of the complexities and vagaries of human nature - never ceases to fix her lens on the fashions and follies of English society as they emerge in the manners of her time.