In the preface of Evelina, Burney describes her style as follows: It is in the dialogue that she really shows her ingenuity. Like Jane Austen, Frances Burney is an excellent satirist and parodies characters through her excellent mimicry. In short, her trips are a journey from innocence to experience (to quote Blake).Įvelina is a satire of fashionable life. She is repulsed by the lewd behaviour of men that she meets and soon wishes that she had never left Berry Hill, her home. Not unlike Catherine, Evelina is all innocence and youthfulness and is shocked to experience the realities of London society. As Evelina enters into society, she comes across one odious character after another and must defend her virtue against characters of low morals.
Like Catherine, Evelina is set to ‘come out’ and enter the society to lure the attentions of eligible young men.Įvelina is chaperoned to London, where she visits the numerous theatres, operas and pleasure gardens frequented by fashionable society. The heroine is a girl of obscure birth who has been raised by her loving foster father, Mr Villars, in a comfortable home.
Like Northanger Abbey, Evelina is a coming-of-age novel, with the apt subtitle “The History of the Young Lady’s Entrance Into the World”. As you read through her novels, it becomes evident that Jane Austen drew inspiration from them.Įvelina is a lengthy novel, which was originally written in 3 volumes, according to the custom of the time. Fanny Burney wrote Evelina in the 1770’s, when Jane Austen was still an infant, and Cecilia soon after, and Jane grew up reading these stories. In her novels and letters, Jane Austen made several references to her favourite authors, and amongst her favourites were always Frances (Fanny) Burney and Maria Edgeworth. Have you ever wondered what inspired Jane Austen to use dialogue as a clever way to personify her characters? Was the romantic charlatan, Mr Willoughby, a product of Jane’s imagination or an imprint of her early reading? Read on! Through Evelina, she is the first known person to use words which are still so commonplace now, such as a-shopping, seeing sights, break down and grumpy.
It is interesting to know that the 18th Century author, Fanny Burney, introduced several new words into the English language through the literary form.
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