Fanny Burney

Henry Austin DobsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.3

Word count: 372K words
Chapters: 38

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay) by Austin DobsonAuthor: Dobson, Austin, 1840-1921,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Apr 27, 2015

Editor's review

This is Austin Dobson's biographical and critical study of Fanny Burney (Madame d'Arblay), a resource for the study of English literature. Burney was a major eighteenth-century English novelist and diarist whose letters and journals record the social life and court culture of her time in vivid, finely observed detail, and they are valuable for understanding the English novel's transition from Richardson and Fielding to Austen. Dobson, a Victorian biographer, writes in an elegant style and connects life and works closely, so readers can trace Burney's creative development and the circumstances of her age. This is a public-domain English ebook of moderate length, suitable as supplementary reading for courses in English literary history and for readers interested in eighteenth-century English society and culture who read in short sessions on a commute or in the evening. It is best read alongside selections from Burney's own diaries and novels such as Evelina for a fuller understanding of her literary standing.

Who it's for

A good fit for

English literature students needing a case study of an eighteenth-century novelist
General readers interested in eighteenth-century English society and court life
Readers studying the tradition of women's writing and early women novelists
Self-learners who read English public-domain books and prefer biography

Not a good fit for

Readers who want Burney's own novels rather than a critical biography
Beginners with limited English who need a Chinese translation
Researchers seeking current scholarly perspectives and theoretical analysis

Reading tips

Read the chronology of Burney's life first, then relate each chapter to the works of that period.
Read alongside Evelina or selections from Burney's diaries to reinforce impressions.
Take brief notes after each chapter on the author's judgments about Burney's character and times.
Read the English original in installments and look up proper names before continuing.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book written by Fanny Burney herself?

No. It is Austin Dobson's critical biography of Fanny Burney, belonging to biography and literary criticism rather than to Burney's own novels or diaries. Readers who want her creative work should look for novels such as Evelina or selections from her letters and diaries.

What level of English is needed to read this book?

The book is late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century English prose, elegant in phrasing but not obscure. Readers with college English proficiency and familiarity with basic literary terms will find it accessible; those with only elementary English should use a dictionary or read introductory Chinese materials first.

How does this book help in understanding the history of the English novel?

Burney belongs to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; her work inherits the sentimental and moral tradition of Richardson and Fielding and anticipates Austen's novels of manners. Learning about her life and creative background through this study helps readers grasp changes in subject matter and taste during this transitional phase of the English novel.

Comments

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About the author

Henry Austin Dobson Author · British · 1840–1921

Henry Austin Dobson (1840–1921) was a British poet, essayist and biographer, born in Plymouth and long employed by the British Board of Trade. He devoted himself to reviving French classical verse forms in England, such as the triolet and the rondeau, and was an important figure in the Parnassian movement; his poems are metrically exact and refined in classical taste. Beyond poetry, he specialised in eighteenth-century English culture, writing biographies and critical studies of Horace Walpole, Fielding and Fanny Burney, as well as essay collections such as Eighteenth Century Vignettes and De Libris: Prose and Verse. His elegant prose vividly portrays people and period, and he did much to popularise eighteenth-century literature and social life. Six of his works are held in this collection.