Evelina

by Frances Burney

Overview

Evelina or the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World is a novel written by English author Frances Burney and first published in 1778. Evelina, the title character, is the unacknowledged but legitimate daughter of a dissipated English aristocrat. Her dubious birth has seen her raised in rural seclusion until her seventeenth year. Through a series of humorous events that take place in London and the resort town of Hotwells, near Bristol, Evelina learns how to navigate the complex layers of 18th-century society and earn the love of a distinguished nobleman. This sentimental novel, which has notions of sensibility and early romanticism, satirizes the society in which it is set and is a significant precursor to later works by Jane Austen and Maria Edgeworth, whose novels explore many of the same issues. (wikipedia.org)

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781604445237
Publisher:	Indoeuropeanpublishing.com
Publication date:	06/06/2011
Pages:	302
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Daughter of famed Music Historian, Charles Burney, Frances Burney became a literary sensation soon after she released her first book, Evelina, in 1778. Although Evelina was first published anonymously, Miss Burney's identity as the author was soon discovered, coming as a surprise even to her father. She became second keeper of the robes for Queen Charlotte starting in 1786, and then in 1793, met and married the French émigré, General D'Arblay. Frances chronicled her long life in her Journals and Letters, which have been preserved and reprinted various times (recently, by McGill-Queen's University Press). Frances Burney's novels were known and admired by Jane Austen, Napoleon and Edmund Burke alike. Frances Burney was born in Norfolk, England, in 1752 and died in London in 1840.

Table of Contents

About the Series
About This Volume
List of Illustrations

PART ONE: EVELINA: THE COMPLETE TEXT

Introduction: Cultural and Historical Background

Chronology of Burney's Life and Times

A Note on the Text

Evelina, or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World [First Edition, January 1778]

PART TWO: EVELINA: CULTURAL CONTEXTS

1. The Young Lady
For the Young Lady
James Fordyce, "On the Importance of the Female Sex"
Thomas Gisborne, "On the Mode of Introducing Young Women into General Society"
Thomas Gisborne, "On the Employment of Time"
By the Young Lady
Frances Burney, An Unwanted Proposal of Marriage
Frances Burney, Directions for Coughing and Sneezing before the King and Queen

2. The Fashionable World
Making Fashion
Richard Campbell, From The London Tradesman
Joseph Addison, On the Royal Exchange (The Spectator, No. 69)
Joseph Addison, The Influence of French Fashions (The Spectator, No. 45)
Oliver Goldsmith, On London Shops (From The Citizen of the World)
Henry Fielding, People of Fashion (From The Covent-Garden Journal)
Placing Fashion
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele, On the London Theatre, (From The Spectator, Nos. 240, 245, and 502)
Anonymous, From A Sketch of the Spring-Gardens, Vaux-hall
Oliver Goldsmith, On a Visit to Vauxhall Gardens (From The Citizen of the World)
Tobias Smollett, On a Visit to Bath (From Humphry Clinker)
Christopher Anstey, From The New Bath Guide

3. Beyond the Fashionable World
Visitors to London
César de Saussure, From A Foreign View of England in the Reigns of George I and George II
W. de Archenholtz, From A Picture of England
Carl Phillip Moritz, From Travels, Chiefly on Foot, Through Several Parts of England, in 1782
Thomas Campbell, From Dr. Campbell's Diary of a Visit to England in 1775
Seafaring Men
James Anthony Gardner, Voyages of a Seaman
Edward Boscawen, Waging War against France
Thomas Pasley, A Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope
Olaudah Equiano, Serving with the English Navy

Selected Bibliography