Fanny Burney: Her Life 1752-1840 - Hardcover

Chisholm, Kate

3.95

21 ratings by Goodreads

9780701163785: Fanny Burney: Her Life 1752-1840

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 070116378X ISBN 13: 9780701163785

Publisher: Chatto & Windus, 1998

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1st Macmillan edition 2nd print 1998 hardcover fine book in fine dw shipped from our UK warehouse

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Review:

Kate Chisholm's Fanny Burney: Her Life has been warmly welcomed for its affectionate and scholarly insight into the life of a professional woman writer at the turn of the 18th century. Born in 1752, Burney died in 1840 having achieved fame--if not fortune--as the author of Evelina (1778) and Cecilia (1780-82). Chisholm's fascinating account of Burney's early life--the death of her mother, her beloved father's remarriage, her stepmother's disapproval of the "vice" of scribbling--brings to life the historical and cultural, context in which Burney wrote: the origin of her literary career in the secret journal To Nobody; the dilemmas facing a woman author in the age of Dr Johnson and the world of "literary" society; the constant tension between love and writing. A keen observer of her world and herself in it--her wry account of her four years at the court of "Mad King George" is one example, her excruciating description of her own mastectomy another--the publication of The Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay ensured Burney's fame in the 19th century. It is the skill and verve, of Chisholm's biography to make a reader want to turn back to the fiction--and the popular heroines who made Burney a literary name in her own time. -- Vicky Lebeau

Review:

"Fascinating...Elopements, marital breakdowns, incest, illegitimacy, eating disorders and hysterical illnesses...One of the many strengths of Chisholm's scrupulous biography is that, rather than cash in on the voguishness of this material, she demonstrates how many of these troubles were exacerbated by the values of their time." -- Judith Hawley Guardian "A book warmed by affection and understanding of [Kate Chisholm's] subhect, and fuelled by impressive research...Burney is worth remembering, worth reviving, as a compex and idiosyncratic figure of her times, a rich source of information and indeed a writer of genius." -- Claire Tomalin Sunday Telegraph "Kate Chisholm gives reportage that is every bit as gripping, witty and incisive as her heroine." -- Syrie Johnson Evening Standard "Persuades us of Burney's value as a writer and will send readers to her work with an anticipation of pleasure, which is exactly what a literary biography should." -- Stella Tillyard The Times

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