Evelina

What an utterly remarkable book! It is was published in 1778 and is a milestone in the development of the novel. I didn't think the device of using Evelina's letters to tell the story really works. The letters in reply to Evelina were so short and so largely irrelevant to the development of the story that the correspondence sometimes seemed contrived and artificial, and on occasion I couldn't imagine how Evelina found the time to write her letters. However, if the novel form barely exists then I guess Frances Burney had to reveal Evelina's thoughts in a way that would seem plausible and familiar to the readers of the time. I enjoyed the book most for its description of genteel society in the 1770s, and how startlingly different this was from what Jane Austen portrayed half a century later. Most of the characters who appear are so selfish and self absorbed, so rude and unpleasant, and so utterly predatory that it suggets that the polite conversation and manners portayed by Jane Austen was no more than a set of stock phrases and gestures that had been learned for occasional use. It always seemed to me that Jane Austen's characters could perfectly well express themselves within those conventions, but in Evelina only the cardboard superhero Lord Orville is able to do that, and only later in the novel do we come across Mrs Selwyn to represent the self-confident and erudite women so beloved by Jane. Beyond that we find Evelina and most of the young women she meets to have few choices about what they are permitted to do or say, mere toys of the men they meet and the imperious older women of their circle. I had always thought that Jane Austen was describing a world that really did exist, at least for some, but Frances Burney made me wonder whether that later description was largely imaginary, a device to flatter her readers that they did possess a deeply embedded and admirable gentility rather than just a paper thin assemblage of phrases and conventions. It could of course all have changed in the time between Frances Burney and Jane Austen but I doubt it. I found the world that Frances Burney created for Evelina, in truth the world we see in Hogarth's satirical prints, much more convincing.

The blurb on the back of the book is a great summary of what the novel is about. It describes the themes, the content and the importance of the work in the author's life and body of work. What it can't convey is the book's wonderfully engaging tone of voice. Evelina is an epistolary novel, which follows Evelina in her first year out in society. The letters are those written by Evelina, on the one hand, and her foster father Reverend Villars on the other. Evelina writes mainly to the Reverend Villars and her best friend Maria Mirvan, but there are also a few loose letters to others. Some other authors appear, but their letters are always included in the letters written by Evelina and Villars. The tone of the novel is fun and it is very readable despite its 18th century peculiarities of spelling and words. The novel is about class in both senses of the word: status and manners. You may be of a higher class, but still have no manners and vice versa. The story seems to illustrate that class is something you're born with, you either have it or you don't. If you're born without it, you can put on the mask but it doesn't make you genteel. Both Sir Clement and Mr. Smith are examples of this; Sir Clement is an unmannered oaf, who based on his title and status in society thinks he can behave as he likes and get away with it. Mr. Smith, in contrast is not born of the upper class and hopes to convince people that he has a claim to gentility by adopting upper class manners and opinions. Of course, he gets it wrong most of the time. Evelina is the opposite; seemingly born out if wedlock to a Lord, she is raised in less exalted circles than her birth would have entitled her to had she been legitimate. Despite this she possesses all the social niceties and virtues expected of her when entering society, although she is hampered by her great naivety. Both Sir Clement and Mr. Smith gave me the creeps, their almost obsessive pursuit of Evelina is disturbing, but shows the vulnerability of young women in society in the era. Reputation is key, something of which Evelina is well aware. When she's forced to go out in public with her low relations, she fears running into anyone she knows from higher up in society especially Mr. Orville. The vicarious shame Evelina feels for the Branghtons and Mrs Duval is at once hilarious and tragic. It a different sort of shame than the one she feels for the rudeness of Captain Mirvan and, to an extent, Sir Clement. The latter springs from her feeling they should know better, but being powerless to correct them, where with the Branghtons it is more shame to have to acknowledge the connection. With its romantic story, the hilarious shenanigans instigated by Captain Mirvan, its almost satiric look at class and society and, most of all, with its endearing protagonist, Evelina is a lovely read, which kept me thoroughly entertained. Evelina deserves to be read today and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes the works of Jane Austen.

Amazing story for its time. Quite an eye opener and very funny in places

Not finished this yet ... but would like it to finish soon! ... not bad enough to give up on, but not good enough to have me gripped.

An avid fan of Jane Austen, I must admit I'd never heard of Burney until recently having read some favorable comparisons between the two authors, hence my seeking out this book. Certainly I can see the likeness; just as Austen's books, this too provides a witty and satirical observation of society, with plenty of colorful characters and a delightful central romance, and as such makes for an engaging, intelligent and lively read. The story centres around Evelina, a young lady just recently out in society; who having lived a sheltered life, often finds herself ill equipped as to how to cope in the face of the barrage of awkward social situations she encounters. Beautiful and charming, she is, however, rather naive; and coupled with her unfortunate orphanage and sole reliance on the generosity of her benefactor, she is rather akin to a lamb among wolves. Indeed she is rather surrounded by a host of vulgar and unpleasant characters, only the genteel Lord Orville shining out amongst the company; though naturally there follow plenty of misunderstandings and obstacles before our heroine can have her happy ending. The novel itself is in epistolary form, a device that worked well I thought; most of the letters being written by Evelina, and comprising accounts of her experiences as well as her private thoughts on them. The story provides a wonderful insight into fashionable society of the time, places of interest, pursuits etc. I have to say though that there was a marked contrast in the depiction of the manners of such society compared to Austen's books; the majority of the gentlemen behaved quite deplorably, the ladies treated as mere objects to be preyed upon, with very few characters portraying anything approaching true gentility. As such it could rather leave me wondering which is the more accurate depiction of society of the time. Some of the characters were simply so irritating or vulgar, however, that the length of time dedicated to them could but rather frustrate, such as Clement Willoughby and the Branghtons; and I did at times find the parts of the book pertaining to such individuals rather repetitive. The central romance is engaging, and I particular enjoyed the scenes in Bristol in the latter part of the book, where Evelina and Lord Orville finally become better acquainted with each other and overcame all the previous misunderstandings. I also particularly enjoyed the sub-plot of Evelina's troubled parentage; and there were more twists and turns regarding this than I had initially expected. Finally there are also some truly comic scenes in the book; such that all in all this makes for a delightful read, though I would say, despite certain similarities, not to expect another Austen.

This is one of my favourite novels. My paperback Penguin edition is well-loved and dog-eared so I downloaded a free Public Domain edition to read on my Kindle, but I was horrified to discover American spellings! For me, this borders on philistinism. And I'm sure formatting an epistolary novel for digital readers presents a challenge, but not bothering to right-justify the address and date at the beginning of each letter, introducing extra line spacing between paragraphs, and failing to recognise the importance of long dashes to signify deliberate omissions in the text (for names etc) significantly impair the reading experience. The textual construction of this novel is deliberate and is integral to its pace and rhythm, and it must be retained to do Burney and her wonderful story justice. Having searched through about 8 different editions on Amazon, I found the Penguin English Library edition which is BEAUTIFULLY and FAITHFULLY formatted, with English spellings. I was very happy to pay £4.31 for a lovely digital edition. Thank you Penguin!

Oh, the folly of modesty and reserve; how much confusion is caused falsely in thy name? I absolutely love this book! I can't believe I've only just discovered it. It is one of the first romance novels, so do beware of ye olde language. But you do get used to it. I found it amusing at how much chaos was caused by Evelina's purity and innocence. How short this novel would have been if she lived today and was at once able to speak her mind! But this is what makes the book so lovely. There is absolutely no requirement for sex in this romance. I blush at even associating such an act with this work of refinement! Evelina goes to balls and gatherings of all sorts, and her eyes are opened to the horrors and wonders of this world. Every romance reader (or indeed author) should read this book. I feel myself greatly affected by its contents. And I thank and honour Fanny for her bravery as it muct have taken great courage to write this way at the time. And in so doing she had paved the way for many romance novels ever since. Incidentally, in today's terms one J Austen 'crowd funded' this book's publication (before she herself was published). Oh, how much do we owe to this book?

Like the well-known Austen plot of a parentless young girl negotiating her way into the wider world of adulthood, Burney's novel follows Evelina as she leave her secluded country life for the cunning and manipulative world of eighteenth-century London society. Austen obviously drew great inspiration from Burney's host of amusing, despicable and/or outlandish characters, but she toned down Burney's burlesque style, using a subtler, more subversive voice to critique her society. Although Burney's novel lacks the polish and sparkle of an Austen novel, it is well worth reading for its comic characters, interesting plot turns and compelling narrative voice. Of course the ending is predictable and like Austen, it pairs everyone off neatly and succinctly, but that is not without revealing the many dangers and difficulties for young women in a patriarchal society along the way. Although the beautiful Evelina appears to have every eligible bachelor falling at her feet, she is coerced from all angles into following other peoples desires for her future.The claustrophobia of Evelina's position highlights the lack of autonomy for women in the eighteenth-century and the worth Burney invested in her female character's morals and perception, signalled the beginning of a female writing tradition that attempted to subtly elevate the moral status and intelligence of women to that of their male counterparts, through literature. An important novel for anyone interested in Austen or in a female writing tradition, it offers an interesting portrayal of eighteenth-century society from a female perspective.

A lot more interesting than I expected.

Bought for a university course and will continue to finish the book, very interesting to read

J’avais beaucoup entendu parlé de ce contemporain de Jane Austen qui aurait inspiré un de mes auteurs préférés. Je l’ai lu en même temps que je revisitais 2 roman de Jane Austen. J’aime les romans dites épistolaires et on se laisse rapidement prendre par l’intrigue. Les illustrations sont des plus réussis. Je recommande et je serai intéressé de lire d’au Œuvres de cette auteur.

'Evelina' is written in the form of letters, exchanged between a seventeen-year-old girl on her first venture into the great world, to her guardian, Reverend Villiers of Berry Hill. This was not an uncommon way of writing novels in those days; Jane Austen wrote her first novel, 'Love and Friendship', in the form of letters between 1783 and 1790. One of the first epistolary novels was 'Love-Letters Between a Nobleman and His Sister' (yes, it's every bit as bad as it sounds) written by Aphra Behn in the 1680s. 'Evelina' bears some minor resemblances to this, and other earlier novels, like those by Samuel Richardson, but is, in many ways, a very new and different sort of book than had ever been written before. The most important aspect of 'Evelina', is its incredible realism. Unfortunately considered long-winded and cumbersome by today's standards, 'Evelina' was revolutionary in its day. Over a period of seven months, the letters meticulously describe a world that is completely alien to us today. Though the eyes of the heroine, we see London, hot, dirty...but terribly exciting. There are balls to visit, gardens, Cox's Museum, which was an array of elaborate mechanical devices. Evelina writes, "They tell me that London is now in full splendour. Two playhouses are open, - the Opera-house, - Ranelagh, - and the Pantheon. - You see I have learned all their names." When she goes to visit them, we find out first-hand, what it's like to sit in an 18th century box and watch an 18th century opera. And of course, no period romance would be complete without balls, and Evelina goes to her share of them and has her share of misunderstandings when she accidentally breaks the social codes; "[she is] A poor weak girl!" Lord Orville remarks when asked his first impression of her. In this way, at least, 'Evelina' isn't quite accessible to the modern reader. Frances Burney was writing for her time; she didn't realize that two hundred years after the fact, people would still be reading her book. There are many things taken for granted that her readers would have known, such as realizing the full import (or the impossibility) of an Earl proposing marriage to seemingly penniless (and possibly illegitimate) young girl; this doesn't detract from the story...it's all the more interesting for learning about how different it was to live then. On the other hand, 'Evelina' is a very modern book. We still feel the emotions they felt then and are delighted by the same things. Not only are the circumstances surprisingly easy to relate to, but the language is modern. Contractions are scattered liberally through the dialog and Miss Burney's ease at writing dialect marks her as a fore-runner of Charles Dickens. Many expressions which we still use today are scattered throughout 'Evelina', such as `in a huff', `sick of it', `the man in the moon', `putting in one's oar', `point-blank', `changing with the tide' and `thing-em-bob'. Even some of our prejudices can be dispelled; women might not have had the vote in 1778, but they had a voice. Mrs. Selwyn, an independent woman with a large fortune, regularly runs rings around the men with her wit and intelligence. As Mrs. Selwyn says, "Come, gentlemen...why do you hesitate? I am sure you cannot be afraid of a weak woman?" We all know Shakespeare had wit, but so did Fanny Burney. I don't think any of Jane Austen's books are as laughter-inducing as 'Evelina'. Partly because she was so young and partly because she had a natural turn for humor, Frances Burney often turned serious moments into comedy. There's a pre-planned hold-up and mugging of Evelina's pretend-French grandmother by pretend-highway bandits and Sir Clement Willoughby, Burney's hilarious and good-natured villain, is always ready to be amusing. Even the near-perfect hero, Lord Orville, on closer inspection, becomes a flawed, but humorous and kind-hearted character. Frances Burney went on to write other books, but the spontaneity and light-heartedness of 'Evelina' set it apart. Yes, it deeply influenced Jane Austen and her much more famous books, but 'Evelina' can stand very well on its own two feet. It marked a turning of the tide, the opening of the door to a genre that we still can't get enough of. It is tragic, then, that 'Evelina', and its author, are not better known. They deserve to be.

A great read for any Jane Austen fan, as the author was one of her favourites. Makes you really understand how original Jane Austen was compared to other female authors of her time, a notion that is lost most of the time given her status as a classic.