Cecilia; Or Memoirs of an Heiress Fanny Burney 9781313176514 Books
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Cecilia; Or Memoirs of an Heiress Fanny Burney 9781313176514 Books
What a lovely novel. There are so many reasons why I enjoyed this and really only one that I wouldn't recommend to certain people. Let's focus on the positive first.Francis Burney is a marvelous writer. This book was easy to read, the writing flowed and the characters were well drawn out and clearly formed. Except for Devile it was easy to know exactly what each character would do in any given situation, not because the book was predictable, but because the author was so consistent with her characters that they became real. I excluded Devile from this because his character was inconsistent, I think this was intentional, he was in a constant state of conflict and that conflict drove him to act in ways that he wouldn't have otherwise.
The story is like a soap opera, which is a good thing. This novel (spoilers) contains two duels, an interruption at the alter, two elopements, and that's not all. People walk in at the most inconveniently dramatic moment possible multiple times throwing the story for a loop. Sure this comes off as predictable and over dramatic now, but 200 years ago before we were inundated with the same story over and over again by the same plot all of these threads are kind of mind blowing and make me give Francis Bruney major props.
I love the insight this story gives into the manners and sensibilities of the times. I couldn't help but be annoyed with Cecelia for constantly changing her mind about (spoiler) her decision to elope with Devile and then I realized that while this made ME a 20th century woman see her as weak and wishy washy, this was the only way for Burney to make Cecila sympathetic and redeemable for making a choice that at the time was more than taboo. I also loved some of the secondary characters who were there to satirize people in popular society, the girl who talks too much and says nothing, the Georgian version of the "mean" girl who says nothing to anyone but her friends, the man who will do anything to seem disinterested. It also touches on Burney's clear personal opinions on the way the upper class takes advantage of the working class, starting a theme continued in The Wanderer of the upper class not paying their debts.
But with all the good, there is some not so good. While I like a long novel this one was too long. There were scenes and back and forties that were just unnessecery. I prefer that we have too much and all the good, but if there were a way to maybe have edited it a little bit that would have made it perfect.
Finally, I want to point out that this book was very obviously impactful to Jane Austen. Not only does the book clearly make a point out of wrapping up the theme with comments about PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but there is also a line linking dancing and savages, and Devile's father tells Cecelia that she should tell his son (spoiler) that he must never see Cecelia again or him. These moments all made me smile, by no means do I intend to throw shade at the awesome Miss Austen, but I really enjoyed seeing building blocks for her own creative genius.
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Cecilia; Or Memoirs of an Heiress Fanny Burney 9781313176514 Books Reviews
Wow, when I started this tome I didn't realize it had 1000 pages. I orginally picked it up, because I knew that Jane Austen liked reading Fanny Burney's novels. This was the closest I've ever come to another Jane Austen novel. However, I will say that Austen masterfully completes in approximately 300 pages what it took Burney 1000 pages to do.
Burney has created some amazing characters in this novel, and the story is very good. However, I did alternate between loving it and wanting to tear my hair out. The sheer length of the novel really tested my fortitude at times. All in all I do recommend Burney to anyone who wishes there was just one more Austen novel.
(Caviat Ok, so I have to confess that I am a Burney specialist, so I am a little biased, but only because she's the reason I'm an eighteenth-century scholar!)
When Burney turned to writing her second novel, /Cecilia/ (1782), after her blockbuster success with the light-hearted and thoroughly enjoyable /Evelina/ (1778), and after a severe upset when her father instructed her not to produce her play, /The Witlings/, which bears similar plots and characters to /Cecilia/, she admitted to her sister, Susanna, that she was afraid of writing another novel and enjoying less success. While /Cecilia/ is infinitely more complex and three times as long as /Evelina/, it became a staple of eighteenth-century novels, especially by women. Writers like Charlotte Smith, Ann Radcliffe, and Jane Austen would write successful novels (Austen's /Pride and Prejudice/ being the most successful) that in many ways responded to the novelistic tradition set down by Burney in /Cecilia/--it's actually really funny to read contemporary reviews of their work, especially because so many reviewers would say something to the effect of, "it's a great novel, but it's not as good as /Cecilia/." Austen alone escaped this critique.
/Cecilia/ is an extraordinary novel not only in its breadth but also in the subject matter Burney takes up obsessed in almost every novel with suicide, she delves into the emotional and cultural terror of public spaces, private vices, and the dissipation of all ranks of society once again, especially in a climactic scene at Vauxhall, which Johnson famously told her was "exceedingly well-done." The masquerade sequence, too, is utterly delightful and vexing. And while masquerade scenes are by no means rare in eighteenth-century literature, Burney brings to it that archness of wit and vivacity that is particular only to her style of prose. What's even more fascinating is the fact that you get in /Cecilia/ a representation of complete failure and utter inefficacy of patriarchal figures--three inept guardians, and a hero who, while lovable, lives up to his name--Mortimer is always "mortified"--even as Cecilia is required to submit and adhere to the patriarchal regulations of English society.
Cecilia, too, is a unique heroine in the sense that the narrative reveals her interior desires and fantasies of the future with Delvile before she hears a declaration by him--something rather different than her other novels, in which heroines indirectly express their desires or attempt to cover them up before hearing a declaration. Moreover, she does some pretty outrageous things, like consenting, though under duress, to a secret marriage and pursuing her husband at night alone on the streets of London--the acute anxiety and intense emotions of these scenes are executed with brilliance and verve by Burney. It's an exciting novel, and you never feel as though you're reading 900 pages--in fact, I am always sorry when it's over!
A couple eighteenth-centuryisms may deter a reader not particularly interested in the field or in literary studies in general...while Burney is entertaining for any sort of reader, in my opinion, there are a few things about the time period that to a reader unfamiliar with the style would make her work seem maudlin or "unrealistic" the florid language, the play between bursts of passion/emotion and intense "English" restraint and forbearance, the staged manners, and the ceaseless pursuit and torments of the heroine by other men in the novel would seem over-dramatic and "fake" to some, but they are staples of the period. If you enjoy Burney and want to read some other great novelists who take up similar strains, I'd recommend Elizabeth Inchbald's /A Simple Story/ (1791), Charlotte Smith's /Emmeline/ (1788), Ann Radcliffe's /The Italian/ (1797), and Maria Edgeworth's /Belinda/ (1801). Burney's /The Wanderer/ (1814), a close, close second to /Cecilia/ in my opinion, is also a fantastic novel, although the heightened sensibility to terror and the vexed question of "liberty" mark it as a novel of the French Revolution. Though published in 1814, at the same time as Austen's /Mansfield Park/, Burney wrote quite a bit of the novel during the late 1790s, early 1800s, after experiencing life in France with her husband, D'Arblay, a French aristocratic emigre--Burney experienced first-hand the political and social terror and unrest in both Britain and France caused by the Revolution and Reign of Terror. It's a little more outrageous, therefore, than /Cecilia/, but equally entertaining and fascinating!
I really liked this story, the more I read. You will have to acclimate yourself to 1780's writing which is wordy and consist of the real King's English but besides that, the novel consist of duels, old-fashion romance, intrigues, betrayals and a nervous breakdown. It's a combo of Pride & Prejudice and bit Dickens commentary of rich & poor in the 18 century. And surprisingly, Cecilia becomes very independent and strong for the times.
Finally, I laughed & I cried reading this novel. I rarely tear up reading books. Btw, Frances Burney takes time and pages to fully develop her characters, so this is not a short read. I plan to read another novel of Ms Burney!
What a lovely novel. There are so many reasons why I enjoyed this and really only one that I wouldn't recommend to certain people. Let's focus on the positive first.
Francis Burney is a marvelous writer. This book was easy to read, the writing flowed and the characters were well drawn out and clearly formed. Except for Devile it was easy to know exactly what each character would do in any given situation, not because the book was predictable, but because the author was so consistent with her characters that they became real. I excluded Devile from this because his character was inconsistent, I think this was intentional, he was in a constant state of conflict and that conflict drove him to act in ways that he wouldn't have otherwise.
The story is like a soap opera, which is a good thing. This novel (spoilers) contains two duels, an interruption at the alter, two elopements, and that's not all. People walk in at the most inconveniently dramatic moment possible multiple times throwing the story for a loop. Sure this comes off as predictable and over dramatic now, but 200 years ago before we were inundated with the same story over and over again by the same plot all of these threads are kind of mind blowing and make me give Francis Bruney major props.
I love the insight this story gives into the manners and sensibilities of the times. I couldn't help but be annoyed with Cecelia for constantly changing her mind about (spoiler) her decision to elope with Devile and then I realized that while this made ME a 20th century woman see her as weak and wishy washy, this was the only way for Burney to make Cecila sympathetic and redeemable for making a choice that at the time was more than taboo. I also loved some of the secondary characters who were there to satirize people in popular society, the girl who talks too much and says nothing, the Georgian version of the "mean" girl who says nothing to anyone but her friends, the man who will do anything to seem disinterested. It also touches on Burney's clear personal opinions on the way the upper class takes advantage of the working class, starting a theme continued in The Wanderer of the upper class not paying their debts.
But with all the good, there is some not so good. While I like a long novel this one was too long. There were scenes and back and forties that were just unnessecery. I prefer that we have too much and all the good, but if there were a way to maybe have edited it a little bit that would have made it perfect.
Finally, I want to point out that this book was very obviously impactful to Jane Austen. Not only does the book clearly make a point out of wrapping up the theme with comments about PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, but there is also a line linking dancing and savages, and Devile's father tells Cecelia that she should tell his son (spoiler) that he must never see Cecelia again or him. These moments all made me smile, by no means do I intend to throw shade at the awesome Miss Austen, but I really enjoyed seeing building blocks for her own creative genius.
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