Frances Burney (1752-1840) novel
In her long life that spanned five reigns, Frances Burney created a new genre in the English novel, chronicled events ranging from George III's mad crisis to the aftermath of Waterloo, and wrote comedies that could have rivalled Sheridan's had they been produced. Her first novel, Evelina, was published anonymously in 1778. With Evelina, she created a new school of fiction in English, one in which women in society were portrayed in realistic, contemporary circumstances. She brought new dynamism to portrayals of personal relationships and familiar home life. The "comedy of manners" genre in which she worked paved the way for Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, and other 19th-century writers. Evelina's mix of social Edmund Burke up all night reading and leading London society to comedy, realism, and wit made it an instant success, keeping speculate on the identity of the writer, who was universally assumed to be a man. Evelina's great success (even Queen Charlotte and the roval princesses were allowed to read the book) reconciled her father to his daughter's authorship. She was taken up by literary and high society and became the first woman to make writing novels respectable. Her second novel, Cecilia, published in 1782, earned her more fame. Even Napoleon husband, General Alexandre d'Arblay, about it. Jane Austen took the leon would read it and compliment her title of Pride and Prejudice from the closing chapter of Cecilia, and the plot of Pride and Prejudice has some noticeable similarities with that of Cecilia.
