A Known Scribbler

Book excerpt: Frances Burney’s journals and letters, composed between 1768 and 1839, contain a unique account of the creative, social, and commercial ambitions and achievements of an eighteenth-century female writer. Focusing on Burney’s literary life, this selection from her journals and correspondence combines Burney’s own accounts of the creation of her popular novels, her aspirations for her dramatic writings, and her reflections upon her letters and journals as literary productions in their own right. In addition to Burney’s letters and journal entries, this Broadview edition includes: selections from Burney’s Brief Reflections relative to the Emigrant French Clergy (1793) and Memoirs of Doctor Burney (1832); letters by family and friends about her literary activities; and contemporary reviews of The Diary and Letters of Madame d’Arblay.