The Wanderer (The World's Classics) [Paperback]

Frances Burney (Author), Margaret Anne Doody (Editor, Introduction), Robert L. Mack (Editor), Peter Sabor (Editor)

Book Description

Series: The World's Classics | Publication Date: June 6, 1991

"The Wanderer" or "Female Difficulties" is the tale of a penniless emigree from revolutionary France trying to earn her living in England while guarding her own secrets. Combining the best elements of the Gothic and historical novels, this work is an extraordinary piece of Romantic fiction. Burney's tough comedy offers a satiric view of complacent middle-class insularity that echoes Godwin and Wollstonecraft's attacks on the English social structure. The problems of the new feminism and of the old anti-feminism are explored in the relationship between the heroine and her English patroness and rival, the Wollstonecraftian Elinor Joddrel, and the racism inherent within both the French and British empires is exposed when the emigree disguises herself as a black woman. This edition is fully annotated with appendices on the French Revolution, race relations, amusements and geography, and a previously unpublished manuscript revealing the connection between "The Wanderer" and "Camilla".

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Thank you for bringing this important novel back in print. The Wanderer explores the situation of women and feminism at the end of the 18th century more thoroughly than any other work from the period. I'm delighted to be able to include this book in my course on Enlightenment Feminist Literature."--Audrey Bilger, Oberlin College

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Edited by Margaret Anne Doody, Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities and Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, Robert L. Mack, Lecturer at Princeton University , and Peter Sabor, Professor of English at Queen's University, Ontario. With an Introduction by Margaret Anne Doody --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1008 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 6, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0192821334
• ISBN-13: 978-0192821331
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,402,838 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Truly Engaging Book!, May 25, 2000

By 

Briana Titus "Magistra" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wanderer (The World's Classics) (Paperback)

Fanny Burney's _The Wanderer_, her last published book, is the best of all her works. The heroine is easy to love, and only a callous reader could not feel pity for her friendless situation. The basic premise is this: a young, elegant woman of obvious good breeding is suddenly forced to flee France for mysterious reasons. But she has lost all of her possessions during her crossing of the Channel, and she finds herself in England, friendless, penniless, and completely dependant on the charity of those around her. The crux of the novel is how she is able to get by under these circumstances. Her fortitude is uplifting, and her plight shows us the problems women had two centuries ago in merely obtaining a subsistence upon which to live. The plot gets more and more complex as we find out about the life of the Wanderer herself. We don't discover her name for the first time until the middle of the book! _The Wanderer_ is a truly engaging novel, and once read, it becomes clear why Fanny Burney was one of Jane Austen's favorite authors.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming! Diverting! Provoking!, October 17, 2001

By 

"norabarnacle" (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wanderer (The World's Classics) (Paperback)

"The Wanderer" is a wonderful novel detailing the struggles faced by a single woman in England in the era of the French Revolution, who due to circumstances beyond her control must remain nameless and "family-less" and thus rely on the charity and goodwill of strangers. Readers familar with Jane Austen's writing will recognize a similar style, indeed Fanny Burney was an inspiration to Miss Austen, yet with an even more critical eye turned towards the upper-middle-class social structure.

I found it a little more plodding in parts than "Evelina," my favorite of Burney's novels, as Burney occasionally gets bogged down in minutiae of social interactions, but even those long descriptions give insight into what details would have been considered monstrously important to Burney's contemporary audience.

Regardless, the difficulties faced by the nameless heroine and the mystery of her circumstances are more than enough to engage any fan of 18th and early 19th century literature.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It Pays to Listen to Your Literary Spouse: Enjoy a classic!, March 20, 2003

By 

C. M Mills "Michael Mills" (Knoxville Tennessee) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Wanderer (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

My wife waxed rhapsodic over the prose and poetry inherent in Fanny Burney's neglected classic The Wanderer. The narrativ tells an exciting story of the French Revolution era even though the action occurs mainly in England. The "Incognita" is a fascinating character who moves through English society as a subordinate to the rich and cruel society folk with whom she is forced by circumstances to live. "Miss Ellis endures the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunate to triumph over her enemies at last. Burney's prose is musical and her sentences flow with insight into the human condition. As a friend of Hesther Thrale
she was influenced by that excellent writer. Her father was the famed musician Dr. Charles Burney a close friend of Dr. Johnson. If you want to look at a classic of early feminism and encounter one female difficulty after another this is a good place to begin.
I liked the novel so well I am now engrossed in Burney's second novel "Cecilia" with her first work "Evelina" on my reading list.
Fanny Burney is an excellent new author to explore and be enriched by as you loose yourself in her voluminous pages!
Well recommended!