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Fanny Burney

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Author

The Resume

    (June 13, 1752-January 6, 1840)
    Wrote ‘Evelina (1778),' ‘Cecilia (1782)' and ‘Camilla (1796)'
    Kept a lifelong journal that was published posthumously
    Daughter of Dr. Charles Burney, historian of music
    Part of Samuel Johnson's inner circle

Why she might be annoying:

    She did not learn to read until she was eight.
    She published her first book anonymously because she feared shaming her family if it flopped.
    She accepted a prestigious position at Queen Charlotte's court and grew depressed when she had little time to write.
    She downplayed her middle class background.
    She was criticized for censoring and rewriting her father's memoirs.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was the first major female novelist who wrote in English.
    She educated herself using her father's library.
    She started her famous diary when she was 16 and kept it up for 72 years.
    ‘Evelina' was an instant success and made Burney famous overnight.
    Her social satire was a major influence on Jane Austen.
    She had breast cancer and endured a mastectomy without anesthetic in 1811.
    Walter Allen wrote that she gave ‘a mouse's view of the world of cats: the cats are very terrifying, but the mouse's sense of the ridiculous could not be keener.'

Credit: Georgina


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 62.50% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 4 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 4 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 32 Votes: 46.88% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 36.36% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 12 Votes: 58.33% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 13 Votes: 61.54% Annoying
    In 2010, Out of 18 Votes: 61.11% Annoying
    In 2009, Out of 22 Votes: 54.55% Annoying
    In 2008, Out of 27 Votes: 51.85% Annoying
    In 2007, Out of 67 Votes: 62.69% Annoying
    In 2006, Out of 91 Votes: 41.76% Annoying