The Witlings and the Woman Hater
Editors: Peter Sabor and Geoffrey Sill
Pickering Women's Classics
978 1 85196 360 7: 234x156mm: £40.00/$75.00
This edition brings together two of Burney's (1752-1840) comedies, The Witlings (1778-80), which satirises the blue stockings (but which was never performed for fear of scandal) and The Woman-Hater (1800-2) which playfully explores social pretension and gender conflict.
By placing the two together, the editors enable the reader to observe both the genesis and fruition of a literary idea. Their introduction examines Burney's debt to Moliere and the English tradition, the themes of misogyny and misanthropy, and Burney's claim to a place in the literary canon beyond her status as a famous novelist.
Contents
Short titles
Introduction
Note on the text
Select Bibliography
Chronology
The Witlings (1778-80)
The Woman-Hater (1800-02)
Notes
Appendix: Literary Allusions
Reviews
‘Of particular interest...is the appendix, which lists the literary allusions in these plays and, once again, reminds us of Burney’s subtle message about a woman’s education. Her own knowledge of literature was clearly vast.... Sabor and Sill offer a broader interpretation of Burney’s diverse literary oeuvre and a more layered understanding of “the protean [Frances] Burney.”’
– Susan Carlile, Eighteenth-Century Studies