Review: "Camilla" by Fanny Burney
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First published in 1796, Burney's third novel revolves around the economic and matrimonial concerns of Camilla Tyrold and her close family. The story takes us through many hardships in the Tyrold family, most caused by misunderstandings, on the path to true love and solvency.
After a slow start, once all the characters are introduced and start to interact, Burney weaves a captivating story. Unlike her previous novels, Evelina and Cecilia, Camilla's titular character is far from perfect in both beauty and intelligence. She does not lay claim to much common sense either. Camilla is a nervous wreck throughout most of the novel, but her failings are so human that we can't help being enchanted by her. Her deformed sister, Eugenia, is a dear little thing. Her brother Lionel makes us laugh and cringe at his antics. Her sometime suitor, Edgar Mandlebert--perhaps one of the more infuriating characters of the novel--redeems himself by doing some good brooding in dark corners. And there are some well-rounded villains to keep us on our toes including the overbearing governess, Miss Margland, and the equally overbearing Mrs. Mittin who may mean well but leaves disaster in her wake.
While I'm not as fond of Camilla as Burney's other novels (Evelina was my particular favorite), there is some merit to this one. The resemblance to Jane Austen's writing style and plot construction is more apparent in Camilla than Burney's other novels. Sir Sedley Clarendel, who seems a most lethargic and unpromising young chap at the start, turns out a wonderfully complex character. I see hints of him in Henry Crawford from Austen's Mansfield Park. Edgar Mandlebert reminds me of Mr Knightly from Emma in his many exhortations on propriety to Camilla, though Camilla deserves such exhortations much less than Emma did.
If you have enjoyed Evelina and Cecilia and are hungering for more Burney, Camilla will satisfy you. You also will be satisfied if you are a Jane Austen fan and are curious about her influences. For instance, Camilla was mentioned in Austen's Northanger Abbey by its heroine in the following effusion:
It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best–chosen language.
Otherwise, I would recommend trying Burney's other novels first and then perhaps rereading some Jane Austen.
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I love that Austen quote from Northanger Abbey. In fact, I was thinking of it the other day and couldn't remember which novel it came from. There's some interesting facts about Fanny Burney in Jane's Fame. Very much the literary grande dame of her day. I enjoyed your review and based on it I think Camilla may be the novel I read first when I get around to my much-delayed plan to read the novels that influenced JA.
Yes, I would recommend it especially to you, Nicola. While it is a slower paced novel than her others, and I think suffers as a result, it is also probably her best crafted novel. And also the one I think Austen based much of her literary emulations upon. Just my own hypothesis though...I look forward to your thoughts on this!
There is nothing in it but an old man's playing see-saw and learning Latin, upon my soul there is not. 😉
Burney's books are like an archaeological dig into Austen's head. Cecilia had me shouting and waving my hands through much of it (embarrassing on public transportation, as you might imagine).
Took me a while to realize that was a quote from our favorite John Thorpe in NA... That whole exchange in NA is great--where he tells her not to read Mysteries because it's a bunch of garbage, but then goes on to recommend novels by Radcliffe as the only ones worth reading!
I didn't finish the novel, for it was not appealing enough to draw me back to it. The characters are not convincingly built, the action tardy and contrived, the circumstances lacking in interest, either human, social, or historical. It taxs a reader's patience to be kept waiting so long for a brilliant scene to come up.
It is well observed that the resemblance to Jane Austen's writing style and plot construction is more apparent in Camilla than Burney's other novels. This is because it is much closer in time to Jane Austen's novels. Camilla was published at almost exactly the same time as the first version of Pride and Prejudice was begun. I show in my book "Jane Austen - a New Revelation" that the reason for this similarity in style and plot construction was that the "two" authors were in fact one and the same author.