A sentiment we can get behind
That is, the Frances Fanny Burney Society saying, “If it’s good enough for Jane Austen it’s good enough for us!”
Beneath the quirkiness, however, a serious battle is raging, a battle that can be summed up in a simple choice: Fanny or Frances? Burney studies have been rocked by the schism between our bufferish enthusiasts - the “Fanny” brigade - and a new wave of North American feminist critics - the “Frances” camp - to whom Burney is a courageous crusader against patriarchal hegemony who should never be demeaned by a diminutive, especially this one. “Of course,” the member next to me whispers, blushing, “to them ‘fanny’ means - you know.”
The North Americans are better funded and organised - most of Burney’s papers have been snapped up by Montreal’s McGill University for, gallingly, the “Frances Burney Archive”. But the English are fighting back: splitting away from the parent Burney Society of North America (for, intriguingly, “tax reasons”) and mounting a rearguard action against all this foreign “Frances” nonsense.
“If ‘Fanny’ is good enough for Jane Austen, it’s good enough for us,” a woman at the back pipes up, to general agreement. “Thank you,” a Burney biographer replies, choked with emotion. “Thank you for supporting our Fanny.” It’s a patriotic sentiment as true, and as fervent, as any whipped up by Owen or Rooney.
We are, however, distressed at the divisiveness of the various factions. It’s much more fun to celebrate all the quirky manifestations of your fandom, we think.
June 15th, 2006 at 1:00 pm
The link to the quoted article is incorrect, and I for one would LOVE to see the larger context…
June 15th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Ooops! Sorry about that! It’s fixed.
June 19th, 2006 at 11:16 am
I wonder if the British society is receiving the same level of condescension from the North American society as they did from the author of this article.
It seems to me that the North American society is has no respect for the preferences of the woman they supposedly admire. Frances Burney apparently preferred the name Fanny. It’s rather pretentious and silly of them to decide to change it.