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‘My brain is on fire!’ Anglican Womanhood and the Limits of Politeness in Frances Burney's Cecilia

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

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Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Waterfield, Daniel 

Abstract

jats:titleAbstract</jats:title>jats:pThe influence of courtesy literature on Frances Burney's jats:italicCecilia</jats:italic> (1782) has been well documented. Yet the question of religion remains overlooked. This article both reasserts the Anglican nature of Cecilia's behaviour and asserts the Catholicism of the Delvile family. It argues that jats:italicCecilia</jats:italic> constitutes a sustained engagement with the Gordon riots of 1780 and critiques the utility of female politeness as a social glue. In a romance plot that reflects contemporary legal attempts to reconcile Britons after centuries of religious warfare, Burney ultimately suggests that politeness lacks the vocabulary with which to confront social and economic inequalities.</jats:p>

Description

Keywords

47 Language, Communication and Culture, 4705 Literary Studies, 10 Reduced Inequalities

Journal Title

Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1754-0194
1754-0208

Volume Title

42

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Pigott Fund, ASECS, CHSS, Harvard Houghton Scholarship.