DIGILEC Revista Internacional de Lenguas y Culturas
Digilec 11 (2024), pp. 317-321
Fecha de recepción: 11/12/2024
Fecha de aceptación: 14/12/2024
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17979/digilec.2024.11.11516
e-ISSN: 2386-6691
BOOK REVIEW: DÚAS COMEDIAS
RESEÑA DE LIBRO: DÚAS COMEDIAS
María LÓPEZ CORRAL
Universidade da Coruña
Author: Frances Burney
Introduction: María Jesús Lorenzo
Modia
Translation and notes: Carmen
María Fernández Rodríguez
Publisher: Universidade da Coruña
Collection: Biblioteca-Arquivo
Teatral Francisco Pillado Mayor
Place of publication: A Coruña
Volumes: 2
Page count: 883
Year: 2022
ISBN: 978-84-9749-850-0
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The role of Frances Burney (1752-1840) as a playwright remained —at least until
recently— a mystery, not only in Spain but also in the UK, as many of the works made
by women in theatre from the 17th to the 19th century were overshadowed by those of their
male peers. Burney’s plays were not found until 1945 and they were neither represented
not published until the 1990s, so in a way “[Burney] paid a price, in the form of deference
to the ideal of female propriety” (Rogers, 1994, p. xi).
Nevertheless, literary translations have favored the spreading of Burney’s dramatic
works, leading to her texts reaching different cultures. In the case of the Galician
language, the University of A Coruña has devoted a series of issues to the translation of
many theatrical works, including two of Burney’s comedies, which were published under
the Biblioteca-Arquivo Teatral Francisco Pillado Mayor collection.
It is of paramount importance to mention the valuable contributions made by both
Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez and María Jesús Lorenzo-Modia to the revival of
Frances Burney in Spain and, specifically, in Galicia. The doctoral thesis written by the
former and supervised by the latter (2007) planted the seed to what would later become
the awakening of Burney’s literature to a new readership. Moreover, their Spanish
translation of Burney’s comedies (2017) has received academic appraisal (Jarazo
Álvarez, 2018; Sanz Gallego, 2019; Tomé Rosales, 2018; Míguez Ben, 2019), and so has
the Galician version, with a review written by María Fe González Fernández (2022). This
reviewer provides a brief commentary of the book introduction and makes some
observations regarding the actual translation. Nonetheless, the main focus of the present
review will have to do more with thematic aspects of the two comedies.
Dúas comedias (2022) is a bilingual edition divided into two volumes. The first
one contains an introduction by Prof. Lorenzo-Modia, as well as the English and Galician
versions of The Witlings or O club do enxeño (1779) aligned side-by-side. The same goes
for A Busy Day or Un día a toda présa (1802), which occupies the second volume.
As for the first section of the book, Lorenzo-Modia presents a compelling introduction to
Burney’s plays. The scholar calls attention to the value held by the Galician translations
of important works. Many of said translations were carried out by María Fe González,
who brought to a Galician readership works by Jane Austen, Aphra Behn or Mary
Wollstonecraft (Lorenzo-Modia, 2022, p. 12). Still, Lorenzo-Modia points out that, when
it comes to women in translation, there is still a long way to go, so she leaves room for
not only the possibility of Burney’s texts reaching a wider readership, but also of having
other writers’ works translated into this language (p. 12).
Furthermore, Lorenzo-Modia provides an insight into the literary, cultural,
sociopolitical and economic context that Burney lived in, since events such as the
Industrial Revolution and the supremacy of the British Empire were highly influential to
her works, as will be dealt with below. This academic also offers a segment of this
introduction to mentioning the names of female authors and dramatists who had quite a
prolific activity, but, in some cases, were not given the recognition they deserved until
centuries later.
There is another subsection devoted to Burney’s life and literary achievements
like, for instance, being considered the founder of the so-called novel of manners for
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Evelina (1778). The text was a milestone not only because of that, but also because of
Burney’s ability to elaborate a satirical representation of the gender inequalities of her
time (Lorenzo-Modia, 2022, p. 16). Burney’s focus, however, was not only on writing
novels; it seems that, up until a few decades ago, her dramatic works were neglected not
due to scholarly disinterest but because they were unknown.
Burney’s turbulent relationship with her family not only shaped her literary works,
but also determined her career path. For her becoming a playwright was impossible due
to the pressure of her close circles —mainly her father and his friend Samuel Crisp—,
who dissuaded her from seeing her dream become a reality. Of course, not only did her
family’s coercion convince her against this, but also societal expectations and prejudices
regarding the role of women in drama (Lorenzo-Modia, 2022, p. 25). In this sense, critics
such as Peter Sabor question what would have happened if Burney had been able to pursue
a career in the playhouse, arguing that she could have changed literary history (Clark,
2013, p. 148). Frances Burney, therefore, obeyed her father’s orders and quit being a
playwright, as women were not destined to live off that profession1.
Furthermore, as pointed out by Lorenzo-Modia (2022, p. 26), Burney’s theatrical
production was also heavily influenced by her job as Keeper of the Robes at Queen
Charlotte’s court, which lasted for five years and only exacerbated the writer’s
frustrations and feelings of alienation (Clark & Francus, 2013, p. 4). Right after that, she
met who then would be her husband, Alexandre Jean Baptiste Piochard D’Arblay, thus
becoming Madame D’Arblay. Another event that shaped Burney’s life was her breast
cancer, specifically her terrifying experience getting a mastectomy made without
anesthetics, which can be read in A Mastectomy: Letter to Esther Burney (1812). Thus,
Burney’s account of the event makes her daily experiences as a woman living in the
nineteenth century much more excruciating. It is also worth mentioning that Burney’s
novel The Wanderer is considered her most political novel, as can be read as an anti-
nationalist piece of literature (Lorenzo-Modia, 2022, p. 28).
The following subsections in the introduction are concerned with aspects related
to the two comedies by Frances Burney, i.e., a study of their structure and main themes.
Lorenzo-Modia provides an extensive bibliography that may be of great interest to both
readers and researchers alike. This thorough introduction supports the reading of The
Witlings and A Busy Day, and presents thematic concerns as relevant as those of feminism
and colonialism to present-day Galician readership.
In The Witlings or O club do enxeño, protagonist Cecilia Stanley suffers from
public scorn when she loses her estate and her engagement to Beaufort is, consequently,
in danger. Beaufort’s aunt, Miss Stanley, denies the marriage and warns Cecilia that there
is no future for poor girls like her in London. This shows that money can save and ruin
someone’s life, as Cecilia is all of a sudden unable to marry the one she loves and is
doomed to either flee or start looking for a job in an attempt to survive. In a sense, this is
similar to Burney’s own experience working in Queen Charlotte’s court, where she was
faced with the difficulties suffered by women who were not bathed in privileges. This
1 In this sense, it should also be noted that Burney’s family members, including her father, had a habit of
calling her Fanny which —even if they claimed to use it as a family term—shows that no one in her close
circle actually took her seriously as a writer.
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play, therefore, is quite critical of society, since it depicts the challenges and economic
setbacks that single women went through at that time. The text is also concerned with a
satirical portrayal of a frivolous and pedantic aristocracy, which advocated for obsolete
ideas such as that of arranged marriages, with financial equality between the two parts
being one of the main requisites of said marriages. The generational quarrel between Lady
Smatter and Cecilia establishes the latter as the heroine of the story, as she is the one
opposing to the established societal canon. In spite of Lady Smatter’s threats, Cecilia
refuses to stay quiet and submissive, as society would expect her to behave, as being too
loud of a woman went against patriarchal norms. What makes the character of Cecilia so
refreshing in terms of the 18th century literary canon is precisely that boldness of
character, that desire for independence and choice in her romantic relationships.
Therefore, it is through the character of Cecilia that Burney condemns the androcentric
ideologies characteristic of both the society and the literature of the time.
As for A Busy Day or Un día a toda présa, it focuses on the character of Eliza
Watts, a girl who goes back to her birthplace, the city of London, after growing up in
India. Once she arrives, she reunites with her family; this time, however, Burney does not
only mock the attitude of the aristocracy, but also that of the Watts family merchants,
who gathered a fortune after the Industrial Revolution and the expansion of the British
Empire. Thus, the Watts try to blend in with the higher classes, chasing an image that is
inaccurate to reality and their background. In this way, Burney criticizes the hypocrisy of
these merchants that are so obsessed with bragging and building a facade of opulence that
they only manage to make a joke out of themselves.
A key thematic element present in this play is the portrayal of the unfairness that
the British colonies were subjected to. Eliza’s confident and fearless personality can be
appreciated when she defends her black servant Mungo and fights back against her
family’s racist comments, thus treating him as she would like to be treated. This scene is
important because it implies an acceptance of black people instead of turning a left ear to
her family’s ignorant attitudes. Since Eliza has experienced first-hand the injustices
inflicted on racialized people, she feels more and more distanced from her parents. Even
though the play is written as a comedy, Burney is clearly quite critical of colonialist
attitudes, which, contrary to stereotypes, are not only present in the higher social classes.
Having mentioned some of the thematic aspects of both plays, it can be seen in
what ways the translation of Burney’s texts is extremely valuable. It allows for a Galician
readership to get to know the work of a writer whose activity as a playwright —until not
so long ago— was pretty much unknown not only Spain but also in the UK. In fact,
neglecting the writer’s work as a playwright would imply missing an important piece of
the puzzle when it comes to the activity of women writers in 18th and 19th century
England. Research projects as the one carried out by Lorenzo-Modia and Fernández
Rodríguez shed light on the accomplishments that women writers had throughout history,
but were not given the full recognition. Furthermore, feminist stories of empowerment
and colonialism as the ones depicted by Burney are still crucial and relevant to this day.
The author’s defiance of the literary canon should be highlighted, as she went against the
prevailing androcentric and racist ideologies. The last implication that is also worth
mentioning is that the Galician translation of Burney’s dramatic texts may hopefully lead
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to future theatrical representations of the plays which, unfortunately, Burney never go to
see happen. Nevertheless, projects like this one open a hopeful door for future projects
and a potential revival of Burney’s theatrical works at a global scale.
REFERENCES
Burney, F. (2017). El ridículo ingenio. Un día de mucho apuro. María Jesús Lorenzo-
Modia & Carmen María Fernández Rodríguez (Eds.). ArCiBel Editores.
Clark, L. J. (2013). Hidden Talents: Women Writers in the Burney Family. In T. Berg &
S. Kane (Eds.), Women, Gender, and Print Culture in Eighteenth-Century Britain:
Essays in Memory of Betty Rizzo (pp. 145-166). Lehigh University.
Clark, L. J. & Francus, M. (2013). Cambridge Conference Notes on the Papers. Burney
Letter, 2013, 19(2), 4. Retrieved from
https://www.mcgill.ca/burneycentre/files/burneycentre/burney_letter_vol._19_no.
_2_fall_2013.pdf.
Fernández González, M. F. (2023). Review of the book Dúas Comedias, by Frances
Burney. Babel-Afial 32, 131-5, https://doi.org/10.35869/afial.v0i32.4885.
Fernández Rodríguez, C. M. (2007). La aportación de Fanny Burney y Maria Edgeworth
a la novela inglesa comprendida entre los años 1778-1834 [Unpublished
dissertation]. University of A Coruña.
Jarazo Álvarez, R. (2018). Review of the book El ridículo ingenio. Un día de mucho
apuro, by Frances Burney. Oceánide 10. Retrieved from
https://oceanide.es/index.php/012020/article/view/15/135.
Lorenzo-Modia, M. J. (2022). Introdución. In M. J. Lorenzo-Modia & C. M. Fernández
Rodríguez (Eds.), Dúas comedias I (pp. 9-65). University of A Coruña.
Míguez Ben, M. (2019). Review of El ridículo ingenio. Un día de mucho apuro, by
Frances Burney. Hermēneus 21, 561-564,
https://doi.org/10.24197/her.21.2019.561-564.
Rogers, K. M. (1994). Introduction. In Katharine M. Rogers (Ed.), Restoration and
Eighteenth-Century Plays by Women (pp. vii-xvii). Meridian Books.
Sanz Gallego, G. (2019). Review of El ridículo ingenio. Un día de mucho apuro, by
Frances Burney. Cadernos de Traduçao 39(1), 268-274,
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-7968.2019v39n1p268.
Tomé Rosales, Á. (2019). Review of El ridículo ingenio. Un día de mucho apuro, by
Frances Burney]. Babel-Afial 27, 221-224,
https://doi.org/10.35869/afial.v0i27.334.
