"The Witlings," a comedy by Frances Burney, a Sister of the Order: An edition, with supplementary material.
Item
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Title
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"The Witlings," a comedy by Frances Burney, a Sister of the Order: An edition, with supplementary material.
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Identifier
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AAI9000685
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identifier
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9000685
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Creator
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Delery, Clayton J.
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Contributor
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Adviser: David C. Greetham
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Date
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1989
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Literature, English | Biography
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Abstract
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Frances Burney, best known as the author of Evelina and as a prolific eighteenth-century diarist, also wrote a number of plays, none of which were published in her lifetime. Her first play, The Witlings, was suppressed by her father, allegedly because it features a literary society called The Esprit Party, which is under the leadership of a woman named Lady Smatter. The Esprit Party was thought to have been a portrait of The Blue Stocking circle, and Lady Smatter was believed to have been a representation of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, whom Dr. Johnson christened "The Queen of the Blues.".;This dissertation treats The Witlings as a unique document which provides insight into a very special period of Burney's career. It does so by examining the history of the piece, by investigating the alleged indiscretions that led to the play's suppression, and by reading the play as a document that examines, but does not resolve, Burney's own complicated feelings about authorship and about the female literary enterprise. The chapters which treat these issues form an extended critical and historical introduction to the focal point of the dissertation, which is an edition of The Witlings based on a manuscript written in Burney's own hand. This manuscript is part of the Berg Collection of The New York Public Library.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.