Familiar violence
Subtitle: gender and social upheaval in the novels of Frances Burney
By: Barbara Zonitch.
Publisher: University of Delaware Press; Associated University Presses
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Newark, Del; London; Cranbury, NJ
Language: eng
Number of pages: 167
Subjects: Burney, Fanny, 1752-1840 -- Criticism and interpretation.; Feminism and literature -- England -- History -- 18th century.; Women and literature -- England -- History -- 18th century.; Aristocracy (Social class) in literature.; Women -- England -- Social conditions.; Social problems in literature.; Sex role in literature.; Violence in literature.
Description: Readers of Frances Burney have often been struck by the way the apparently polished surface of her novels frequently erupts in scenes of physical and psychological violence. The wide scope of this violence includes sexual harassment, men's and women's suicidal activity, and insidious cases of emotional abuse.

In Familiar Violence, Barbara Zonitch argues that Burney's preoccupation with violence originates in her fear that the demise of aristocratic social domination, while freeing women from its systemic abuses, nevertheless exposes them to the less predictable violence of modern life. And thus the question is: What will replace this means of social protection and control?

On the evidence of Burney's novels, the choice is an untenable one, between the harsh restraints of aristocratic rule and the alternative forms of violence created by newer versions of social control. Zonitch argues that Burney's novels, each one in dialogue with the others, compose a series whose comprehensive aim is to investigate various modern social "replacements" for aristocratic protection.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 159-164) and index.