Bibliographer: Kailyn Wiltonsky

Memoirs of the Countess D'Anois

While traditional bibliographies provide information about a novel in isolation, novels really exist in a network of influences. This project is not intended to provide a comprehensive list of Evelina’s influences, but is rather meant to explore a visual representation of the idea that the evolution of a novel, and the context in which it was published, shapes how it was written and how it is read.

No novel is an island…

 

In this class we have been looking at the evolution of the novel. Both the context in which a novel is published and the history it exists within help to shape how it was written and read. I am interested in the idea of how ideas are recycled and influenced. Additionally, I believe that the purpose of a bibliography is to give background information about a source. Because every source exists in the context of other sources, my experimental bibliography seeks to acknowledge some of the other sources influencing Evelina. Throughout my research it has become clear to me that many people view Evelina as a primary influence for many later novels. For example, in the book Fanny Burney by Judy Simons, Simons writes, “Fanny Burney was a quiet and original pioneer of the strategies of dissention which found their most penetrating exponents in the great women novelists of the next generation…” However, while undoubtedly influencing the novelists and subsequent novels after her, Evelina can be accurately imagined to exist in a network of other influences, only some of which are literary. Importantly, however, this project is not meant to provide a comprehensive list of the novels influencing Evelina, but is rather meant to explore a visual representation of this idea. The diagram itself, coded in the application Gephi, explores different dimensions of representation.

 

Structure – Although it is the focus of this project, Evelina exists in a circle only slightly bigger than its influences and is not centered. These formatting choices are meant to represent a focus that is only relative, with the other influences having their own influence networks. These circles are thus meant to represent the intricacy of the network while suggesting the limits yet explored.

 

            Line Weights and Distances – The different weight of the lines and distances from Evelina are meant to loosely represent the known connection to Evelina. For example, it is known, because Burney mentions it in her diary, that Burney’s mother and grandfather provide direct influences to characters in Evelina. In contrast, it is only speculated that Tom Jones provided a source of inspiration for a particular scene. Thus, the Burney’s family members have thicker connecting lines and are physically closer to the source than the speculated influences.

             

Influences – Finding influences of Evelina relies on a bit of speculation. However both primary and secondary sources were consulted in the list gathered. The various influences are grouped both physically and through colors to represent similarities.

 

Red Circles – These, as mentioned above, represent two people in Burney’s life that provided direct inspiration for characters in Evelina.

Pink Circles – These represent two pieces of literature that Burney was intimately familiar with, as they both were written by a collection of family members, including Burney herself.

White Circles – These circles are meant to represent an evolving history both of the female writer and of the epistolary novel, and are important in this diagram to show Evelina as both influenced by, and contributing to, these larger histories of literature.

Yellow Circles – These are two epistolary novels that are believed to have influenced Burney’s structure.

Blue Circles – These circles all represent other works of literature that are known or believed to have influenced Evelina

Grey Circles – These circles are meant to represent the nebulous of connections that spans beyond even those listed here, as each of the other literary works can be imagined within its own separate network of influences.

 

Larger circle – the larger circle is meant to represent the historical context that the novel cannot be separated from. In this case, Evelina was completed and published during the American Revolution.

 

In summary, this project is supposed to explore concepts of originality by visualizing a novel in context of a few of its many influences.

 

 

Citations:

Dobson, Austin. Fanny Burney (Madame D'Arblay). New York: Macmillan, 1903.

Doody, Margaret Anne. "Beyond Evelina: The Individual Novel and the Community of

Literature." Eighteenth-Century Fiction 3.4 (1991): 359-372. Project MUSE. Web. 26 Mar. 2013. <http://muse.jhu.edu/>.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. 4 (Chicago, London: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 1971)

450.

Masson, David. British Novelists and Their Styles; Being a Critical Sketch of the History of British Prose Fiction. Cambridge, Eng.: Macmillan, 1859.

Moir, George, and William Edmondstoune Aytoun. Modern Romance and Novel. Edinburgh: Adam and Charles Black, 1839

Simons, Judy. Fanny Burney. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble, 1987. 

Traditional Description

Davisbooktitlepage.jpg

[Murat, Henriette Julie de Castelnau, comtesse de.]. MEMOIRS OF THE COUNTESS D’ANOIS: WRITTEN BY HERSELF BEFORE HER RETIREMENT.  IN TWO VOLUMES. London: Printed for F. Noble and J. Noble, 1778.

M E M O I R S| OF THE | COUNTESS D’ANOIS: |WRITTEN BY HERSELF BEFORE HER| RETIREMENT. | IN TWO VOLUMES.|VOL. 1(or 2) | [Double line] | LONDON, | Printed for F. NOBLE, near Middle Row, Holborn ; |and J. NOBLE, in St. Martin’s Court, Leicester | Fields.| [single line]. |M DCC LXX VIII.

Pagination: Pagination for both volumes begins with B r centered on the bottom of the first page of text. This is followed on the next two pages by a 2v and a 3r in the top left and right-hand corners, respectively.

 Format: Volume 1. 240; p. Volume 2. 241p. 12 mo.

Contents:

Volume 1. A1r title page, A1v – A2r “To the Reader”, B1r –L4v  text.

Volume 2. A1r title page, B1r – L13r text, L13v – L14v “Books printed for F. and J. Noble.

 

 Notes:

Sourced from the British Library, accessed via Eighteenth Century Collections Online

A seal for the British Museum is in the middle of bottom of page 2v. Volume one ends with: ends on page 240 with the last word : END OF VOL. I. Volume two ends with: FINIS, followed by a list of other books printed for F. and J. Noble. 

Experimental Description