Wed, 19 Oct
|East Horsley Village Hall
Fanny Burney: The story of a local celebrity
Karin Fernald tells the story of Fanny Burney, her family and friends, from diaries and letters, paintings and portraits of the day.
Time & location
19 Oct 2022, 10:30
East Horsley Village Hall, Kingston Ave, East Horsley, Leatherhead KT24 6QT
About the event
1752-1840 Diarist, novelist, playwright, lady-in-waiting to King George lll and Queen Charlotte, Fanny Burney, best known today for her diaries, was Jane Austen’s favourite novelist. Full of shrewd and illuminating comment, and of hilarious reported conversations, the diaries offer an entertaining and highly personal view of London life. Her first novel Evelina made its young authoress the toast of London, leading to her employment at the court of King George lll as an unwilling and somewhat inefficient lady-in-waiting. Later she married an émigré from revolutionary France, and lived with him happily in Surrey and then, more perilously, in Napoleon’s France. Her account of Brussels during the Battle of Waterloo was drawn upon by Thackeray for Vanity Fair. With paintings, portraits and caricatures by artists of the day, including Hogarth, Gainsborough, Zoffany, Reynolds and cousin Edward Burney.
About the speaker
Karin Fernald is known for her entertaining lectures on writers and diarists connected with the arts from the mid-18th to 19th century, and moving forward in time with Virginia Woolf. Extensive research into diaries and letters bring lectures to vivid life. Karin illustrates them with slides of contemporary pictures and portraits from varied sources.
This event is free to members.
Visitors are welcome to join us - £5 on the door.