ABSTRACT

By the end of the eighteenth century, the English national “bard” William Shakespeare had become an increasingly familiar figure of literary and moral authority upon which novelists and playwrights could draw for creative inspiration. For authors and half-siblings Frances Burney (1752–1840) and Sarah Harriet Burney (1772–1844), Shakespeare’s writings not only served as an influence over their published works, but were also frequently cited and discussed in their private writings and personal correspondences. This article examines the detailed engagement with the works of Shakespeare in the letters, journals, and fiction of both Frances and Sarah Harriet Burney. The Burneys not only demonstrated an extensive knowledge of Shakespeare and his plays in their private letters and journals, but also used Shakespeare as both a source of plot and an integral tool for characterization within their novels. While Sarah Harriet and her characters express a bardolatrous admiration for Shakespeare and his writings, Frances offers a more skeptical approach to the unquestioning adulation of Shakespeare that had come to pervade eighteenth-century literary criticism and culture.

摘要

到 18 世纪末，英国国民“吟游诗人”威廉·莎士比亚已成为越来越熟悉的文学和道德权威人物，小说家和剧作家可以从中汲取创作灵感。对于作家和同父异母的兄弟姐妹弗朗西斯·伯尼 (1752–1840) 和莎拉·哈丽特·伯尼 (1772–1844) 而言，莎士比亚的作品不仅影响了他们出版的作品，而且在他们的私人著作和私人信件中也经常被引用和讨论. 本文考察了在弗朗西斯和莎拉·哈里特·伯尼的书信、期刊和小说中与莎士比亚作品的详细接触。伯尼夫妇不仅在他们的私人信件和日记中展示了对莎士比亚及其戏剧的广泛了解，但也将莎士比亚用作情节的来源和小说中表征的不可或缺的工具。虽然莎拉·哈丽特和她的角色表达了对莎士比亚及其作品的狂热钦佩，但弗朗西斯对莎士比亚的毫无疑问的崇拜提供了一种更加怀疑的态度，这种崇拜已经遍及 18 世纪的文学批评和文化。