“The Stormy Sea of Politics”: The French Revolution and Frances Burney's The Wanderer

Abstract

Recent challenges to the pivotal position that Walter Scott has been awarded in terms of the genesis of the historical novel have led to renewed interest in the origins and development of the form, as well as increasing awareness of the diversities of Romantic historical fiction. The variety available within the genre is manifest in the appearance of Frances Burney's The Wanderer and Scott's Waverley within the space of a few months in 1814. Both narratives responded to the momentous events of the French revolutionary period; however, Burney's model of history and fiction fell quickly out of view, arguably as a result of its cosmopolitan principles and Burney's revival of the question of “the wrongs of woman”. This article examines Burney's contribution to the field of Romantic historical fiction, emphasizing the significance of Burney's late historical novel. Tracing The Wanderer's composite historical portrayal of the initial moment of the French Revolution crisis, the article contends that the novel represented an attempt to reopen the broader social, economic and gender issues raised by the French Revolution debate in a period of renewed radical agitation.