I was eager to read Evelina because I knew Jane Austen considered it a favorite. Somehow I thought that reading Evelina would be like reading Jane Austen: a humorous novel of manners set in a rational and moral universe. Well. Evelina was not what I expected. If Jane Austen is a genteel Regency ballroom, Evelina is a wild night at Vauxhall Gardens. With a monkey.
Evelina Anville is the legitimate, though unacknowledged, daughter of an English aristrocrat. Upon the death of her mother, Evelina was raised in rural seclusion by her guardian, the Reverend Villairs. Eventually, Evelina's maternal grandmother, the ridiculous Mme Duval, learns of Evelina's existence and seeks to claim her and whisk her off to France. To keep her from Mme Duval, the Rev. Villairs sends her to Howard Grove, the country home of friends. Little did he know that Mme Duval would find her anyway, and a trip to London would soon follow. Most of the novel revolves around humorous situations in which poor, sheltered Evelina tries to navigate her way through society. She eventually gets a happy ending with Lord Orville.
The tone of this book was quite surprising. Sometimes riotous and madcap, the book's wild humor was unexpected. At one point, two of the characters dressed up like highwaymen just so they could terrorize an obnoxious Frenchwoman. Then there is the time when some of the characters are bored because they have nothing to gamble on, so they get two eighty-year-old women to race just so they can bet on them. The plots can be a bit over the top, with some truly wild coincidences and situations occurring.
Evelina has very little personality - despite this being an epistolary novel, with most of the letters written by her. Her letters are more of a vehicle to deliver the plot rather than to give us her private thoughts. We have some glimpses, of course, but it's almost like Evelina the character is a pawn to showcase every type of ill-mannered person in London.
In truth, it is the "bad" characters who seem to dominate this novel. Between fending off the unwanted attentions of the rogue Sir Clement Willoughby, the incessant fighting between Mme Duval and Captain Mirvan, and the crass behavior of the Branghtons, Evelina gets very little peace - and neither does the reader.
I found the character of Madame Duval extremely tiresome. A little of her would have gone a long way. She is so over the top, so insufferably rude, tyrannical, and obnoxious, that while one or two scenes of this woman would have been funny, her behavior is so predictably horrid that it becomes boring. By the same token, the relentless rudeness of the Captain is wearying. Jane Austen may have learned from this. Her boorish characters are diverting because she allows them to season her narratives, rather than overwhelm them.
The dubious tastes and want of care of Evelina's relations and their hangers-on land her in many awkward and unsavory situations, and Evelina's own want of social competence and street smarts always makes things worse. One night Evelina finds herself dragged out to Vauxhall Gardens. These London pleasure gardens were popular in the 18th through the mid-19th century, and were filled with entertainments and attractions. At night they were lit up by thousands of lamps. Spectacle abounded, with fireworks, hot air balloons, and a giant metal waterfall which seemed to flow thanks to a clever trick of the lights. Poor Evelina becomes separated from her party and ends up in the infamous dark walks - there's a hint of danger in this scene that lends a somber note to the lack of care being taken of her.
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| Vauxhall Gardens |
Evelina as Cinderella
Evelina has distinct echoes of Cinderella. Evelina is poor and simple, marked by beauty and inner goodness. She has a dead mother, and an ineffectual/absent actual father, and a retiring/absent surrogate father. Mme Duval can be seen as her wicked stepmother, and the Miss Branghtons the obnoxious stepsisters. She moves from country seclusion into high society, and catches the eye of her prince, Lord Orville.
Evelina and Jane Austen
It's a strange sensation, reading Evelina, feeling that one has met with so many little scenes already. We have a Willoughby - and the scene where Sir Clement Willoughby carries Evelina from the wrecked coach is a bit like when Willoughby carried Marianne Dashwood. The carriage seen with Sir Clement reminds me of Emma and Mr. Elton. Evelina and her low connections are so similar to Elizabeth and the Bennets (though Mme Duval makes Mrs. Bennet look like the epitome of grace and refinement). Evelina, like Lizzy Bennet, has a "passion for solitary walking." Evelina and Lord Orville foreshadow Elizabeth and Darcy. In her juvenile novel Love & Friendship, Jane Austen hilariously parodies the more ludicrous parts of novels like Evelina - in her more mature work, Austen takes the best of Frances Burney and refines it.
Evelina as a Sentimental Novel
A sentimental novel relies on emotion, both in the response of the characters and the response of the reader. The capacity to feel, and to show feelings, was thought to be a mark of high moral character. Sentimentalism as a philosophy favored the untutored "naturalness" of the country person over the cultivated "civilized" nature of the society person. We often think of the 18th century as the Age of Reason, characterized by rationalism. Sentimentalism is a countercurrent - one that led to Romanticism later in the century. Evelina, raised in rural seclusion, exhibits sensitivity, natural goodness, fine feeling, and distress at the misfortunes of others. Thus she is the perfect sentimental "type," and her character is used by Burney to satirize and critique "cultured" society.
Evelina was a wild ride! I'm glad I read it, and look forward to reading more by Frances Burney, and more 18th century novels. I haven't spent a lot of time in this century, and reading Evelina has helped me to find my feet. I'm learning as I go!
