Frances Burney鈥檚 Adventure at Ilfracombe
Deborah Kennedy, Saint Mary鈥檚 University
Author Biography
Deborah Kennedy is Professor of English at Saint Mary鈥檚 University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She is the author of Helen Maria Williams and the Age of Revolution (Bucknell 2002) and has published on a variety of subjects, including women鈥檚 literary history, women and popular music, the poetry of William Wordsworth, and eighteenth-century art. Her book Poetic Sisters: Early Eighteenth-Century Women Poets (Bucknell 2013) was a Choice Outstanding Academic Title.
Abstract
This article concerns an incident, recounted in Frances Burney鈥檚 Journals, about a visit to the Devon coast in 1817. While staying in the seaside town of Ilfracombe, Burney was caught by the tides on a solitary walk and had to climb onto a high rock for safety, where she remained for several hours in tempestuous conditions in serious danger of drowning. She was accompanied only by her small dog Diane, who plays a significant role in the story. Ever since it was published, her 鈥淚lfracombe Journal鈥� has been popular amongst readers, and new layers of meaning are added when it is read alongside artistic representations of women at the seashore. The unique features of Burney鈥檚 account include a sense of suspense and danger that draws on narrative elements from the Gothic tradition, in combination with a realistic rendering of a woman鈥檚 confrontation with the elements.
Keywords
Burney, Frances, 1752鈥�1840; Ilfracombe, Devon; seashore; adventure; dog; Gothic; tide; journals
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