Frances Burnett
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Posted by Jim Down in Non Famous section |
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Frances Hodgson Burnett was born Frances Eliza Hodgson in Manchester. Her father died in 1853 and the family was plunged into poverty - the terrible poverty of Victorian slum Manchester. The young Fanny used to escape from the horror of her surroundings by writing stories, and one may wonder how often the rags-to-riches theme of her later bestseller 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' appeared in these early tales.
She continued her writing after the family accepted a relative's invitation to emigrate to America in 1865. The move made no difference to their poverty, but they gratefully exchanged Manchester's slums for the wide-open spaces of Tennessee. She had to bring in some money, so she wrote short pieces about English life for American magazines. Over the next few years, the quality of her writing was gradually recognized, and better magazines, such as Godey's Lady's Book and Scribners, began to commission her work.
In 1873 she married Dr Swan Burnett, and it was under her married name that she became a world-famous children’s writer. At first, she continued with the short stories for magazines and in the same year she wrote her first novel Sally of Lowrez.She continue writing little novels, but in 1886 ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ was published in book form, to immediate acclaim all around the world.
In 1888 Mrs Burnett returned to live in Great Britain, but only until 1901, when she went back to the United States, after divorcing her husband. Frances Burnett performed on the theatrical stage her greatest books Little Lord Fauntleroy and The Secret Garden. These performances gave her popularity, fame and the love of the audience. She had a second marriage with the surgeon Steven Tawsen, who was great help for her.
In her later life, she became mildly eccentric; she turned to spiritualism and mystic
cults (perhaps in an attempt to alleviate the bouts of depression she had suffered from all her life) and her habit of wearing frilly clothing Titian-coloured wigs earned her the nickname ?Fluffy? from her friends.
This great novelist died in October 1924, in Long Island.
She wrote over 40 books altogether, for both adults and children. Her adult novels are of a sentimental vein which is now thoroughly out of fashion; but she wrote a number of classic children’s stories, of which two in particular stand out: ‘The Secret Garden’, and ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’, which has been described as ‘the best version of the Cinderella story in modern idiom that exists’.
Frances Burnett used to write with elegance, in a graceful and vivid way. All these characteristics in combination with her romantic style had a great touch on the readers who loved her. Young girls mostly adored her because her work was an inspiration for them.
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