Which novel by Fanny Burney is believed to have inspired a title in Pride and Prejudice?

• A. Cecilia
• B. Evelina
• C. Camilla
• D. Sense and Sensibility

Answer: (A)

This question hinges on recognition of how authors position their works within a tradition of social satire. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is often read as part of the 18th‑century novel of manners, a genre to which Fanny Burney’s Cecilia belongs as a landmark. Cecilia, published in 1782, was widely read and highly influential for its keen perception of social behavior, courtship, and the way characters judge one another. Austen grew up among readers and writers who valued Burney’s witty, insightful portrayal of society, so the idea that Pride and Prejudice might echo or respond to Burney’s title and concerns fits with the pattern of Austen engaging with earlier Austen‑era works to position her own novel in dialogue with that tradition.

Among Burney’s major works, Cecilia is the best-known touchstone for this kind of intertextual awareness, more so than Evelina or Camilla in the sense of contributing to the specific notion of a titled work that signals moral and social scrutiny. The pairing in Pride and Prejudice—focusing on pride and the prejudice that arises in social judgment—resonates with Burney’s treatment of character, reputation, and social performance, making Cecilia the most plausible inspiration scholars point to for the title’s cultural lineage.