Bath - The Fashionable Playground |
 Oct 3 2009, 03:49 PM
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#1
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Visual Aids of Swoonworthiness Person  Posts: 2,736 Joined: 8:49pm December 9, 2006 Location: Lost in a Good Book somewhere in Minneapolis   |
Two of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, are set partially in Bath. Jane herself made the city her home from 1801 to 1806.
Catherine is completely mesmerized by Bath: They arrived in Bath. Catherine was all eager delight; - her eyes were here, there, everywhere, as they approached its fine and striking environs, and afterwards drove through those streets which conducted them to the hotel. She was come to be happy, and she felt happy already. While Persuasion's more mature heroine, Anne, longs to be anywhere but Bath. But the usual fate of Anne attended her, in having something very opposite from her inclination fixed on. She disliked Bath, and did not think it agreed with her; and Bath was to be her home. To learn more about Bath, visit the Wiki page on Bath.
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Oct 4 2009, 05:18 PM
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#2
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Buying a Half-Kneazle  Posts: 543 Joined: 1:08pm May 15, 2008 Location: In the rehearsal studio. |
From Austen's descriptions, to me Bath seems to be THE place to go. Everbody who is anybody is there. There are activities and parties all day long with plenty of opportunities to see and be seen. Oh, and by the way, you might get some medicinal benefits there too.
I can understand why Bath would be so mesmerising to Catherine. She is young and rather sheltered. Here is her first opportunity to see the world and meet new people. She gets to dress up, dance with boys, and make new friends. It is a teenage girl's dream-come-true! Anne, however, isn't interested in those things anymore. She has loved and lost. She is not interested in playing the part of a party girl. Plus, her family is in Bath. Her family who is not interested in her and treats her indifferently. She doesn't see any new and exciting adventures in store for her. I don't know if I would really want to spend a lot of time in Bath. It seems like a tourist trap to me - crowded and expensive. It might be fun if I could go with a group of friends, but I don't think I would want to spend all summer there. That's not the kind of vacation I like to have now. When I was a teenager, well, that's a different story! --------------------  thanks twiddlethosedials |
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Oct 5 2009, 07:57 AM
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#3
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In Charge of Invisible Books of Invisibility  Posts: 1,157 Joined: 9:01pm July 25, 2005 Location: in a little house in DeSmet, South Dakota |
Austen didn't like Bath much. Persuasion is her most personal book, Anne's opinion on Bath was largely Jane's.
I would like to spend a few days in Bath because it has a long history of a spa, I enjoy historical sites. -------------------- ~~Proud member of the Ingalwings Society~~
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Oct 16 2009, 09:57 PM
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#4
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Exclusive distributor of The Dungbomb Protection Kit Posts: 2,632 Joined: 10:52pm March 5, 2007  |
Bath has fascinated me ever since Jane Austen introduced me to it. It is alternatively described as a fabulous location to party party party, and a teeming cesspool of social climbers with nothing to do. Okay, so that is a bit of an exaggeration, but that is my personal impression
 .So tell me, what is the big deal with the Pump Room? What is the Pump room and why do they go there so often? What is with the register thingy that people sign? I can understand Catherine's eagerness to go, at 17 it is exciting to get out and see a little bit of the world, and perhaps her enthusiasm for a place like Bath is used by the author to illustrate her naivete. |
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Oct 17 2009, 01:32 AM
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#5
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Being Eaten by the Pea Soup Posts: 22 Joined: 8:10pm April 10, 2009 Location: Sydney, Australia |
QUOTE(Pyxis @ Oct 17 2009, 01:57 PM)  So tell me, what is the big deal with the Pump Room? What is the Pump room and why do they go there so often? What is with the register thingy that people sign? you know what, Pyxis, I always wondered the same thing whenever I read Austen, I always thought 'what on earth is a Pump Room?' I looked it up once and found that it was the building where people visiting Bath would go to 'drink the waters' and socialise, so it was pretty much where a lot of the social activity went on during the day Persuasion is the Austen book I love the most next to P&P, and the 2007 adaptation was also really great - After watching it I've decided I would looove to go to the Crescent in Bath, it looks amazing! Has anyone seen The Duchess with Keira Knightley? in the movie they stay at one of the rooms in the Crescent, and overall it seems like the place has got a lot of history, so going to Bath is on the list for the future =) |
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Oct 19 2009, 01:32 AM
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#6
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DDD's Protege Posts: 313 Joined: 10:49am March 13, 2009 Location: On the Horizon |
If I were myself visiting Bath of Catherine's era, I would think it would be boring. I'd prefer to actually do something on my visit, not just walk around and around the Pump Room, having no fun at all unless you see someone you know. Then again, is it that different from when I was a teenager and we'd hang out at the mall....?
QUOTE(Pyxis @ Oct 16 2009, 10:57 PM) I can understand Catherine's eagerness to go, at 17 it is exciting to get out and see a little bit of the world, and perhaps her enthusiasm for a place like Bath is used by the author to illustrate her naivete. I can agree with that. I can see why Catherine would be thrilled by Bath, coming from a small town with no real glamor to speak of. I get the impression that Catherine herself is sort of following the herd in doing what she has been taught are the "things to do" in Bath. I remember that she and Mrs. Allen are miserable at first until they hook up with the Thorpes; then they are sort of inducted into the routine of daily life in Bath, and Catherine comes to enjoy it. Although I think it has as much to do with the friendships she makes than the setting they are in. As for myself visiting Bath in today's time, well I'd love to travel to just about anywhere on the other side of the Atlantic, having never done so. There are probably places higher on my list than Bath, though. -------------------- "Only love...can leave such a mark / But only love...can heal such a scar" -U2 |
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Nov 2 2009, 02:22 PM
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#7
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Diagon Alley Magical Bricklayer Posts: 2,896 Joined: 8:53am April 20, 2006 Location: Prifysgol Bangor Univeristy, Bangor, Cymru |
Pardon me for butting in here, but I've wanted to start this novel for quite some time now as I loved P&P and Emma.
I'm going to Bath on a Geography fieldvisit in April and I can't wait. I'll be looking at it from a geography point of view though rather than a Jane Austen one but I'm sure it will be facinating! I guess there'll be a lot of 'Blue Plaques'* dedicated to Jane Austen... * Blue Plaques are what a lot of councils in Britain put up on a famous building - for example, the cafe in Edingburgh where JKR did a lot of her writing - and the plaque will explain that. 
--------------------  "...because if there is one thing I've learned from all I've been through, it's that you only regret the things that you didn't do." Cameron Duncan |
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