Georgian Cities

Jane Austen in Bath

Benjamin — 2014-03-21T10:49:48Z

Gay Street
Jane Austen lived in Trim Street, then in Gay Street (shown here), between Queen Square and the Circus.
One of the houses (n°40) is the Jane Austen Centre (https://www.janeausten.co.uk).

- Map of Bath: 1803 - Jane Austen's world / literature, Bath

Northanger Abbey: the episodes in Bath

2014-03-07T11:13:43Z

Catherine Morland lived in Great Pulteney Street. As befits a novel in which the architectural background with its various styles is significant, this impressive neoclassical avenue forms the setting of her frequent walks towards the older part of Bath to meet her friends, and of many chance encounters with them, before she sets out for the gothic Northanger Abbey.
The social life of the novel is evoked in the film based on it.
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These scenes take place at the Bath (...)

- Map of Bath: 1803 - Jane Austen's world / literature, Bath

Persuasion

Benjamin — 2014-03-07T11:13:41Z

Persuasion, Chapter XV
Persuasion, Chapter XIX
Sir Walter Elliott (Anne's father) chose to live in Camden Place, whose topographical location is figurative as well (Ch.XV). It was in Milsom Street that Anne Elliott caught sight of Captain Wentworth from a window on a rainy day, when she was offered to be driven back home in a barouche, but preferred to walk; the distance (spatial as well as moral) between the two places is apparent in this episode (Ch.XIX).
[#1
Sir Walter had (...)

- Map of Bath: 1803 - Jane Austen's world / literature, Bath

Sheridan's The Rivals (1775)

Benjamin — 2013-10-18T15:13:38Z

Sheridan's The Rivals
Lydia's romantic designs are blamed by her relatives on the novels borrowed for her by her chambermaid from the circulating library, such as The Mistakes of the Heart, The Delicate Distress, and Humphry Clinker.
Sir Anthony affirms that “a circulating library in a town is an evergreen tree of diabolical knowledge” (I.II)

The lady upstage with Sir Anthony is Mrs. Malaprop, Lydia's aunt, whose name refers to her mal à propos choice of words, as when she says “I (...)

- Sheridan's The Rivals / literature, Bath

Smollett's Humphry Clinker: Bath

Benjamin — 2013-10-18T15:13:13Z

Smollett's epistolary novel Humphry Clinker (1771) narrates the story of an uncle, Matthew Bramble, and his young relatives the Melfords, journeying through Britain. The passages on Bath give an account of the social life of the spa refracted through the prism of the opposed opinions of the different characters:
Jerry Melford describes the arrival in Bath to Sir Watkin Phillips, of Jesus College, Oxford
Matthew Bramble writes on architecture and society to Dr Lewis
Lydia Melford (...)

- Smollett's Humphry Clinker: Bath / literature, Bath