By Laine Wood
On June 13 JASNA-NC met to learn about Bath in Dr. Sheila Hwang’s presentation “Becoming Bath: How Storytelling Shaped the Spa.” Dr. Hwang discussed the history of Bath, starting with its establishment by the Romans, who took full advantage of a natural hot spring in the area. The Romans built baths and a temple in the valley there beside the River Avon, and dedicated the city to the Roman goddess Minerva, who was associated with the goddess mentioned in the Latin name of the city: Aquae Sulis (the waters of Sulis).
Using a social lens, Dr. Hwang described the evolution of bath from the Roman frontier through to the 21st century, and how its identity was both formed and identified through storytelling. The warm waters of Bath were thought to have salubrious effects on various ailments, including leprosy. Word began to spread, and Bath was soon mentioned in guidebooks detailing it as a medicinal site. As more and more people flocked to Bath to take of the waters, the next phase of Bath’s polymorphism began: Bath as a social destination.
The popularity of Bath as a social destination meant that initially, it was the upper classes of society who enjoyed the city. As society grew in Bath, so did its popularity and its appearance in literature. Dr. Hwang discussed at length the impact that authoress Eliza Fowler Haywood had on the city through her work Bath-Intrigues: In Four Letters to a Friend in London (1725). As the population of Bath grows, so too do the issues commonly seen in burgeoning society: themes of identity, class, and sex. Bath essentially became a city that brought out attitudes and behaviors that were both dangerous and protective. These themes played out both in real life and in the lives of the rich, literary characters as portrayed in Haywood’s works. Northanger Abbey (1817) is a work that displays the dangers and the protections of Bath as Henry Tilney and John Thorpe are juxtaposed in the protective and dangerous elements of the city. In Sense and Sensibility (1811), Willoughby characterizes the dangerous by scandalizing the 15-year-old ward of Colonel Brandon, Miss Eliza Williams.
Not wanting Bath to lose its charm or sense of propriety, self-proclaimed Master of Ceremonies Richard “Beau” Nash made it his business to influence the city, its inhabitants, visitors, and reputation. He did this through establishing a network of accepting new arrivals to Bath, suggesting suitable marriage matches, and establishing “The Laws of Bath,” a list of twelve rules that governed appropriate and expected behavior while in Bath. It was important to promenade in the right places, with the right people, and at the right times, or to partake of certain experiences such as lunch at the Pump Room or attending evening Assemblies. So much were these mores taken seriously, Austen felt to make light of them in her work Northanger Abbey. While Tilney and Catherine dance, Henry comments that he must ask all the right questions to a rather socially naive Catherine. The questions are all about Catherine taking in Bath and all its social airs, to the point of asking the questions in the expected order of experience.
Bath continued to grow in popularity, and the 18th century saw an increase in accessibility to all classes as well morphing again from being an exclusive resort town to become more residential and twee. Thus, Bath became situated in between the affluent London and the less sophisticated, generic country village. Dr. Hwang calls this shift a physical and ideological change and one that is reflected in Austen’s works. In Persuasion (1817), the ideological Bath is the right place for the Elliott’s to “retrench”—they could not afford London, and moving to a country village would add insult and damage the social standing of the family that was in financial ruins. In Sanditon, Bath is no longer the location for the proper and the elite to go to. Lyme Regis becomes the new hot spot, and is also mentioned in Persuasion.
Bath’s current status is that of a historical city with the rich history of the Romans and Jane Austen for support. Bath as a location signified experience, and while Austen used it to set characters and events in her novels, one cannot miss the parallels to Jane’s life—from being a resort destination that could improve one’s social standing to being a reputable place to retrench, and finally to a residential and historical city, Bath and all of its identities provided much to both Austen and those who lived, visited, and wrote about the location.
Discussion centered around the similarities in the actual historical experiences of Bath and how they were accurately identified and described in the works of Haywood and Austen. Several members were able to identify characters (e.g., Willoughby) that were surely created within the dangerous and protective themes that Dr. Hwang spoke about.
About the Presenter
Sheila Hwang, PhD, is Professor of English at Webster University in St. Louis, Missouri, where she was a 2020 winner of Webster’s William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching. Sheila specializes in British literature and culture of the long eighteenth century (1660-1830), regularly offering courses on 18th/19th-century British Literature, History of the British Novel, Restoration and 18th-century British Drama, Jane Austen, and Sherlock Holmes. In addition, Sheila enjoys teaching courses in contemporary US Literature of Diversity, as well as various thematically-based courses such as Love and Intrigue, Coming of Age in America, Art and Activism, Children’s Classics, and Literary Feasts.
Sheila regularly shares her scholarly work at academic conferences, and also welcomes opportunities to give presentations and facilitate discussions for the general public in conjunction with both local and national organizations. Sheila is excited to be a member of the recently-formed JASNA Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, which has been asked to help JASNA accomplish its goal of being an inclusive, welcoming, and accessible space.
