Both John Fowles and Jane Austen resided in Lyme during their lifetimes. Fowles was a permanent resident of Lyme, while Austen visited the area many times with her family. Austen also lived in Bath, a more fashionable resort town that catered to the rich. The second half of "Persuasion" is set in the rigid city Bath, which contrasts with the more relaxed landscapes of Lyme and the Uppercross.
Read Austen's Description of Lyme and compare it to Anne's feelings about Bath, below.
"Persuasion" Chapter 11
"They were come too late in the year for any amusement or variety which Lyme, as a public place, might offer. The rooms were shut up, the lodgers almost all gone, scarcely any family but of the residents left; and, as there is nothing to admire in the buildings themselves, the remarkable situation of the town, the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which, in the season, is animated with bathing machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek; and a very strange stranger it must be, who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better."
"Persuasion" Chapter 14
"Anne... persisted in a very determined, though very silent disinclination for Bath; caught the first dim view of the extensive buildings, smoking in rain, without any wish of seeing them better; felt their progress through the streets to be, however disagreeable, yet too rapid; for who would be glad to see her when she arrived? And looked back, with fond regret, to the bustles of Uppercross and the seclusion of Kellynch."
(Here's a great external shot of the long series of townhoses known as the Circus in Bath, 0:25-0:45)
Anne becomes better acquainted with Mr. Elliot in Bath. Why, in your opinion, do Anne's father and sister thrive in Bath society while Anne suffers? How are lower class people, such as Mrs. Smith, recieved in Bath?
Is the society of Lyme in "The French Lieutenant's Woman" more like the society of Bath in "Persuasion"? Do you think that society really changed in the 50 years that seperate these two stories, or are all the differences the result of narratorial/authorial bias?