"Life of the 19th century’s aristocracy in resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk"

Министерство общего и профессионального образования Свердловской области
МКУ «Управление образования городского округа Красноуральск» Свердловской области Муниципальное автономное общеобразовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа №6

Направление: лингвистическое (иностранные языки)

Тема:

Life of the 19^th century’s aristocracy in resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk

(After the novels A Hero of Our Time by M. Lermontov and Northanger Abbey by J. Austen)

Автор: Даутова Арина, 10«б»

Руководитель: Савиных Галина Владимировна, учитель английского языка

Место выполнения работы: МАОУ СОШ №6

Красноуральск

2015

Content

1.Introduction………………………………………………………………….3

2.The main part………………………………………………………………….Error: Reference source not found

2.1 Resort towns………………………………………………………………….Error: Reference source not found

2.2. Writers…………………………………………………………………………6

2.3. Novels………………………………………………………………………….6

2.4 My research…………………………………………………………………….7

3.Conclusion……………………………………………………………………11

4.Resources……………………………………………………………………..12

5. Supplement…………………………………………………………………...13

1. Introduction

Our world is global. It is filled with variety of cultures, traditions, customs and languages. Does it mean that all people are different?

England and Russia seem to be different and have nothing in common. But this opinion is false. Actually Russia and England have much more in common than we might think. The relations between the Russian and English cultures have developed over many centuries. We can see it in architecture, in governing, in literature.

My project is actual because the year of 2015 is declared as the year of literature in Russia. It is known that Russian literature was greatly influenced by English writers. George Byron, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and Walter Scott became very important parts of Russian culture. Their works raised the love to England among the Russians. And a lot of Russian classical literary works firstly were translated into English. So, we see that relations between Russia and England have long-standing traditions that have been lasted since the16^th century.

Recently I have read a novel by Jane Austen Northanger Abbey. Description of life in the resort town of Bath reminded me of the life of the “water society” in the Mikhail Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time. I decided to read these books again. I was surprised when I had noticed how much some chapters’ contents in Northanger Abbey are alike to the story “Princess Mary” in Lermontov’s A Hero of Our Time. I was intrigued by this fact and decided to compare these novels.

Considering two resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk I learnt that high society arrived there to be treated with mineral water. I suppose that in both countries resorts life was similar. I wanted to find out differences and similarities and answer the question: “Bath and Kislovodsk. Different or alike?”

Hypothesis: I suggest that resort life in Russia and Britain was similar.

Aim: studying the19^th century aristocracy’s life in resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk in the novels A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Lermontov and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.

Object: novels A Hero of Our Time by M. Y. Lermontov and Northanger Abbey by J. Austen.

Subject: life of British and Russian aristocracy in resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk.

Tasks:

• To read A Hero of Our Time and Northanger Abbey;

• To get information about cities and writers;

• To compare some facts in the novels;

• To find differences and similarities of aristocracy’s life described in both novels;

• To make a booklet about today’s life in Bath and Kislovodsk.

Methods of research: comparison, analysis, synthesis, studying of information.

2. The main part

2.1 Resort towns

Kislovodsk is the largest resort in the region of Caucasian Mineral Waters which is located between the Black and the Caspian Seas. 

Kislovodsk was founded in 1803 as a military station. It was named so because of the many mineral springs around the city.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kislovodsk as a fashionable spa attracted many musicians, artists, and members of the Russian aristocracy. Several of the events in A Hero of Our Time by M. Lermontov are set in Kislovodsk.

The main therapeutic factors are dolomite and sulphate narzans.These narzans have different concentrations of carbon dioxide, magnesium sulphate, sodium and chlorine ions. Medicinal water is used for drinking and bathing.

The atmosphere is permeated by the clean mountain air with a pleasant smell of pines, and the number of sunny days - one of the largest in Russia.

Bath is a city in Somerset, South West England.

The city became a spa with the Latin name Aquae Sulis when the Romans built baths and a temple in the valley of the River Avon, although oral tradition suggests that the hot springs were known before then. It became popular as a spa town during the Georgian era, leaving a heritage of Georgian architecture crafted from Bath Stone.

In the 18^th century it developed into an elegant town, famed in literature and art, with neoclassical Palladian buildings, which blend harmoniously with the Roman baths.

Jane Austen lived here from 1801.  Bath has honoured her name with the Jane Austen Centre and a city walk.

Austen's Northanger Abbey and Persuasion are set in the city and describe taking the waters, social life, and music recitals.

One of the most remarkable features of Bath is the Great Pultney Street Bridge. Through the years, it has stood firm, even though the bridge has endured several renovations. Paired with the beautiful river, the Great Pultney Street Bridge is a sight to behold. It was on this street that Catherine Morland and the Allens lodged when they made their visit to Bath.

"They arrived at 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. They were soon settled in comfortable lodgings in Pultney-street." (Northanger Abbey, ch. II).

1. Writers

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, the greatest figure in Russian Romanticism. His influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times, not only through his poetry, but also through his prose, which founded the tradition of the Russian psychological novel.

In the Caucasus Lermontov found himself quite at home. The stern and gritty virtues of the mountain tribesmen against whom he had to fight, no less than the scenery of the rocks and of the mountains themselves, were close to his heart.

Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature.

Jane Austen's father took a residence at Bath in 1800, and she lived with him, with her mother and sister, until he died in January of 1805. Jane Austen knew Bath as a thriving spa resort, popular with fashionable society. Her first book was Northanger Abbey followed by Sense and Sensibility then Pride and Prejudice.

1. Novels

“A Hero of Our Time” is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839. It is an example of the superfluous man novel, noted for its compelling Byronic hero Pechorin and for the beautiful descriptions of the Caucasus.

Northanger Abbey is a parody of Gothic fiction. Austen turns the conventions of eighteenth-century novels on their head, by making her heroine a plain and undistinguished girl from a middle-class family, allowing the heroine to fall in love with the hero before he has a serious thought of her, and exposing the heroine's romantic fears and curiosities as groundless. 

2.4 My research

The mineral waters in both towns unite them. But this is not the only similar thing. Comparing two novels I noticed that pastime in Kislovodsk was alike to people’s affairs in Bath. Russian and British people drank tea, went for walks and spent their time at balls. They were treated in similar way: drinking mineral water in the morning and taking bath with mineral water. But the description of nature was different. Here are some examples from the novels’ texts.

Landscape

Lermontov and Austen described landscape differently. Lermontov was delighted with beautiful nature of Caucasus: great mountains, clear blue sky, mysterious alleys and fresh air:

“…На запад пятиглавый Бештау синеет… на север поднимается Машук… на восток смотреть веселее: внизу передо мною пестреет чистенький, новенький городок, шумят целебные ключи, шумит разноязычная толпа, - а там, дальше, амфитеатром громоздятся горы все синее и туманнее, а на краю горизонта тянется серебряная цепь снеговых вершин, начинаясь Казбеком и оканчиваясь двуглавым Эльборусом... ”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

Or “…белые мохнатые тучки быстро бежали от снеговых гор, обещая грозу; голова Машука дымилась, как загашенный факел; кругом него вились и ползали, как змеи, серые клочки облаков… ”

(A Hero of Our Time Princess Mary)

Austen “paints” pictures of ancient buildings, streets and oaks lightened with the last beams of the sun:

“…large portion of the ancient building still making a part of the present dwelling although the rest was decayed, or of its standing low in a valley, sheltered from the north and east by rising woods of oak.”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. XVII)

Or “…and every bend in the road was expected with solemn awe to afford a glimpse of its massy walls of grey stone, rising amidst a grove of ancient oaks, with the last beams of the sun playing in beautiful splendour on its high Gothic windows…”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. XX).

Treatment

People drank mineral water and after it they told about everything and went for a walk. Russian “water society” always was bored and sluggish, for example:

“…я обогнал толпу мужчин … которые, как я узнал после, составляют особенный класс людей между чающими движения воды … Они франты: опуская свой оплетенный стакан в колодец кислосерной воды, они принимают академические позы…”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“…Пойду к Елизаветинскому источнику: там, говорят, утром собирается все водяное общество.”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“Велев седлать лошадей, я оделся и сбежал к купальне. Погружаясь в холодный кипяток Нарзана, я чувствовал, как телесные и душевные силы мои возвращались. Я вышел из ванны свеж и бодр, как будто собирался на бал. После этого говорите, что душа не зависит от тела!..”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“…all three set off in good time for the pump-room, where the ordinary course of events and conversation took place; Mr. Allen, after drinking his glass of water, joined some gentlemen to talk over the politics of the day and compare the accounts of their newspapers; and the ladies walked about together, noticing every new face, and almost every new bonnet in the room…”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. X)

“ В одиннадцать часов утра – час, в который княгиня Лиговская обыкновенно потеет в Ермоловской ванне…”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“… Dr. Skinner, was here for his health last winter, and came away quite stout.”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. VIII)

Pastime

Affairs were similar too. Shopping, going to the theatre, walking along crowded streets or going to the country to breathe fresh air and speaking with acquaintances were ordinary things:

“Every morning now brought its regular duties—shops were to be visited; some new part of the town to be looked at; and the pump-room to be attended, where they paraded up and down for an hour, looking at everybody and speaking to no one…” (Northanger Abbey, ch. III)

“…for a fine Sunday in Bath empties every house of its inhabitants, and all the world appears on such an occasion to walk about and tell their acquaintance what a charming day it is…”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. V)

“The Allens, Thorpes, and Morlands all met in the evening at the theatre…”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. X)

“…Вечером многочисленное общество отправилось пешком к провалу…”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“Сегодняшний вечер был обилен происшествиями. Верстах в трёх от Кисловодска, в ущельи, где протекает Подкумок, есть скала, называемая Кольцом… Многочисленная кавалькада отправилась туда посмотреть на закат солнца сквозь каменное окошко”.

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“…Вчера я её встретил в магазине Челахова; она торговала чудесный персидский ковёр…”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

Balls were always visited by water society:

“…Кстати: завтра бал по подписке в зале ресторации, и я буду танцевать с княжной мазурку”.

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“Зала ресторации превратилась в залу благородного собрания. В 9 часов все съехались. … Танцы начались польским; потом заиграли вальс. Шпоры зазвенели, фалды поднялись и закружились”.

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“Mrs. Allen was so long in dressing that they did not enter the ballroom till late. The season was full, the room crowded …”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. III)

One of the most important affairs was drinking tea (we know how important British Tea Culture is for British people.):

“…Пили чай; гостей было много; разговор был общий.”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

“…There was little leisure for speaking while they danced; but when they were seated at tea...”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. III)

We see that there were no significant differences. And now Bath and Kislovodsk are almost the same as in 18^th - 19^th centuries. Both towns have the status of resort towns till now. Many people arrive there to be treated and just to feel the atmosphere of 19^th century that was described in novels by M. Lermontov and J. Austen.

1. Conclusion

In conclusion I would like to say once again about the work I have done. I've read and compared novels A Hero of Our Time and Northanger Abbey. Considering these novels I learnt a lot of interesting information that I wanted to share. Inspired by this information I've made a booklet with useful tips about today’s resort towns of Bath and Kislovodsk. Now I can say that my aim is reached and my hypothesis is confirmed.

In my opinion, my project’s information could be used at History, Literature and English lessons.

This project helped me to improve my English because I’ve read a book in original and I really liked it! Moreover, doing my project I started to understand the English better than I did before. I developed my general reading skills, became fluent in reading, and learnt new words and expressions. I believe this work was of great use for me and this method of studying language is very effective. I will continue reading books of English-speaking writers, and studying English this way.

1. Resources

Literarute:

Алексеев М.П. Русско-английские литературные связи (XVIII — первая половина ХIХ в.). М., 1982.

Austen J. Northanger Abbey, Macmillan Heinemann ELT, 2005.

Ерофеев Н.А. Туманный Альбион: Англия и англичане глазами русских. 1825-1855. М., 1982.

Lermontov M. Y. A Hero of Our Time, Художественная литература, 1985.

Information:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath,_Somerset

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/428

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kislovodsk

http://www.kislovodsk.org/

http://www.janeausten.co.uk/

http://www.thefullwiki.org/Bath

http://www.panoramicearth.com/

Supplement

Tour guide round Bath and Kislovodsk

Jane Austen’s Bath

1. The Jane Austen Centre

The Jane Austen Centre is dedicated to celebrating Bath’s most famous resident. The Centre offers a snapshot of what it would be like to live in the Regency times - the fashion, food, society - everything that would have inspired Austen’s timeless novels.

The Centre also explores how the city of Bath impacted upon Jane Austen’s life and writing in much loved books such as Northanger Abbey and Persuasion.

1. Great Pultney Street

One of the most remarkable features of Bath is the Great Pultney Street Bridge. Through the years, it has stood firm, even though the bridge has endured several renovations. Paired with the beautiful river, the Great Pultney Street Bridge is a sight to behold. It was on this street that Catherine Morland and the Allens lodged when they made their visit to Bath in Northanger Abbey.

"They arrived at 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. They were soon settled in comfortable lodgings in Pultney-street."

(Northanger Abbey, ch. II)

1. Pump Room

The Pump Room, attached to the Roman Baths, is another attraction of the city. The Roman Baths, hidden underground by years of building and improvements, were excavated late in the nineteenth century. Before the Baths were uncovered, though, people did know about the waters, which had been tapped into and used as a source of healing. It was one of the most important places in Bath.

"With more than usual eagerness did Catherine hasten to the Pump-room the next day, secure within herself of seeing Mr. Tilney there before the morning was over, and ready to meet him with a smile:--but no smile was demanded—Mr. Tilney did not appear. Every creature in Bath, except himself was to be seen in the room at different periods of the fashionable hours; crowds of people were every moment passing in and our, up the steps and down…they sat near the great clock, after parading the room till they were tired."

(Northanger Abbey, ch. IV)

1. Royal Crescent

The Royal Crescent, famous for its architecture and situation almost above the city, was another place for the well-to-do of society to visit on Sundays, to promenade and be seen. The Royal Crescent housed the wealthiest visitors to Bath.

"As soon as the divine service was over, the Thorpes and Allens eagerly joined each other; and after staying long enough in the Pump-room to discover that the crowd was insupportable…which everybody discovers every Sunday throughout the season, they hastened away to the Crescent, to breathe the fresh air of better company."

(Northanger Abbey, ch. V)

1. Upper Rooms

In Jane Austen’s time, another important place to be seen was at the Upper Rooms. There, concerts and balls were held at regular intervals. Jane Austen herself was an occasional attendee. The Upper Rooms are still used for events such as weddings and concerts. This museum is a "must" for those who want to see examples of clothing worn in Jane Austen’s day.

“Catherine too made some purchases herself, and when all these matters were arranged, the important evening came which was to usher her into the Upper Rooms.”

(Northanger Abbey, ch. V)

1. Beechen Cliff

We also had the opportunity to visit Beechen Cliff, which is now home to a park situated above Bath. After a substantial walk, we were able to get an incredible view of Bath.   This walk was one of Jane Austen's favorites in Bath, a good testimony to the strength and vigor of our Jane.

"They determined on walking round Beechen Cliff, that noble hill, whose beautiful verdure and hanging coppice render it so striking an object from almost every opening in Bath."

(Northanger Abbey, ch. XIV)

Lermontov’s Kislovodsk

1. The Main Narzan’s Gallery

A stone building of the Narzan gallery, building of which had lasted 10 years and finished in 1858, has survived to our time. Architect S. I. Upton built the gallery in medieval English style.

1. The Main Narzan’s Baths

The one of the most beautiful buildings is the Main Narzan’s Gallery that is situated on Kurortni blvd. The baths was designed in eastern style. In it there is “Boiling well” (a spring of Narzan), drinking well-rooms, a resort library with reading-room. This building looks great against the mountain landscape.

1. Ring-mountain

Besides a developed medical base, it attracts by magnificence of the nature. One of such places is legendary Ring-mountain, more precisely, a reach-through hole in it. A moment, when the setting sun throws its last rays in the ring, remains in the memory of those, who have seen it, forever.

This is the place which is associated with Mikhail Lermontov because the poet lived in Kislovodsk for a long time and described Ring-mountain in his novel A Hero of Our Time

«...Верстах в трех от Кисловодска, в ущелье, где протекает Подкумок, есть скала, называемая Кольцом, это ворота, образованные природой; они подымаются на высоком холме, и заходящее солнце сквозь них бросает на мир свой последний пламенный взгляд».

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary).

Princess Mary went there and it was noted in Pechorin’s diary:

“Многочисленная кавалькада отправилась туда посмотреть на закат солнца сквозь каменное окошко”

(A Hero of Our Time, Princess Mary)

1. The Colonnade

The main entrance in the park is decorated with the snow-white colonnade, and in the centre of it there is a fountain. One of the most beautiful buildings was designed by Russian architect N.N. Semenov. The Colonnade is unordinary neoclassical Palladian construction nearby the Narzan’s Gallery.

Opposite the Collonade there is the famous resort park.

1. Resort park

Proud of Kislovodsk is a medical resort park – a repeated winner of international competitions of monuments of garden-park art, an owner of the highest prizes for wonderful landscape architecture, delicate taste and great diligence of its creators. The first trees of the park were planted by soldiers of Kislovodsk fortress yet in 1823. An old part of the park has many architectural sights: Narzan gallery, a resort exhibition, Mirror pond with a Glass jet.

In the park you can visit Lermontov’s ground. It was built in 1948 on the site of the old restaurant building. It was visited by A. S. Pushkin, M. Y. Lermontov.

In A Hero of Our Time Pechorin wrote in his diary:

«В ресторации, построенной на холме в нескольких шагах от моей квартиры, начинают мелькать вечером огни сквозь двойной ряд тополей, шум и звон стаканов раздается до поздней ночи.

Here there was a quarrel between Pechorin and Grushnitski.

The restaurant building was destroyed during the Patriotic war II. On its place there is now Lermontov Monument.

1. Lermontov Rock

It is supposed that this rock was the site of duel between Pechorin and Grushnitski in the Lermontov’s short story Princess Mary . We read:

“Узкая тропинка вела между кустами на крутизну; обломки скал составляли шаткие ступени этой природной лестницы; цепляясь за кусты, мы стали карабкаться ...”

“…Вот мы взобрались на вершину выдавшейся скалы; площадка была покрыта мелким песком, будто нарочно для поединка”.

Nowadays it is also not so easy to climb the rock.

1. Lermontov Waterfall

On the way to Lermontov Rock you can stop at Lermontov Waterfall. Its height is about 3 metres. This waterfall is believed to be described by Lermontov in the short story Princess Mary as the place where Pechorin watered his horse after the walk to Ring-mountain:

“Росистый вечер дышал упоительной прохладой. Луна подымалась из-за тёмных вершин. Каждый шаг моей некованой лошади глухо раздавался в молчании ущелий; у водопада я напоил коня, жадно вдохнул в себя раза два свежий воздух южной ночи и пустился в обратный путь”.

1. Rebrov’s House

This oldest house in Kislovodsk was built in 1823. Near the house there was a bathing room, a beautiful garden, a small chapter. In the Rebrov’s house M. Lermontov lived in 1873. Lermontov “settled” the characters of Princess Mary in this house. That’s why the house is now called Princess Mary’s house. Vera asked Pechorin to come to Kislovodsk and says:

"...Приезжай через неделю в Кисловодск: послезавтра мы переезжаем туда... Найми квартиру рядом: мы будем жить в большом доме близ источника, в мезонине; внизу княгиня Лиговская..."

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