The Pilgrimage

The train from Waterloo took only an hour to get to Alton and the bus to Chawton was simple enough, so I can't say that it was necessarily the Odyssey, but to see the place where many of her marvelous characters were born was magical. 

I know it is a cliche these days for an unmarried woman of little fortune and few prospects to claim approbation for Jane Austen, but her novels have been a guide of personal conduct since 11 year-old Deborah read Pride and Prejudice for the first time. The effects of Mr. Knightly and Captain Wentworth on a young impressionable mind are quite destructive—men these days just can’t compete with these literary heroes who are so discomposed by, and yet devoted to, Ms. Austen's strong, funny, stubborn heroines. What young woman doesn't identify with Elizabeth, Elinor or Anne? 

At the museum there was a quote by Winston Churchill about having P&P read to him while he was very ill: 

"[N]ow I thought I would have Pride and Prejudice. Sarah read it to me beautifully from the foot of the bed. I had always thought it would be better that its rival. What calm lives they had, those people! No worries about the French Revolution, or the crashing struggle of the the Napoleonic Wars. Only manners controlling natural passion, as far as they could, together with cultured explanations of any mischances."

This clear window into calm lives is also why I soak them up over and over again. Throughout the day I was re-reading Persuasion and felt imbued with a sense of principled politeness. The museum was very well done and I took the liberty of making several turns about the garden while I was there.

Her tiny writing desk where at least four of her novels were written and revised is situated in the dining room. Allegedly the door to the room had a squeak to it that was never mended because it warned Jane that someone was coming while she was writing.

To leave gray, noisy London for a while and see a bit of the English countryside by train, bus and foot was needed. I walked the few miles back to the train station in Alton after going to the house, because I felt that that was a very Austen-ian thing to do. Walks are often major plot devices, as any reader of Sense and Sensibility should know.

In the charming (if for only being nondescript), town of Alton I drank hard cider, had a Cornish pasty, and finished Persuasion at a pub called the Railway Arms. It's very easy to get around the country by train, so I'll probably be taking numerous trips like this on the weekend. 

If any of my dear readers have any suggestions, please pass them on. Jane Austen's house was first on the list because I am such a fan, but I have the intention of going the Brighton, Bath, Stratford-upon-Avon, and Yorkshire. I've been all over the continent in the past, but this is my first time in Great Britain, so I would really like to explore it properly.