Nada Saadaoui

It was absolutely necessary that I should have the little fever and indisposition which I had.

It has been all the fashion this week in Lyme.

What is striking in this is that Austen does not portray happiness as a grand declaration.

You know, you could see it in her pleasure in sea bathing and the bodily freedom it affords her.

In Austen's era, women's presence in a landscape was heavily coded.

To walk was to step into the public eye, where women's behavior, their attire, the way they carry themselves, their manner of movement, you know, invited scrutiny

And places like promenades, public walks, they all functioned as social theaters, I would say.

They were spaces designed for observation as much as they were designed for leisure.

To walk is to risk judgment, but it is also the idea of inhabiting space differently, to claim moments of meaningful freedom within the boundaries of regency society.

And for Austen, walking meant freedom.

Anne and Captain Wentworth, after eight whole years of being emotionally distant, they finally come into renewed emotional contact again.

Until this point in the novel, their relationship has been defined by restraint.

It's been defined by pain, politeness, regret, awkwardness.

Absence.

Absence, 100%.

And we see that walk on the cob shifts everything.

The scene begins in high spirits.

Austen would say that the young people were all wild to see Lyme.

And Anne walks in this invigorating sea air and Austen describes her transformation.

Austen writes, she was looking remarkably well, her very regular, very pretty features, having the bloom and freshness of youth restored by the fine wind.