The Secret of Charlotte Brontë

While I was in Haworth during this year’s AGM, I finally found and bought a most precious book, which had been on my wish list for years; The Secret of Charlotte Brontë, by Frederika MacDonald, published in 1914.

Perhaps some of you already have this book, but for those who haven’t, I would like to bring it to your attention.

This is probably the first and only book which is focused solely on Charlotte Brontë and Brussels, and would therefore be of great interest to everyone interested in that period of her life.

Frederika MacDonald, in 1859, was herself a pupil at the Pensionnat Heger where 17 years earlier Charlotte had been a student, and later a teacher.
She knew from first-hand experience what life was like at the school, and even more interesting, what M. Heger and his wife Madame Heger were like in real life.

Frederika had been writing articles as an ex-pupil of the Pensionnat from 1894 onwards, but when Charlotte’s letters to Heger were made public in 1913 (when Paul Heger handed them over to the British Museum), she was the first to quote from these letters in a Brontë biography. They form a vital part of this publication, in which Frederika tries to unravel the ‘secret’ of Charlotte on the basis of these letters.

The book is separated in 2 parts:

• Part I; CHARLOTTE BRONTË’S LETTERS TO M. HEGER
  (These Letters supply the Key to the Secret of Charlotte Brontë)
  She ends this part by quoting Charlotte’s last desperate letter to Constantin Heger. She writes:
  “ The Letter obtained no answer.
  And thus the end was reached. We now know
  where in Charlotte Bronte's life lay her
  experiences that formed her genius and
  made her the great Romantic whose
  quality was that she saw all events and
  personages through the medium of one
  passion: the passion of a predestined tragical
  and unrequited love.”

• Part II; SOME REMINISCENES OF THE REAL MONSIEUR HEGER
  Frederika MacDonald gives us a marvellous insight into her life at the Pensionnat and her own personal view of the teacher she and Charlotte both shared. She writes:
  “ But Monsieur Heger had one really beauti-
  ful feature, that I remember often watching
  with extreme pleasure when he recited fine
  poetry or read noble prose : - his mouth,
  when uttering words that moved him, had
  a delightful smile, not in the least tender to-
  wards ordinary mortals, but almost tender
  in its homage to the excellence of writers
  of genius.
  
  In brief, what M. Heger 's face revealed
  when studied as the index of his natural
  qualities, was intellectual superiority, an
  imperious temper, a good deal of impatience
  against stupidity, and very little patience
  with his fellow-creatures generally ; it
  revealed too a good deal of humour ; and a
  very little kind-heartedness, to be weighed
  against any amount of irritability. It was
  a sort of face bound to interest one ; but
  not, so it seems to me, to conquer affection.”

There are also some interesting illustrations, which you hardly find in any other publication or biography.

M. HEGER AT SIXTY

I strongly recommend this book as a wonderful addition of any good Brussels/Brontë collection.
If you are able to get your hands on a copy, don’t let it slip you by.
There is however the possibilty to read the text, by clicking on this link:
http://www.archive.org/details/secretofcharlott00macduoft
To see the digitalized original edition, click on ‘FLIP BOOK’ in the left panel where it says; ‘View the book’.

Some more information on Frederika’s book in the Australian Brontë Association Newsletter:
www.ics.mq.edu.au/~chris/bronte/news17.pdf

Discover the secret....