British writers on Belgium and Belgians

Flemish art historian and novelist Leen Huet gave us a delightful talk about how British writers have seen Belgium and Belgians over the centuries, from a literary and artistic point of view. 

Starting with the links between the Belgae and southern Britain that Julius Caesar wrote about in the first century BC, she took us through William Caxton, Tobias Smollett, Lord Byron and more, topping off with Charlotte Brontë’s descriptions in Villette. 

'UNvictorian' female writers: The Brontës, Rossetti, Eliot

I can already hear you all ask: Why “Un”victorian? These writers – the Brontë sisters, Christina Rossetti and George Eliot – all lived and worked in the Victorian era. When I saw the notice from Amarant for this series of lectures I was as intrigued as you may be by the use of “unvictorian” for the writers mentioned. 

The three lectures were held on Monday afternoons in October in Leuven. And the lecturer Magda Michielsens explained why these writers were considered to be Unvictorian. 

Death in Charlotte Brontë’s late novels

In a suitably macabre pre-Halloween presentation, Dr. Edwin Marr gave a fascinating talk on death in Charlotte Brontë’s late novels Shirley and Villette. 

 

Both of these works are complex and contradictory texts that grapple with many of the tensions surrounding death, grief and burials, he said in his talk to the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday 15 October 2022.