tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76171273035818243132024-03-16T19:52:44.864+01:00Brussels Brontë BlogHelen MacEwanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13095748374815049140noreply@blogger.comBlogger344125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-51513654679912706252024-03-14T11:09:00.013+01:002024-03-14T11:48:18.771+01:00Member talk: The Brontës and fake newsThere have been wild speculations and baseless theories about the Brontë sisters and their novels virtually since the books were first published in 1847. Johan Hellinx gave the Brussels Brontë Group a run-down of all the fake news that has circulated, right up to today. <div><br /></div><div>In his talk on Saturday, 24 February 2024, Johan’s special fake-news focus was the enduring claims that Branwell Brontë must have been the true author of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. The first serious biography of Emily didn’t come until 1883, when Mary Robinson published her book, so there was plenty of time and scope for speculations.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyIqp0rp5gGRDQJ-qEezDJOY3rEXxNM7MT2ZEM-7JQv_X1UKXrG_up7r-q_G9Te4cprxpjPeSQkJbrqEQH5Emmrl8MUFtMqEb0AjDFj1vehyJsFPUoakwwVU1fdbqvRKnP0g1VpEieOr2uRByRpOogzg3A6Fu3XsGk76w8DPUiL-iJTctN1pW4hX8B_Ss/s928/Johan%20Branwell%20fake%20news%20close%20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="588" data-original-width="928" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyIqp0rp5gGRDQJ-qEezDJOY3rEXxNM7MT2ZEM-7JQv_X1UKXrG_up7r-q_G9Te4cprxpjPeSQkJbrqEQH5Emmrl8MUFtMqEb0AjDFj1vehyJsFPUoakwwVU1fdbqvRKnP0g1VpEieOr2uRByRpOogzg3A6Fu3XsGk76w8DPUiL-iJTctN1pW4hX8B_Ss/s320/Johan%20Branwell%20fake%20news%20close%20.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>
The fake news was fed early on by the Brontë sisters’ use of pseudonyms – Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell – which led to an air of mystery around the novels and their authors, Johan said. This prompted conjecture about who exactly the Bells were, as well as how many Bells there were. </div><div><br /></div><div>Contributing to the disinformation around <i>Wuthering Heights</i> and its author was Thomas Cautley Newby, the novel’s first publisher. The unscrupulous Newby promoted Ellis Bell’s book as by the author of <i>Jane Eyre</i>, and he did the same thing later with Anne’s <i>The Tenant of Wildfell Hall</i>, advertising it as the third novel of Mr. Bell. “So readers had reasons to be puzzled about the number of Bells,” Johan said. </div><div><br /></div><div>And then there was the gender issue, coupled with the coarseness, violence and depravity depicted in <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. While critics were swept away by Jane Eyre, they didn’t know what to make of Ellis Bell’s book. “<i>Wuthering Heights</i> was a strange novel, full of passion, and more in the German romantic tradition,” Johan said. </div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBH5DuZ_1DZyqF5HFjAHVCKHlMJ7d-k5ce3lSC-l6v4r6PKLqhq7k51o0KnxxHBYYJXmyehrOYw8_U7fU2yGdUFrVv4JxgZhlA0Lptujrfq7iCTLGpMZ7rcsgktKp4MDtMIUz5q7Dlm-lwtiJeH3Kx8a4-E9gjAJ0Qsj3vlTJL0xdzQ7sSpXSmPLTsEU/s2000/Wuthering%20Heights%20title%20page.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2000" data-original-width="1290" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqBH5DuZ_1DZyqF5HFjAHVCKHlMJ7d-k5ce3lSC-l6v4r6PKLqhq7k51o0KnxxHBYYJXmyehrOYw8_U7fU2yGdUFrVv4JxgZhlA0Lptujrfq7iCTLGpMZ7rcsgktKp4MDtMIUz5q7Dlm-lwtiJeH3Kx8a4-E9gjAJ0Qsj3vlTJL0xdzQ7sSpXSmPLTsEU/w252-h392/Wuthering%20Heights%20title%20page.png" width="252" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'By the author of <i>Jane Eyre</i>'</td></tr></tbody></table><div>Johan quoted one early critic in an American magazine: “How a human being could have attempted such a book as the present without committing suicide before he had finished a dozen chapters, is a mystery.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Some critics speculated that Ellis Bell was a woman, but if this novel was indeed the case, it was even more astonishing and require another explanation (like a man – Branwell – really wrote the book). Some critics said such a novel could not be written by a woman – or at least should not. Could such a coarse novel really be written by a shy, unsociable young woman, as Emily was depicted to be? </div><div><br /></div><div>“The fact that some considered that a masterpiece of violence and immorality could definitely not have been the work of a woman would later be interpreted to Branwell’s advantage,” Johan said. In this viewpoint, the author “simply had to be Branwell.” </div><div><br /></div><div>The idea that Emily was a shy, unsociable girl was launched by Charlotte herself in 1850 when she published her preface to the second edition of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. Charlotte tries to soften the charges of coarseness of against the novel by saying that Ellis Bell was living in an isolated place, in a remote district, far from the civilized world, writing about rustic characters encountered in that secluded world. </div><div><br /></div><div>“Charlotte gives her own personal, censured, even sanitized, version of the Emily we still know today – an unsociable girl living far from civilization, who just noted what she saw around her,” Johan said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then Elizabeth Gaskell took that explanation and ran with it in her <i>Life of Charlotte Brontë</i>, published in 1857. “That is why Gaskell depicted Haworth as a forlorn hellhole on the edge of the civilized world, which of course it wasn’t, since Haworth was situated only five miles from Keighley.” More fake news.</div><div> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJe5atv4MolsmJhXG_Dk8v9GxYipKrrDzi4r1oyip9jQD9nk6TT5bJuP99anLMaQNJlwUtC5gX4aARRNVZX5n4_4TU4KjDlja5b745I8mxTY5YV0msPbxUMzMtkskICQfQLcPxVpsU1pPInSLdIMxr9ZHPTv9-wLslHZX7nspEKbEInYMDi08KkJ0Qvg/s1000/Life%20of%20CB%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="656" height="391" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAJe5atv4MolsmJhXG_Dk8v9GxYipKrrDzi4r1oyip9jQD9nk6TT5bJuP99anLMaQNJlwUtC5gX4aARRNVZX5n4_4TU4KjDlja5b745I8mxTY5YV0msPbxUMzMtkskICQfQLcPxVpsU1pPInSLdIMxr9ZHPTv9-wLslHZX7nspEKbEInYMDi08KkJ0Qvg/w256-h391/Life%20of%20CB%20cover.jpg" width="256" /></a></div><div>Gaskell also emphasized the idea that Branwell was a failed artist and a failed scholar. He was also a failed station master, and an unreliable private teacher, addicted to alcohol, always to be found in the local pub with the wrong friends. And of course an opium eater and gambler. For Gaskell, Branwell is the explanation for the detailed knowledge the Brontë sisters seemed to have of drunkards and gamblers – “they just noted what they saw,” Johan said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Gaskell aimed to defend Charlotte’s literary reputation, and therefore she downplayed the literary achievements of the other siblings. Gaskell described Emily as crude and reserved. </div><div><br /></div><div>More fake news came in 1867, when William Deardon, a friend of both Branwell and Rev. Patrick Brontë, wrote a magazine article championing Branwell as the author of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. He made the point that Charlotte’s 1850 preface was the only concrete claim of Emily’s authorship, and he recalled a scene in the Cross Roads Inn around 1842 when Branwell read out some pages he claimed to have composed that sounded very similar to scenes found later in <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dearden repeats the argument – based on Charlotte’s and Gaskell’s comments – that a young, shy and inexperienced girl could never have conceived such a cruel, coarse and violent novel. Therefore, the novel must have been written, or at least co-authored, by Emily’s brother. He provides no proof for any of his claims. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another Branwell champion was the Yorkshire poet Alice Law, who published her study titled <i>Patrick Branwell Brontë</i> in 1923. Whereas Gaskell elevated Charlotte by diminishing Branwell, Law defended Branwell by denigrating Charlotte. Law trots out theory after theory for Branwell’s authorship of Wuthering Heights, including the novels “masculine tone,” but she offers no concrete evidence. </div><div><br /></div><div>Daphne Du Maurier, whose <i>The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë</i> was published in 1960, attributed partial authorship to Branwell. Du Maurier claimed that Branwell and Emily could have written together, but her theory rests on the same muddy arguments as the others, Johan said. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrTgudPOg8ptTsCkNXKeUnTXNjsIlhj2U_Gfw4ivr9Uua2B2PHeyxohfYc6341TIqPyQQbU2diBLTZJfJf91IVwy6r3YnzRAAKCD0kpP-a7mnllcaKy-zjrMw1J4BZilX0jtSn7NpzXjEW4PYmQpCzE2u9YTnbM_lYQQB8g6UR3EmEGf-RoAV7FNIDzE/s4032/Johan%20branwell%20bronte's%20tale.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHrTgudPOg8ptTsCkNXKeUnTXNjsIlhj2U_Gfw4ivr9Uua2B2PHeyxohfYc6341TIqPyQQbU2diBLTZJfJf91IVwy6r3YnzRAAKCD0kpP-a7mnllcaKy-zjrMw1J4BZilX0jtSn7NpzXjEW4PYmQpCzE2u9YTnbM_lYQQB8g6UR3EmEGf-RoAV7FNIDzE/s320/Johan%20branwell%20bronte's%20tale.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Johan Hellinx</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>In 2014, the author Chris Firth raised the discussion about Branwell’s authorship again, based on the same arguments used by Alice Law in 1923. Firth called for a computer analysis to determine who is the true author of Wuthering Heights. The analysis was subsequently performed. </div><div><br /></div><div>The final verdict: “If anything, our results show that Branwell is the least likely member of the Brontë family to have contributed to <i>Wuthering Heights</i>.” </div><div><br /></div><div>While Johan concluded that the evidence clearly points to Emily’s authorship, the debate is sure to go on – and no doubt accompanied by more fake news.
<p> </p></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-46302469860053531042024-03-05T23:09:00.014+01:002024-03-05T23:39:44.837+01:00Member talk: ‘Wuthering Heights’ and pop culture<p>Ana Gauthier gave the Brussels Brontë Group a whirlwind tour through the far-reaching influence of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> on the broader culture, showing how Emily Brontë’s novel echoes through our collective consciousness, sometimes in surprising ways. </p><p>In her talk on Saturday 24 February 2024, Ana touched on Kate Bush, Merle Oberon, Celine Dion, Jim Steinman, Giorgio Armani and a host of anonymous social-media users as she demonstrated the widespread echoes of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> that can be found rippling through our culture. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgYTIKXr1NU2Bit1K_RnVz0RoCD3Zw_pyHF6eL0W8oW708lg8lQ1jJ-M65esbzkWfep1pzrc8hwK6XEzvG7EDE5S8Gr-p1tGeBpKlKQPdOaKj84q9-HcqSIByzYp9PKlieEWjI0JWxSM0_dNFCE-uAnQ36sOa1oAuQr9IEAChsjRcdVs9JeYatH3PmgE/s860/Ana%20title%20closer.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="860" data-original-width="852" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCgYTIKXr1NU2Bit1K_RnVz0RoCD3Zw_pyHF6eL0W8oW708lg8lQ1jJ-M65esbzkWfep1pzrc8hwK6XEzvG7EDE5S8Gr-p1tGeBpKlKQPdOaKj84q9-HcqSIByzYp9PKlieEWjI0JWxSM0_dNFCE-uAnQ36sOa1oAuQr9IEAChsjRcdVs9JeYatH3PmgE/s320/Ana%20title%20closer.png" width="317" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Ana recalled trying to explain to a friend about the time the Brontë sisters spent in Brussels in the 1840s. The friend didn’t know Charlotte or Emily or Jane Eyre. But <i>Wuthering Heights</i> registered with him. He didn’t know it was a book – he knew the Kate Bush song. In fact, he started singing the chorus. <p></p><p>So a novel written more than 150 years ago has reached across a century and a half to make an impression on someone who knew nothing about the book or the author. It got Ana thinking about how the Brontës – their lives and their literature – can have a palpable influence in the wider culture, beyond just us Brontë enthusiasts (aka the Brontë Bubble). Or as she put it: How have the Brontës influenced people who don’t even know who they are? </p><p>Ana – a not-so-closet Jane Austen fan – started by demonstrating the beyond-the-bubble concept with Mr. Darcy’s wet shirt – from the 1995 BBC miniseries of <i>Pride and Prejudice</i>, but not in the original novel. Images of the post-swim Colin Firth – or parodies of the scene – have shown up in lots of places in the last three decades, including <i>Lost in Austen</i>, <i>Bridget Jones’s Diary</i> and the <i>Bridgerton</i> series. </p><p>“It has essentially become shorthand for ‘This is the person you should be attracted to in this show’,” Ana said. But her main point was: “This trope would not exist if we did not have <i>Pride and Prejudice</i> first.”</p><p>You can see a similar phenomenon with Kate Bush, as demonstrated by Ana’s songbird friend. Kate Bush was influenced by <i>Wuthering Heights</i> to write her song in the 1970s, and many listeners were reminded of Emily Brontë – or came to know the author and her book – because of the Kate Bush song and videos. </p><p>Much later, thanks in large part to social media, we have “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever” – an annual event started in 2016 and held in different cities around the world where people get together and dance to Kate Bush’s song, usually dressed appropriately in red. Brussels was one of the participating cities in 2018, and Ghent in 2019. Perhaps you went along. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpibU3fEfG-NwyUHI_V7KAC9SsU5kMiYhpkpPGqA8mZCFh5r8ROoUQTf5ZpVxR5Po3-TnIO3LNxiP7zty_FVD_GrZHWof_zBwY6uNwgfkcpuUF3lS0QeC0uJ6rnaaJ1y2aa0eNiC0KC_UvKQdMkTqabeV1WlAL3sigsL6qo8Dv9ZnVZ1jvbah5ICVEC6o/s3117/Kate%20Bush%20Day.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1344" data-original-width="3117" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpibU3fEfG-NwyUHI_V7KAC9SsU5kMiYhpkpPGqA8mZCFh5r8ROoUQTf5ZpVxR5Po3-TnIO3LNxiP7zty_FVD_GrZHWof_zBwY6uNwgfkcpuUF3lS0QeC0uJ6rnaaJ1y2aa0eNiC0KC_UvKQdMkTqabeV1WlAL3sigsL6qo8Dv9ZnVZ1jvbah5ICVEC6o/w400-h173/Kate%20Bush%20Day.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">“The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever”</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>“It’s an example of how Emily Brontë’s influence, through Kate Bush, is continuing to echo,” Ana said. </p><p>Another echo was seen in the 2016 Armani spring collection, which was inspired by <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. The models wore black wigs to reference Merle Oberon in the 1939 film version and there was lots of lilac – supposedly to suggest the heather on the moors. So Emily’s art has filtered through the movies to affect fashion, even Italian designer fashion, Ana said. </p><p>And then there was a hashtag for Emily’s novel on Tumbler, which, similar to “The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever,” brought the <i>Wuthering Heights</i> vibe to a younger generation. Enthusiasts of the Tumbler hashtag #wutheringheightsaesthetic seemed to regard the brooding Heathcliff as their champion, with Fritz Eichenberg’s 1940s illustrations setting the mood. </p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnodcn2v0cMM7H0n1bsjIb41gbxLH07tltB7rox3eZl7FfZfx3xuwU-rxiumUkRhex-N-JoP29mFIBsJ_-c014Jsg3q_jL6nDVxP23OALA1y1n56yPG5u-FpIm8kXuF_Z42TR1i-HQr8ams6CsJ-DPhguQzTrU0f30F8qtwz8eFN8OS8zkZgUlOe47-KM/s265/Heathcliff%20illo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="265" data-original-width="181" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnodcn2v0cMM7H0n1bsjIb41gbxLH07tltB7rox3eZl7FfZfx3xuwU-rxiumUkRhex-N-JoP29mFIBsJ_-c014Jsg3q_jL6nDVxP23OALA1y1n56yPG5u-FpIm8kXuF_Z42TR1i-HQr8ams6CsJ-DPhguQzTrU0f30F8qtwz8eFN8OS8zkZgUlOe47-KM/s1600/Heathcliff%20illo.jpg" width="181" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Eichenberg’s Heathcliff</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p>“Maybe in a literary way we would say it captures a Byronic hero,” Ana said. “But for the teenagers who were using Tumbler at that time, they would say: ‘It’s just so emo!’ ” </p><p>Someone else who was influenced by <i>Wuthering Heights</i> to write a song was Jim Steinman. You may not know his name, but you know his work. He wrote the <i>Bat Out of Hell</i> album that propelled Meat Loaf to stardom. But Ana focused on another Steinman song, one not originally recorded by Meat Loaf – the power ballad <i>It’s All Coming Back to Me Now</i>, which was made popular by Celine Dion in the mid-1990s. </p><p>Ana quoted Steinman on how he composed the song: </p><p>“I was writing it while under the influence of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, which is one of my favorite books. This song is <a href="https://jimsteinman.com/backtome.htm">an erotic motorcycle</a>. It's like Heathcliff digging up Cathy's corpse and dancing with it in the cold moonlight. You can't get more extreme, operatic or passionate than that.” </p><p>Then Ana showed how, with the help of another hashtag – #celinedionchallenge – the Heathcliff aesthetic rippled out to more young people and to a broader audience in general. This time on TikTok, where users posted videos of themselves lip-syncing the song with over-the-top renditions. Ana plays several of the videos, explaining how the emotion of the song, which was originally from Jim Steinman reading <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, is also passed on in the wider cultural consciousness. </p><p>The last video she plays – titled “My mom in the 90s” – shows a young man imitating how his mother danced to <i>It’s All Coming Back to Me Now</i> three decades ago – illustrating the rippling echoes that bring us back to Wuthering Heights again and again. </p><p>Almost without us realizing it, Emily’s novel “is inspiring something in all of us that we feel generation after generation and we continue to pass on and we continue to find something interesting every time we revisit it,” Ana said. </p><p>This was Ana’s second talk to the group. She spoke on <a href="https://brusselsbronte.blogspot.com/2020/02/the-brontes-and-fanfiction.html#more">The Brontës and Fanfiction</a> in 2020.</p><p><br /></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-29912706173483473192024-03-02T20:58:00.016+01:002024-03-02T21:21:07.449+01:00Enjoying the 'World of the Brontës' in a different way!<span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I have always enjoyed making jigsaw puzzles, certainly in childhood, but after growing up and having a job and getting married, I just did not have the time to do this anymore. Reading was taking over as a pastime, as this was much easier to do in between study, work or household chores. Puzzling takes space and time. <div><br /></div><div>During the Covid pandemic, however, as we were all locked up in our homes, I re-discovered this hobby, and to pass the time indoors I started to make the jigsaw puzzles that I found in the cupboards. I really enjoyed this again.
A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for a very special jigsaw puzzle – “The World of the Brontës” – and decided to buy it. This was going to be my next puzzle project.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSJV8kxt6KYcgjhncTEeAbHqp77dP_UM1BLtc9Uu4EUGiKwtdVwM4W2tPmDc8kNq6VJbB4edsx0AyQvDiiFURW-HB0wzsx3QmnQZRnVo0B-Kn3ykZRJ_pdD0sHTtIySNQOgz2DS38NjADecA8nfUtpUW3XN6xP-sD1wRsFV4_FAK37TFcaM1sbXMk8oE/s500/puzzel%20cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="488" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiSJV8kxt6KYcgjhncTEeAbHqp77dP_UM1BLtc9Uu4EUGiKwtdVwM4W2tPmDc8kNq6VJbB4edsx0AyQvDiiFURW-HB0wzsx3QmnQZRnVo0B-Kn3ykZRJ_pdD0sHTtIySNQOgz2DS38NjADecA8nfUtpUW3XN6xP-sD1wRsFV4_FAK37TFcaM1sbXMk8oE/s320/puzzel%20cover.jpg" width="312" /></a></div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In the picture below, you can see the instruction/explanation sheet included with the 1,000 jigsaw puzzle pieces. A lot of small figures, houses, animals, scenes that are connected to the Brontës as a family or the Brontë books, are depicted separately and an explanation can be found on the right-hand side. Really very exciting …</span></div><div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkbLihcx8QJrSbuGoWibjOazwcF9tSlzMw4uTFzQklxe5W_pF8LOACrRSBwx-TDGQp9M9mplsKLaITZ0NcXogA4xnjYvAjfaA2dRUmH1W-QyVBPhZ0hg6EJ68CWRYPGppjhybzRAeHQKdXzEvn7cslkDP4gWm3Pxo4EOcDMHUZ5N5t5AYhXvw24W7e3M/s459/puzzel%20instructies.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="344" data-original-width="459" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkbLihcx8QJrSbuGoWibjOazwcF9tSlzMw4uTFzQklxe5W_pF8LOACrRSBwx-TDGQp9M9mplsKLaITZ0NcXogA4xnjYvAjfaA2dRUmH1W-QyVBPhZ0hg6EJ68CWRYPGppjhybzRAeHQKdXzEvn7cslkDP4gWm3Pxo4EOcDMHUZ5N5t5AYhXvw24W7e3M/w400-h300/puzzel%20instructies.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div>
I started doing the jigsaw puzzle without looking at the explanation sheet because I wanted to test myself and see whether I recognized the different scenes or characters depicted in the puzzle. I must say, it became very addictive to find the scenes and characters in the 1000 pieces of the puzzle. Some of the scenes are quite obvious, while others are more difficult to recognize. The jigsaw puzzle depicts the Brontë family members, including the animals, and also scenes from the books and even the juvenilia. It was quite a challenge, but one I so loved. </span></span></span></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I was so addicted that I was working on the puzzle whenever I found a spare moment and I was able to finish the whole puzzle quite quickly. </span></span></span></span><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Here is the finished article …</span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceEYaFDIW8pBmfeRrBkZSAmsZ5WKa6n9HAZYU3nTIDL-zdDpM0MbMXi69E8lSkREQdjFAuiKm3y3cQLhmLS0HFeXMqXbBgDNn5zykqX2JnbQaxZioal5lPYf9MOyr4ybJbNEVewnmAcfm2K5IBWZtmPv9fm7kgvdphZTiB3iAHg1EaOyRSEt8VRHakJ8/s2312/puzzel%20result.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1734" data-original-width="2312" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhceEYaFDIW8pBmfeRrBkZSAmsZ5WKa6n9HAZYU3nTIDL-zdDpM0MbMXi69E8lSkREQdjFAuiKm3y3cQLhmLS0HFeXMqXbBgDNn5zykqX2JnbQaxZioal5lPYf9MOyr4ybJbNEVewnmAcfm2K5IBWZtmPv9fm7kgvdphZTiB3iAHg1EaOyRSEt8VRHakJ8/w400-h300/puzzel%20result.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br /></span></span></span></span></div>
I just wanted to share my latest Brontë experience with you. If you like making jigsaw puzzles and love the Brontës and their world, I can highly recommend this very special puzzle. </span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><i>-- Marina Saegerman
</i>
</span></span></span></span></div></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><i><br /></i></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(A copy of this jigsaw puzzle was one of the prizes at the Brussels Brontë Group's Christmas lunch in December.)</span></span></span></span></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-27020411542904514692024-01-15T22:29:00.024+01:002024-01-15T23:04:46.391+01:00 The Brontës come to a grocery store in Merchtem<div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><i>The Brontës Went to Woolworths</i>, the title of a 1931 novel by the British writer Rachel Ferguson, features in a talk by Valerie Sanders to be given to the Brussels Brontë Group later this year, in which Professor Sanders will talk to us about "clothes and shopping in the Brontë novels." </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">Here in Belgium this Christmas, the Brontës went not to Woolworths but to a grocery store in Merchtem.</span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZcYr7_isr8B1xvzbROIBw5FfFmao_5kVTtCmyMU3GHHIB_XxSO82PE3vRIjxzt44Jrbx-stNNKfloJrGMSnYbGRHXhMpVxGqWbZ9eGJgaD7E5Wsu0D7Ojs53inck8p8dfht6RgtB-C_KlnIs0XVkDBM3QhYWDadG6tm2rxZGm5tOUqinc8PvAk6oVQg/s1600/Merchtem%20shop%20window%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZcYr7_isr8B1xvzbROIBw5FfFmao_5kVTtCmyMU3GHHIB_XxSO82PE3vRIjxzt44Jrbx-stNNKfloJrGMSnYbGRHXhMpVxGqWbZ9eGJgaD7E5Wsu0D7Ojs53inck8p8dfht6RgtB-C_KlnIs0XVkDBM3QhYWDadG6tm2rxZGm5tOUqinc8PvAk6oVQg/s320/Merchtem%20shop%20window%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><p></p><a name='more'></a><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
Merchtem, a town in Flemish Brabant, is the home of Jean de Wolf. Jean, a fervent Brontë fan and member of our group, retired engineer and creator of remarkable models of ships and buildings, was asked by a local shopkeeper to lend her his scale model of Top Withens for her Christmas window display. Top Withens, today in ruins, is of course the farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors that may have inspired Emily Brontë’s <i>Wuthering Heights</i>.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_cv3Ukkpam0n9n9-rlcfsLlGv2lChBSroKf0xOOrEn3yVMnUKWclqMiLFtBABUYmEbEx7H5yN7IY67sqRTGsE1FC4pLyBTDIkMP32HmFGsce02zW0uW8Txv_XPP8NqnVVLIO9tYd7PXy1NlIIBLNIFLtpdfwZOteVIErb609hrgMgIxXY9KtdRVCErQ/s1600/Merchtem%20shop%20window%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1066" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz_cv3Ukkpam0n9n9-rlcfsLlGv2lChBSroKf0xOOrEn3yVMnUKWclqMiLFtBABUYmEbEx7H5yN7IY67sqRTGsE1FC4pLyBTDIkMP32HmFGsce02zW0uW8Txv_XPP8NqnVVLIO9tYd7PXy1NlIIBLNIFLtpdfwZOteVIErb609hrgMgIxXY9KtdRVCErQ/s320/Merchtem%20shop%20window%204.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">The model, which took three years to construct, formed the centre-piece of a splendid Brontë-themed display featuring books and pictures loaned by Jean, in among the Christmas goodies and other groceries.<br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"> <br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;">The model is proving popular in Flemish Brabant and East Flanders. Prior to this, Jean had already displayed it to cinema-goers at a cinema in Dendermonde screening the film <i>Emily</i>, and to a class of teenagers reading the novel at a school in Asse.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJG0zSasLAAzpZoFeamBc0DklNkpSHXYGaTaimDMuaRU4mjsdYFAWpL-f8OfWBs7y_SG5X3nzKw7MBh7POfVZ8m7EIZTfxz7fB6VpfJlxNh8x3fIJLFltAtR2k41KHVRnNM5uLHgy5KzT1dG3kHozktuevu30LdW9getwDTXqim-YvQQeAPL9tO4EkHms/s1600/Merchtem%20shop%20window%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1066" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJG0zSasLAAzpZoFeamBc0DklNkpSHXYGaTaimDMuaRU4mjsdYFAWpL-f8OfWBs7y_SG5X3nzKw7MBh7POfVZ8m7EIZTfxz7fB6VpfJlxNh8x3fIJLFltAtR2k41KHVRnNM5uLHgy5KzT1dG3kHozktuevu30LdW9getwDTXqim-YvQQeAPL9tO4EkHms/s320/Merchtem%20shop%20window%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-size: 12pt;"> <i>-- Helen MacEwan</i></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0cm; text-align: justify;"><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" lang="EN-GB" style="background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 12pt;"></span></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-32615382408252941002023-11-30T15:52:00.012+01:002023-12-02T14:20:06.368+01:00Napoleon relic that Charlotte Brontë picked up in Brussels<p>When Charlotte Brontë was in Brussels perfecting her French in the mid-1840s, she was gifted a Napoleonic relic — a fragment of Napoleon’s coffin that her tutor Constantin Heger gave her.</p><p>In an article in The Brussels Times Magazine, Helen MacEwan tells the story of <a href="https://www.brusselstimes.com/magazine/807775/the-napoleon-relic-that-charlotte-bronte-picked-up-in-brussels" target="_blank">one of the most curious items</a> in the Brontë Parsonage Museum.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb3J2eM3a4tt03E-4SZSmXxs1-Rqa2Px_7NkHFmezUVX6skhE-xBHGgaOJBwuALUJhCei5HgvgeuXm-t4C6di-WN9RXhcvGbmZYeLqM1Ja5G6ylO8oYAuHXH4QIygbdI-eM8qg9ULtJt3T9mKzxIfneWOqUXKRybchyphenhyphen8eHZaKGDIQbSglTvcKJEFlHzM/s565/Bronte%20coffin%20fragment.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="272" data-original-width="565" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwb3J2eM3a4tt03E-4SZSmXxs1-Rqa2Px_7NkHFmezUVX6skhE-xBHGgaOJBwuALUJhCei5HgvgeuXm-t4C6di-WN9RXhcvGbmZYeLqM1Ja5G6ylO8oYAuHXH4QIygbdI-eM8qg9ULtJt3T9mKzxIfneWOqUXKRybchyphenhyphen8eHZaKGDIQbSglTvcKJEFlHzM/s320/Bronte%20coffin%20fragment.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">©Brontë Society </span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"> </span></div><div><p></p><p></p></div><span><a name='more'></a>It is a tine piece of wood, measuring about ten by two centimetres, that would look utterly insignificant did it not bear an inscription reading “morceau du cercueil de Ste. Hélène.” </span><div><span><br /></span></div><div><span>The tiny strip of wood is a fragment from the coffin of Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been buried in 1821 on his island exile of St Helena. </span></div><div><span><br /></span></div><div>Helen in her story explains how Heger came to possess this relic that Napoleon devotees would have been thrilled to own, and why he gave it to Charlotte when she left Brussels to return to Haworth. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqEXUA0B0mlAYwF-nqV9KqA8Gd3Y-ni9PV6IvMNZCvrNvahwGsH-6b79C4XZRslrpNVA6uQn0xA2npougZ7L8vKAPxFhUnodm-r7d1Vmxx7fqCw-CvCQSt8suSTBHD375BXWQKKfHuXYmofZxbn_PfRPurH2T_Od7g-MeFU7TLcRuqUYEu7pNGCFw9s4/s1024/CB%20coffin%20frag%20big.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="835" data-original-width="1024" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmqEXUA0B0mlAYwF-nqV9KqA8Gd3Y-ni9PV6IvMNZCvrNvahwGsH-6b79C4XZRslrpNVA6uQn0xA2npougZ7L8vKAPxFhUnodm-r7d1Vmxx7fqCw-CvCQSt8suSTBHD375BXWQKKfHuXYmofZxbn_PfRPurH2T_Od7g-MeFU7TLcRuqUYEu7pNGCFw9s4/s320/CB%20coffin%20frag%20big.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: start;">©Brontë Society <br /></span>The coffin fragment and letter from Heger, <br />in the Brontë Parsonage Museum.</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-35275380255730260722023-11-13T23:46:00.029+01:002023-11-14T00:13:21.736+01:00Emily and Charlotte and … 48 teenagers from AsseThis summer we received a special request in our mailbox: a teacher at a Flemish secondary school, GO Atheneum Vijverbeek Asse, contacted us because they were interested in taking one of our guided walks about Charlotte and Emily in Brussels with 48 of their final-year students. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXW0h2vM3Q_h_Di9hijJihgTG9WVx6tZrKaAaT3ypsU5J2XaaQGgOd8-BmG8pC5464Al5CUz8CP33YbHlQXmFgdxlKcp6hY6z-jAWT_8Bp_6lwfhlfkUsbjashFI3ShYmYtO3iolVaYLovPWmtrFzq4ou-4VbYGBPUWq1xW0zmxqFmvbfRaEdlBKD62w/s2048/Bronte%20walk%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizXW0h2vM3Q_h_Di9hijJihgTG9WVx6tZrKaAaT3ypsU5J2XaaQGgOd8-BmG8pC5464Al5CUz8CP33YbHlQXmFgdxlKcp6hY6z-jAWT_8Bp_6lwfhlfkUsbjashFI3ShYmYtO3iolVaYLovPWmtrFzq4ou-4VbYGBPUWq1xW0zmxqFmvbfRaEdlBKD62w/s320/Bronte%20walk%201.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>From September onwards, they would read <i>Wuthering Heights </i>in English class and study the novel in detail. The teacher even had her pupils draw up maps of the setting of the novel. One of our Brussels Brontë Group members, Jean De Wolf, also gave them a presentation, bringing his <a href="https://brusselsbronte.blogspot.com/2023/06/emily-jean-de-wolf-for-special-reason-i.html" target="_blank">scale model of Top Withens</a> to the school so that the students could envisage what the home of Cathy and Heathcliff could have looked like. </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBjjeO7HtzuQCN3ROV19FlfxfDpo_eJCUPEoP1N1yc2_9jUN1ZTzVUT8uvMoiVRo7IXoYoLEYI9-E2jW3jzg_1ri_marHwKQ30IAhVXDhuzgjsH_yDoMFfRBNOnwOvHQptllKW3wK4dgIuSctZXKNlavBfkVsx9RfL3PhF0YUPZfqoGzYRh6imO_tZFE/s1600/Bronte%20walk%203.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZBjjeO7HtzuQCN3ROV19FlfxfDpo_eJCUPEoP1N1yc2_9jUN1ZTzVUT8uvMoiVRo7IXoYoLEYI9-E2jW3jzg_1ri_marHwKQ30IAhVXDhuzgjsH_yDoMFfRBNOnwOvHQptllKW3wK4dgIuSctZXKNlavBfkVsx9RfL3PhF0YUPZfqoGzYRh6imO_tZFE/w223-h298/Bronte%20walk%203.jpeg" width="223" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pauline leading the group.</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>And so last week, 7 November, on a rather dreary but (thankfully dry) autumn day, it was my turn and I found myself in front of the Protestant Chapel waiting for the youngest group I have ever guided around. I am a high school teacher myself so I kind of know what to expect talking to teenagers. However, this time the students would not be mine, and I would have to guide two groups immediately after each other, which was a bit stressful. So, there I was, trotting around in the cold, the only person on the Place du Musée that early in the morning. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the end, it turned out the stress was not really necessary as both groups were accompanied by a teacher and most of the students were interested, although when we were seated in front of the band stand in the Parc Royal, I did have to compete for their attention with the big black crows that were haunting the benches (and people) for food. </div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtknZuOvMWdgeqtowyPsX5cZPgoGR7nHEzR8js9Q4HiGj9QTaI44Yi43iP4QDdsJyAXAByjZF9EZXhhi0jjYpJOwUD3f0n0ja96zgBL8mWMh0PT_OKNUtmJeyPTVcwfDkgEPm6Ool1pPW037xsfx3MWmTqr7ywpuTdluWA32PeL8JETVwNWoyiTiundYw/s2048/Bronte%20Angria%20110723.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtknZuOvMWdgeqtowyPsX5cZPgoGR7nHEzR8js9Q4HiGj9QTaI44Yi43iP4QDdsJyAXAByjZF9EZXhhi0jjYpJOwUD3f0n0ja96zgBL8mWMh0PT_OKNUtmJeyPTVcwfDkgEPm6Ool1pPW037xsfx3MWmTqr7ywpuTdluWA32PeL8JETVwNWoyiTiundYw/w176-h234/Bronte%20Angria%20110723.jpeg" width="176" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying <i>Glass Town</i></td></tr></tbody></table><div>Furthermore, at a certain point the birds’ interference with my tour climaxed when one of the students got some pigeon droppings on his new anorak which was a minor tragedy! But we survived it all and I tried to keep their attention with humor and the drama of Charlotte’s love letters to Heger, the graphic novel <i>Glass Town</i> about the Brontë juvenilia, stories about the extreme fandom that the Brontë sisters enjoy (people crying when they see the Belliard Steps and others trying to take stones, …) and some references to Taylor Swift, of course. </div><div><br /></div><div>All in all, I think another tour for teenagers could work in the future, if we shorten it to one hour and make it a bit lighter, asking them lots of questions along the way to keep up the interaction. The students were more interested in Emily than Charlotte because they were reading <i>Wuthering Heights </i>and would be watching the film ‘Emily’ later on. But at the end when we were saying our goodbyes one of them came up to me and asked me about the third sister, Anne, which really made my day as Anne Brontë holds a special place in my Brontë-fan heart. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the Facebook page of the school they wrote a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063469096277" target="_blank">short photo-report</a> on our tour and ended by saying that thanks to our guided walk they had gotten to know Emily Brontë a bit better. And that is exactly what we are striving to do with the Brussels Brontë Group, so mission accomplished.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-XnyOglrobwFSCU2BB9fNLR31S43jt79kOlpqtQ8eWxzEoWbr9TnCqZJNYNpYZQhse4QHw7DmG9eDFnzzkIag0h6YHOA-YZ4JUGIeeUDYCcRIUUtHS17dZLmA0XsHmLsWCbqxbFI-kb5AAaeW0m0VuwW7DHoQZ7frG6JBC8R8COXWIAtGxeIVWopCKTE/s1600/Bronte%20walk%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-XnyOglrobwFSCU2BB9fNLR31S43jt79kOlpqtQ8eWxzEoWbr9TnCqZJNYNpYZQhse4QHw7DmG9eDFnzzkIag0h6YHOA-YZ4JUGIeeUDYCcRIUUtHS17dZLmA0XsHmLsWCbqxbFI-kb5AAaeW0m0VuwW7DHoQZ7frG6JBC8R8COXWIAtGxeIVWopCKTE/s320/Bronte%20walk%202.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div> <i>-- Pauline Ghyselen</i></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-86366258228167032912023-10-22T23:12:00.026+02:002023-10-25T13:50:14.948+02:00Reappraising Emily BrontëClaire O’Callaghan is on a mission to rehabilitate Emily Brontë. <div><br /></div><div>The author of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> has been an elusive and enigmatic figure ever since the publication of her one novel in 1847. Due in no small part to her sister Charlotte’s efforts to explain the conception of such a sui generis work, Emily has been seen as introverted and unsociable, almost misanthropic. Certainly somewhat mystical.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQ8zTqCAjEAruADcuWdDpK_iDpLkl0n2StnXGs1xJ6hUV5MqDGE56sXtytwJ0vj1EQh5VbuWssm4B40CTiS9fy403ijg52CVXqR0-N6K9V5ODdcIuuEUaYMlceLPadf9SW8Se9r45xdcarEwOOYj3HnPn_yGSYDQqMEZ5771Y8MlGByev0lVjJX7eNBA/s522/Emily%20B%20Reappraised.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="341" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeQ8zTqCAjEAruADcuWdDpK_iDpLkl0n2StnXGs1xJ6hUV5MqDGE56sXtytwJ0vj1EQh5VbuWssm4B40CTiS9fy403ijg52CVXqR0-N6K9V5ODdcIuuEUaYMlceLPadf9SW8Se9r45xdcarEwOOYj3HnPn_yGSYDQqMEZ5771Y8MlGByev0lVjJX7eNBA/s320/Emily%20B%20Reappraised.jpg" width="209" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>Dr O’Callaghan, author of <i>Emily Bronte Reappraised</i>, wants us to consider a different Emily, one more well-rounded and not so antisocial. One not filtered by her elder sibling’s efforts to rescue the Brontë sisters’ literary reputation from charges of coarseness and indelicacy. </div><div><br /></div><div>Emily’s persona was mediated by her elder sister from early on, and Charlotte also filtered the image of “Ellis Bell” that appeared in Elizabeth Gaskell’s 1857 <i>The Life of Charlotte Brontë</i>, O’Callaghan, a lecturer in English at Loughborough University, explained in a presentation to the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday 14 October 2023. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWFxEJi8gC3Qdeb3wLOkrhY11o8lU156gIPGsOzsgd_kRfFKaJOnTPKoJVyFrejJYwO4NXQfX5L67sx8hZgxLLacB-tFZ6MAlVsFCZHCYNXKeVipxzmpO7n9PILdxgFsW1spJsWbKrtDq2XEw7fEpsro2oWTX6qL4A1S7mBoACVEQuE6mcpPLl6Q5wUM/s564/Emily%20Bronte%20Keeper%20painting.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="479" data-original-width="564" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWFxEJi8gC3Qdeb3wLOkrhY11o8lU156gIPGsOzsgd_kRfFKaJOnTPKoJVyFrejJYwO4NXQfX5L67sx8hZgxLLacB-tFZ6MAlVsFCZHCYNXKeVipxzmpO7n9PILdxgFsW1spJsWbKrtDq2XEw7fEpsro2oWTX6qL4A1S7mBoACVEQuE6mcpPLl6Q5wUM/w264-h287/Emily%20Bronte%20Keeper%20painting.jpeg" width="264" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.32px;">Emily's painting of her dog Keeper.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div>“My sister’s disposition was not naturally gregarious; circumstances favoured and fostered her tendency to seclusion,” Charlotte wrote in her preface to the 1850 edition of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, in which she also questioned “whether it is right or advisable to create beings like Heathcliff.” </div><div><br /></div><div>In <i>The Life of Charlotte Brontë</i>, Emily is described as “extremely reserved in manner,” a representation that O’Callaghan called “a negative for Gaskell.”
Gaskell wrote: “I distinguish reserve from shyness, because I imagine shyness would please, if it knew how; whereas, reserve is indifferent whether it pleases or not. Anne, like her eldest sister, was shy; Emily was reserved.” </div><div><br /></div><div>In presenting her version of Emily’s persona, Charlotte had the advantage of the fact that Emily left behind hardly any letters or other written records when she died in December 1848. Besides a couple of letters and a few diary papers, there are just the devoirs she wrote in Brussels and her poetry in addition to <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpVWC_f-Wzbmai82FMSss75koEvvcbVRcS6HmuIHOc42MomPi8-dtgn0uCFURC1YVXyxtokhkDjzAU9_zdLJTFSXI9SfTjnRH-3Y7ocm_6ez8SqSFyXG2Z8at9Zo26L15s6yjTOPvRa2DNPtcpsLONzZ7D_Via13ioKPU7WYi6jycJ1pXFY9c-eKijOw/s811/fir%20tree%20Emily%20Bronte.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="811" data-original-width="631" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpVWC_f-Wzbmai82FMSss75koEvvcbVRcS6HmuIHOc42MomPi8-dtgn0uCFURC1YVXyxtokhkDjzAU9_zdLJTFSXI9SfTjnRH-3Y7ocm_6ez8SqSFyXG2Z8at9Zo26L15s6yjTOPvRa2DNPtcpsLONzZ7D_Via13ioKPU7WYi6jycJ1pXFY9c-eKijOw/w226-h290/fir%20tree%20Emily%20Bronte.jpeg" width="226" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emily's sketch of a fir tree, <br />done in Brussels in 1842.</td></tr></tbody></table><div>And there are other aspects to Emily's character that get overlooked, O'Callaghan said. "Emily was a legendary baker, a fabulous musician, a talented artist," as well as a great writer, she said. Emily gave piano lessons while she was here in Brussels in 1842. And her paintings and sketches show significant skill, she said, pointing to in particular Emily's painting of her dog Keeper.</div><div><br /></div><div>O’Callaghan said Emily's poetry hasn’t been mined nearly enough for clues about the author and her novel, warming to another mission she has – to motivate people to read the poetry. </div><div><br /></div><div>“The genesis of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> came from her poetry,” she said. “There are prototypes of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> characters in the poetry.” </div><div><br /></div><div>In this vein, O’Callaghan ended her presentation with an Emily poem, one about her love of nature and the beauty of the land. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>How still, how happy!</i> by Emily Brontë</div><div><br /></div><div>How still, how happy! Those are words </div><div>That once would scarce agree together; </div><div>I loved the plashing of the surge - </div><div>The changing heaven the breezy weather, </div><div><br /></div><div>More than smooth seas and cloudless skies </div><div>And solemn, soothing, softened airs </div><div>That in the forest woke no sighs </div><div>And from the green spray shook no tears. </div><div><br /></div><div>How still, how happy! now I feel </div><div>Where silence dwells is sweeter far </div><div>Than laughing mirth's most joyous swell </div><div>However pure its raptures are. </div><div><br /></div><div>Come, sit down on this sunny stone: </div><div>'Tis wintry light o'er flowerless moors - </div><div>But sit - for we are all alone </div><div>And clear expand heaven's breathless shores. </div><div><br /></div><div>I could think in the withered grass </div><div>Spring's budding wreaths we might discern; </div><div>The violet's eye might shyly flash </div><div>And young leaves shoot among the fern. </div><div><br /></div><div>It is but thought -- full many a night </div><div>The snow shall clothe those hills afar </div><div>And storms shall add a drearier blight </div><div>And winds shall wage a wilder war, </div><div><br /></div><div>Before the lark may herald in </div><div>Fresh foliage twined with blossoms fair </div><div>And summer days again begin </div><div>Their glory -- haloed crown to wear. </div><div><br /></div><div>Yet my heart loves December's smile </div><div>As much as July's golden beam; </div><div>Then let us sit and watch the while </div><div>The blue ice curdling on the stream –</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFubwHyJhbkpm6V_QGfwbh24Bz1KZaUvJwGvN9_GVlHU6SuFhQTwv1jyKkDobFsGuysYsHsEhGrGG-FVhP7AMbFiSYgdMUOngspi0DzR4FIj6TiFkNq85J9JeiPQtD90nHrOI6aec8I3PviYZ9VxxlRxXQh7ss67NpqSF9RDgGJZILdIqJQ1mbmVGIC5c/s720/At%20blue%20plaque%20101423.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="630" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFubwHyJhbkpm6V_QGfwbh24Bz1KZaUvJwGvN9_GVlHU6SuFhQTwv1jyKkDobFsGuysYsHsEhGrGG-FVhP7AMbFiSYgdMUOngspi0DzR4FIj6TiFkNq85J9JeiPQtD90nHrOI6aec8I3PviYZ9VxxlRxXQh7ss67NpqSF9RDgGJZILdIqJQ1mbmVGIC5c/s320/At%20blue%20plaque%20101423.png" width="280" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.32px;">Our speakers at the blue Brontë plaque at Bozar.</span><br style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12.32px;" /><span face="Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.32px;">Justine Pizzo, Claire O'Callaghan and Michael Stewart.</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-67399526360156434462023-10-19T23:49:00.031+02:002023-10-25T13:48:29.416+02:00Wonderful, Weird, Wuthering Wuthering Heights has perplexed readers ever since it was first published in 1847. Justine Pizzo, lecturer at Southampton University, explored what it is about Emily Brontë’s novel that continues to puzzle readers today, in a talk to the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday 14 October 2023. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWx532IZdc82PBAfJr6Yw0cLnD3sXRirQgTv6rp-cpaXxdLRzNVs3YQMUCHjqgbOq6j8VcZ4IZRHaeBs8czJiEth_K0i636ES9Jm22atwZVnH4c0pKmmEkWP_fioZCOgOKHpF1W1yoaq-NfhPoCybBKV-aCj06l5FyNh2wJYmI-1ecLK3wpY7WcEuO2RA/s2082/Balthus%20Wuthering%20Heights%20.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1348" data-original-width="2082" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWx532IZdc82PBAfJr6Yw0cLnD3sXRirQgTv6rp-cpaXxdLRzNVs3YQMUCHjqgbOq6j8VcZ4IZRHaeBs8czJiEth_K0i636ES9Jm22atwZVnH4c0pKmmEkWP_fioZCOgOKHpF1W1yoaq-NfhPoCybBKV-aCj06l5FyNh2wJYmI-1ecLK3wpY7WcEuO2RA/s320/Balthus%20Wuthering%20Heights%20.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>Dr Pizzo came at the novel from several points of view in her presentation titled “Wonderful, Weird, Wuthering: Why Emily Brontë’s Novel Still Surprises Us Today.” She didn’t talk much about the wuthering part of her title, even though weather and climate have been a focus of some of her research, including papers on the atmospheric influences in both <i>Jane Eyre</i> and <i>Villette</i>. But it was clear she found Emily's novel both wonderful and weird. </div><div><br /></div><div>She asked whether <i>Wuthering Heights</i> is a great romance, or maybe a “Great Romance.” But that depends on your definition of romance, which has shifted over the centuries. Around the 1500s, the term “romance” was applied mainly to stories about adventures of a knight or hero. But in the 19th century, the term came to include love stories as we know them today.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71WlfUieNQdOEQjZ4c3cCWtJeAERLdPxbC2OXt9oYPrvxM_8R0UNcXU6-eNFn_48rXLtdOPNm3_2d0R8WqK52pHU00atlarRZ-17FkhqQPXMia7R4fASQY9k0y34TxYbRhkgDiAXnzYjgjlhvK_3eQyg6hrj-eBiRng65l8jV9VKWEA1t1JtkAlnx5VA/s1300/Justine%20Pizzo.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1300" data-original-width="1300" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi71WlfUieNQdOEQjZ4c3cCWtJeAERLdPxbC2OXt9oYPrvxM_8R0UNcXU6-eNFn_48rXLtdOPNm3_2d0R8WqK52pHU00atlarRZ-17FkhqQPXMia7R4fASQY9k0y34TxYbRhkgDiAXnzYjgjlhvK_3eQyg6hrj-eBiRng65l8jV9VKWEA1t1JtkAlnx5VA/w264-h264/Justine%20Pizzo.jpeg" width="264" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Justine Pizzo</td></tr></tbody></table><div>So while a romance story used to lean mostly toward chivalry, today’s novel-readers are looking for love. Which is a problem when it comes to <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, since the romantic love in the novel is mostly between the lines. </div><div><br /></div><div>“The definition of romance from the 16th century seems to fit best” for <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, Pizzo said, though she “would argue that Heathcliff is not a chivalric hero.” In the novel, there is “a sense of obsession rather than romance,” she said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Pizzo said the idea of <i>Wuthering Heights</i> as a romance stems mainly from the movie adaptations of the novel, starting with the 1939 version directed by William Wyler and starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon. While various film versions have portrayed the story as romantic, the text doesn’t conform to what modern-day readers and movie-goers think of as a “romance.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Many critics have seen the novel as flawed – a love story that got swallowed up by an overly complex plot structure. Part of that complexity comes from the fact that the love story is mediated through Nelly Dean and Lockwood.
Pizzo cited 21st-century teenagers struggling to engage with the text given the modern definition of romance. She quoted some modern 13-year-olds trying to define the novel as a romance in the face of all the violence. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAmdTmQNl44-YBZhqUoTySDft-rWDDY5FcHzC-s74b9vnRD61QGzSQeylf70VeOzU-ZWonb5GCJsEZOMgoH1vnoQuhDaYQNriF0Adq_3RzuTiJ6nmtNzVbMWnxUzu7_ARKhefxkqpOVtmUmSMso8SrXF-JkLU1O3-wYhEdZ5ZIglPDIAwDPB_b176OCwg/s1120/Heathcliff%20catching%20baby.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1120" data-original-width="902" height="328" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAmdTmQNl44-YBZhqUoTySDft-rWDDY5FcHzC-s74b9vnRD61QGzSQeylf70VeOzU-ZWonb5GCJsEZOMgoH1vnoQuhDaYQNriF0Adq_3RzuTiJ6nmtNzVbMWnxUzu7_ARKhefxkqpOVtmUmSMso8SrXF-JkLU1O3-wYhEdZ5ZIglPDIAwDPB_b176OCwg/w258-h328/Heathcliff%20catching%20baby.png" width="258" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balthus illustration</td></tr></tbody></table>She also talked about how early 19-century theories of education informed Emily’s novel, citing in particular the influence of John Locke and his work Some Thoughts Concerning Education, which stresses virtues and the use of reason to overcome desire. Locke’s essay “On Indulgence” cautions against the “humoring and cockering” of children. </div><div><br /></div><div><i>“Thus parents, by humouring and cockering them when little, corrupt the principles of nature in their children, and wonder afterwards to taste the bitter waters, when they themselves have poison’d the fountain.” </i></div><div></div><div><br /></div><div>Pizzo also discussed Sarah Fielding, sister of the novelist Henry Fielding, who wrote one of the first novels for young readers – The Governess; or, The Little Female Academy (1749). A bit titled “An Account of a Fray” details a group of young ladies fighting over an apple. Pizzo called them “almost feral young women.” It’s a scene that might fit into <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Rev. William Carus Wilson, the inspiration behind the character of Mr. Brocklehurst in <i>Jane Eyre</i>, was another contemporary voice in children’s education. Wilson was the author of moral stories for children, some collected in the volume “Child’s First Tales.” They were aimed to be instructive for children’s behavior, but they had a macabre focus on death. </div><div><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfFd4MhmetT7K4T35iv9MYvvzIKzb-PTUXB0iewZsLcG0JrBpkkYsLxnsKcz0BiDoz84WwZGKhszkZ5F38QJz5K7kq6wjlbJOdJ97jJ24rT1jVsJKyojMKinbBao7yjQwdj3m4Og_1NNg6DUA3dkhDnT-t5MeKEjpirTV4X5YaGz8FaurJYrKXE7efBI/s538/WH%20cover%20Balthus%20B.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="538" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEfFd4MhmetT7K4T35iv9MYvvzIKzb-PTUXB0iewZsLcG0JrBpkkYsLxnsKcz0BiDoz84WwZGKhszkZ5F38QJz5K7kq6wjlbJOdJ97jJ24rT1jVsJKyojMKinbBao7yjQwdj3m4Og_1NNg6DUA3dkhDnT-t5MeKEjpirTV4X5YaGz8FaurJYrKXE7efBI/s320/WH%20cover%20Balthus%20B.png" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Balthus illustration</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>These so-called “conduct books” were supposed to show children (and parents) the best way for youngsters to grow up. It's difficult to see what positive influence they had on Emily in writing her novel, with all its violence and Cathy and Heathcliff running off to the moors unsupervised every chance they got. </div><div><br /></div><div>Perhaps one could look at it as a “reverse conduct novel,” Pizzo suggested. </div><div><br /></div><div>A similar line of thought could help with the “romance” aspects of the book, it would seem. To the suggestion that <i>Wuthering Heights</i> could be seen as a satire of a love story, Pizzo broadened the analogy to say that all the Brontës were satirical writers.</div></div></div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-Y1oxKh8wByMBKinkKFRTCeI827ciqeXEa5sMI_pDNnlfYJKI0rgBI2oOGC76PN6LFGMQ8NOSfel9DDMJuAo-ig7FD1wH76X7j16kzVYReaZ9L0fiSEicTz8Y8ff0RE8atB4TSprGAFlZX-UM2G4MggBkCql398YILqc0kZP_zj3R3CnBTkZMwPrQas/s550/at%20plaque%20101423.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="446" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhL-Y1oxKh8wByMBKinkKFRTCeI827ciqeXEa5sMI_pDNnlfYJKI0rgBI2oOGC76PN6LFGMQ8NOSfel9DDMJuAo-ig7FD1wH76X7j16kzVYReaZ9L0fiSEicTz8Y8ff0RE8atB4TSprGAFlZX-UM2G4MggBkCql398YILqc0kZP_zj3R3CnBTkZMwPrQas/s320/at%20plaque%20101423.png" width="259" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our speakers at the blue Brontë plaque at Bozar.<br />Justine Pizzo, Claire O'Callaghan and Michael Stewart.<br /><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-16035910664111834122023-10-17T23:26:00.026+02:002023-10-25T13:48:12.529+02:00Michael Stewart on walking to LiverpoolAward-winning writer Michael Stewart gave the Brussels Brontë Group a delightful talk on Friday 13 October 2023 about his journey into “Brontë nerd-dom.”<div><br /></div><div>Dr Stewart is the author of “Walking the Invisible: Following in the Brontës’ Footsteps” – about hikes across the Yorkshire moors and other Brontë places in the north of England – and the novel “Ill Will” – about what Heathcliff was up to in those three missing years in Emily Brontë’s “Wuthering Heights.” He is also the creator of the Brontë Stones project, which celebrates the Brontës on the moors that they loved. </div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvm2NYEfqsbuEv7IequP6ZKoGG-3gfDvfLnQCt8AY2i2v2jbYZogs7oYE5BLEAEiRVQLwv_LJ1Dl-u7BgugnC8aoTnpOdEwhqoJl7DgGf5yNylT-TGUeHvo_4rqiYkPUoLHtuUHTvGn1PCu8yYwdp_e3AN4tQVU7aL_t99s5tlLchfC_zphp6RIBIf1U/s436/Walking%20the%20Invisible%20copy%202.tiff" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="284" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvm2NYEfqsbuEv7IequP6ZKoGG-3gfDvfLnQCt8AY2i2v2jbYZogs7oYE5BLEAEiRVQLwv_LJ1Dl-u7BgugnC8aoTnpOdEwhqoJl7DgGf5yNylT-TGUeHvo_4rqiYkPUoLHtuUHTvGn1PCu8yYwdp_e3AN4tQVU7aL_t99s5tlLchfC_zphp6RIBIf1U/s320/Walking%20the%20Invisible%20copy%202.tiff" width="208" /></a></div>It seems that it all started for Stewart when he did poorly at school, which stemmed in part from a dodgy room-womb analogy. But then he fell in love. He fell in love with a woman who was studying Emily’s novel. So “for all the wrong reasons,” he became immersed in the world of Heathcliff and “it took a hold of me,” Stewart told the members-only meeting. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, with a little extra impetus from Edgar Allan Poe, he embarked on an A Level in English. Shakespeare was his next catalyst, though he hadn’t really read the bard before. His first session featured the opening scene of “The Tempest,” and Gonzalo’s line about “as leaky as an unstanched wench” struck him. “I thought it was something quite different, that showed how something coarse and earthy could be alongside this elegance and poetry,” he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>A good introduction for studying the Brontës, who were criticized as overly coarse in early reviews. Then Stewart came across John Sutherland’s essay "Is Heathcliff a Murderer?" That highlighted the mysteries in Emily’s novel about not only where Heathcliff comes from but also where he goes. Something that Stewart would later explore in his novel “Ill Will.” </div><div><br /></div><div>Sutherland says Heathcliff left Wuthering Heights as an “uncouth stableboy and returns a gentleman psychopath,” Stewart said. But he challenges that assessment. “He’s not quite a psychopath. He actually has a surfeit of emotion,” Stewart said. “A psychopath is someone who doesn’t emote, who doesn’t empathize.” </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1uV6KEi1MKrbIQEH7RrYuAQoK_tmLqYs5nsbARf4jXAkNgxkNjcSZidvgSjhFyimlH3fuuQJ98c76VJbYd4XHxWsDSvIbN6ExF0ario9YRQjXTFjNSfUBnKcV2PIMizwHfP5-_RJDyhp6saUk0FivG-rUGP7P_0v6bsjylSmCXsGPMTCtkq99nCyUyVs/s522/Ill%20Will%20cover.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1uV6KEi1MKrbIQEH7RrYuAQoK_tmLqYs5nsbARf4jXAkNgxkNjcSZidvgSjhFyimlH3fuuQJ98c76VJbYd4XHxWsDSvIbN6ExF0ario9YRQjXTFjNSfUBnKcV2PIMizwHfP5-_RJDyhp6saUk0FivG-rUGP7P_0v6bsjylSmCXsGPMTCtkq99nCyUyVs/s320/Ill%20Will%20cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><div>In “<a href="https://www.michael-stewart.org.uk/ill-will/" target="_blank">Ill Will</a>,” Heathcliff sets off for Liverpool to find out who he is. Stewart undertook the same journey, as does Mr. Earnshaw in Emily’s novel. But perhaps the trip was easier in the 18th century. “He walks to Liverpool and back in three days. It took me three days to get there,” Stewart said, bemoaning the rain on the way.</div><div><br /></div><div>His fascination with the Brontës would also lead Stewart to create the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoALizpEnSc" target="_blank">Brontë Stones project</a>, which celebrates the literary family in a series of engraved poems between the sisters' birthplace of Thornton and the better-known Haworth, with walks on the moors devised around each of them. The inscribed poems are by Kate Bush, Carol Ann Duffy, Jeannette Winterson and Jackie Kay. </div><div><br /></div><div>While doing this project, an epiphany flared. “It became obvious to me that in order to appreciate all the Brontës, but particularly Emily, you’ve got to encounter the landscape,” said Stewart, who teaches creative writing at the University of Huddersfield. That ethos suffuses his book about trekking over northern English landscapes – “<a href="https://www.bronte.org.uk/bronte-shop/biography/640/walking-the-invisible" target="_blank">Walking the Invisible: Following in the Brontës’ Footsteps</a>.” </div><div><br /></div><div>“It’s a memoir. It’s about my Brontë geekhood, but it’s also a guide,” Stewart said.</div><div><br /></div><div>Note: If you would like to become a member of the <a href="https://www.thebrusselsbrontegroup.org/" target="_blank">Brussels Brontë Group</a>, you can use the <a href="https://www.thebrusselsbrontegroup.org/contact/" target="_blank">contact form</a> on our website.</div><div><br /></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-25438050998437252172023-06-21T09:33:00.022+02:002023-10-20T21:51:48.935+02:00Report on Brontë members meeting in Haworth June 2023
As the Brontë Society in Haworth has stopped organising the June AGM weekend, an “unofficial” June weekend was organised (for the second time) for Brontë Society members interested in meeting up in Haworth. Val Wiseman and Margaret McCarthy from the London and South East BS branch took the initiative in cooperation with others including Helen MacEwan from the Brussels Brontë Group. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeQFS9iK3DlGT77fPHNXa48PWyKUn7svqgsFz3lppbnrpcqY4k4kpF3nKcdzU1sGiYRW3bxfllnKWCUKuEVzHvJMjomkGJhlp_IMiWENfLLdHwiNyGQ4ha_983vKPAw3qfQskCZSMzU-7fsCyKADjesSQZewgZnjNYvSgPxnXaHkuGNi1YoE_Ut1gCM8/s436/Haworth%20Sunday%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="436" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSeQFS9iK3DlGT77fPHNXa48PWyKUn7svqgsFz3lppbnrpcqY4k4kpF3nKcdzU1sGiYRW3bxfllnKWCUKuEVzHvJMjomkGJhlp_IMiWENfLLdHwiNyGQ4ha_983vKPAw3qfQskCZSMzU-7fsCyKADjesSQZewgZnjNYvSgPxnXaHkuGNi1YoE_Ut1gCM8/s320/Haworth%20Sunday%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><div>The June weekend took place 9-11 June 2023 in Haworth. While waiting to board the ferry to Hull, I received the unfortunate message that Helen could not attend due to illness. That was a real blow for her but also for us. The BBG was therefore only represented by two of its members: Jean de Wolf and myself. </div><div><br /></div><div>My husband Paul and I arrived a bit earlier on Wednesday 7th June, unfortunately with some car problems (flat tyre) that we had to sort out first. Once the new tyre was put in place (Thursday morning) our “June weekend” could begin. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNF4KLLGxcO575aNtNy005xdLLIWrd29dlBi-1UBTrI5Px9_5o1faz_n1oDeoUUN-BZsgfBIBabtgt9s-5tz9Z8ZdBhOGZrZdPpJJ5Sv8r0yKZb_Wte1dcCgT1en7326S91rtYOeOyoh9Dg_zfZHt_1s3r97VvL1MOv1miNM9sRi0AS9VeoH3O-Vf9q0/s467/Haworth%202023%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="351" height="284" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoNF4KLLGxcO575aNtNy005xdLLIWrd29dlBi-1UBTrI5Px9_5o1faz_n1oDeoUUN-BZsgfBIBabtgt9s-5tz9Z8ZdBhOGZrZdPpJJ5Sv8r0yKZb_Wte1dcCgT1en7326S91rtYOeOyoh9Dg_zfZHt_1s3r97VvL1MOv1miNM9sRi0AS9VeoH3O-Vf9q0/w214-h284/Haworth%202023%201.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div><br /></div>First stop was of course a visit to the Brontë Parsonage Museum. Due to Covid-19, I had not been there for a number of years and was eager to see the house and its new exhibits, and the new exhibition “the Brontës and the Wild.” Very interesting indeed. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtgoPUiES6VLwgiSZ5UENfWlgV1QtcidmIlZHN7HLNhc4jPhQXvuobWSI542LnixsmFKJ8oFcorduMf9TkjU1azb5hGP8jgOGgPSJAOaCpt0Wtm16OTKY97Y7k-9a9649tceyEIf6Zk2ACS9s3oaOIm2-WSjZDSN8e8JEODz03S2MQjhZBVJ568TPbC4/s617/Haworth%202023%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="464" data-original-width="617" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPtgoPUiES6VLwgiSZ5UENfWlgV1QtcidmIlZHN7HLNhc4jPhQXvuobWSI542LnixsmFKJ8oFcorduMf9TkjU1azb5hGP8jgOGgPSJAOaCpt0Wtm16OTKY97Y7k-9a9649tceyEIf6Zk2ACS9s3oaOIm2-WSjZDSN8e8JEODz03S2MQjhZBVJ568TPbC4/s320/Haworth%202023%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>A visit to the church of St. Michael & All Angels was of course also a must. As in the Parsonage, I just feel so close to the Brontës when I am there where they are all buried (apart from Anne). There was also an interesting special item on display in the church near the font, a picture of the Madonna with child on toast. Yes, toast. Really fascinating to see how this was done! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBHqS7RuIbbdP5dEomsx_eRbwtY6J566amqU386qaYUD0H0Qcy3GTv-9A-2akAf_T5bsluCjuQuA4ARHumPJ0GMkpLAR-RITFkYjDDrDq1Ybd3lg1Zqo8u7jW242twp0tJMMb6WreUqLPvHYMKEr4jop6TYXmsapAFruOVfaf-Z07pRfeSeQuoJxhTTk/s470/Haworth%202023%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="470" data-original-width="354" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilBHqS7RuIbbdP5dEomsx_eRbwtY6J566amqU386qaYUD0H0Qcy3GTv-9A-2akAf_T5bsluCjuQuA4ARHumPJ0GMkpLAR-RITFkYjDDrDq1Ybd3lg1Zqo8u7jW242twp0tJMMb6WreUqLPvHYMKEr4jop6TYXmsapAFruOVfaf-Z07pRfeSeQuoJxhTTk/s320/Haworth%202023%203.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjICv9d5K0ruBaBvm1g4rjj-EMd76O4741__l8IoYiY0tJOGZWxHUg9z6d8gatrpEP2vL5oiN99tXWfvooAa4EzB458H0_Kim1-ppN_4RBm4Dod2cgNNUNB7N5Px-OBVCCscCs3aHOB069PKJZ6EwUe8hW_QbijcXgXzFYPdnoJpX2jjTQ_spd781xyegw/s623/Haworth%202023%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="467" data-original-width="623" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjICv9d5K0ruBaBvm1g4rjj-EMd76O4741__l8IoYiY0tJOGZWxHUg9z6d8gatrpEP2vL5oiN99tXWfvooAa4EzB458H0_Kim1-ppN_4RBm4Dod2cgNNUNB7N5Px-OBVCCscCs3aHOB069PKJZ6EwUe8hW_QbijcXgXzFYPdnoJpX2jjTQ_spd781xyegw/s320/Haworth%202023%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJOgevRpoBXx6dyHK0a1fCKk0r1kDINa4jibmnnYLW5LdhbkBOy1OEWUrXqa6X1zJTCIgdFcv6EFLTr6Ukf8j81QU7AiLgQyLjJTC4l86ED2N42mUfoyNd9sp0y6eanTWmvi5N7-8RbgJicJ9co4cSz5T7wVrR2z5BJfX4G3syk3mz6yCQYYrr6FpmTg/s473/Haworth%202023%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="473" data-original-width="354" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWJOgevRpoBXx6dyHK0a1fCKk0r1kDINa4jibmnnYLW5LdhbkBOy1OEWUrXqa6X1zJTCIgdFcv6EFLTr6Ukf8j81QU7AiLgQyLjJTC4l86ED2N42mUfoyNd9sp0y6eanTWmvi5N7-8RbgJicJ9co4cSz5T7wVrR2z5BJfX4G3syk3mz6yCQYYrr6FpmTg/s320/Haworth%202023%205.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>A stroll in the village and up and down Main Street was next on our programme. The weather was really fabulous for walking around, we enjoyed the sunshine. We ended up in the Cobbles and Clay Café for tea and scone (me)/chocolate drink and cake (Paul). </div><div><br /></div><div>Some members were due to arrive on Thursday already, and we met up in the Old White Lion for a meal in the evening. It felt so good to be back in Haworth! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjX9xie4Lbupe1IOc_c0KqlRLY2V3c1swC9ZSWyexi2iTXLq4mRAUN1qK2HvpsbXq0-A4Puh0KOEi-zVzLFWpq17mgHaE54QhjS_cTuizgNpvgU2hsfbc_G-iQ1bdwtJmr3D5Jm3byCSlamh9qaRcfdoS7HjRmY_Z5Ww4Y3amXUqEpCH1i6h8ITScjj8/s488/Haworth%202023%206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="488" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCjX9xie4Lbupe1IOc_c0KqlRLY2V3c1swC9ZSWyexi2iTXLq4mRAUN1qK2HvpsbXq0-A4Puh0KOEi-zVzLFWpq17mgHaE54QhjS_cTuizgNpvgU2hsfbc_G-iQ1bdwtJmr3D5Jm3byCSlamh9qaRcfdoS7HjRmY_Z5Ww4Y3amXUqEpCH1i6h8ITScjj8/s320/Haworth%202023%206.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHM32_RCvrwMBs8s_k-le7713-Ow8OlxVcEi95udZRJM810W0lBEcg4GbXA3KErnOaoeiEgz1fy1Q4ORfxHL1RN993gZCJyYZWjr826iRGL1mcf-bj_vmr0IQ2yNf8D_d27hBfcEnEYEm-X-GQsCoE2iXPhXS05enSiqCivj4ETily1ujkVjiDp9lkXSM/s482/Haworth%202023%207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="482" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHM32_RCvrwMBs8s_k-le7713-Ow8OlxVcEi95udZRJM810W0lBEcg4GbXA3KErnOaoeiEgz1fy1Q4ORfxHL1RN993gZCJyYZWjr826iRGL1mcf-bj_vmr0IQ2yNf8D_d27hBfcEnEYEm-X-GQsCoE2iXPhXS05enSiqCivj4ETily1ujkVjiDp9lkXSM/s320/Haworth%202023%207.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>On Friday morning 9 June, Paul and I made an excursion to Hebden Bridge, one of our favourite haunts around Haworth. Hebden Bridge is a lovely little village to visit, but for us also to search for antiques.
In the afternoon we were back in Haworth enjoying the scenery of Haworth Main Street outside the Black Bull and seeing familiar faces 😉. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1z1ni6pHVpWFcg0HmUAccJlNtoyAXzWDtdVtDjaGwaNKJQpL3dUBOFW6sLSAKTuLNbQixTnhxyJcwRvAhn0YM7VHd7-zRyBuIRFM178yvC2cibJ50sO56wNm-6a3v8A67Y7omGwzuaAbCuirpxbYqvAwX2nAjeK1yRqqT8BWZ7WM6TSnD7O9Q4mMOsJw/s550/Haworth%202023%20Fri%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="418" data-original-width="550" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1z1ni6pHVpWFcg0HmUAccJlNtoyAXzWDtdVtDjaGwaNKJQpL3dUBOFW6sLSAKTuLNbQixTnhxyJcwRvAhn0YM7VHd7-zRyBuIRFM178yvC2cibJ50sO56wNm-6a3v8A67Y7omGwzuaAbCuirpxbYqvAwX2nAjeK1yRqqT8BWZ7WM6TSnD7O9Q4mMOsJw/w400-h304/Haworth%202023%20Fri%201.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-eLXl8CbvwqRwIzZ0-jmyBgJX68PAyZi4b-hZ5xQCYAX2jOXI_sJrSJIE7LA6zgKUow_XIa8Cgjglh-q2bcnPYsgpUpyF0Ioe12fDPlIgF7JZ0aEq4SH2DvdMM0LCdy0lAvnzZIDWlcwKR1jKqbJZWwwDjt-s7MJzsxZA5YWQZuQfWJIYV6AbCBWjlM/s427/Haworth%202023%20Fri%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="323" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjP-eLXl8CbvwqRwIzZ0-jmyBgJX68PAyZi4b-hZ5xQCYAX2jOXI_sJrSJIE7LA6zgKUow_XIa8Cgjglh-q2bcnPYsgpUpyF0Ioe12fDPlIgF7JZ0aEq4SH2DvdMM0LCdy0lAvnzZIDWlcwKR1jKqbJZWwwDjt-s7MJzsxZA5YWQZuQfWJIYV6AbCBWjlM/s320/Haworth%202023%20Fri%202.jpg" width="242" /></a></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">At 6 pm we were meeting up with the other members of the group for an evening meal in the Black Bull. I was ready for the event, wearing a T-shirt very appropriate for the occasion (</span><b style="text-align: left;">What would LIFE be without a little BRONTE</b><span style="text-align: left;">, indeed!). The agenda had been suggested by Val and Margaret who organised the joint events for the weekend. Starting the weekend with a meal together was welcomed by all those present (in all about 20 people were expected). We really had an enjoyable evening talking Brontë and other subjects. </span></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4aCeX2fe3r0POXg2r-vLjH5MYOcgXCQJx84zUJDLeQ--LJSz2jesjQZ7GSrAHPIvCTywpFZooG-m4iz391ilUfJQAkWszMfOdZ5fEtYcqSRw6PmI9OYfOBoLLiFUCQr9jNn4FZEOIWzkSiEPgHKNXf8IicHuFHbJBrKPYTLMu3e5zT-OEv6WEV1W53Q/s433/Haworth%202023%20Fri%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="326" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii4aCeX2fe3r0POXg2r-vLjH5MYOcgXCQJx84zUJDLeQ--LJSz2jesjQZ7GSrAHPIvCTywpFZooG-m4iz391ilUfJQAkWszMfOdZ5fEtYcqSRw6PmI9OYfOBoLLiFUCQr9jNn4FZEOIWzkSiEPgHKNXf8IicHuFHbJBrKPYTLMu3e5zT-OEv6WEV1W53Q/s320/Haworth%202023%20Fri%203.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSb6zX_rLCUFE3Etx2ULdlm3HDHrjhhcX2hTSapzEZ9WlzBa-oxJK8KOrpR4imhphTlUk-XPvAbC128-3siu8sFursiRtOOptw23VYWLZOZiY_IrEC-rn3GRxGwnYGxb0DjP8LHorpWP9I1CtIK6dzdAGJUoIJ98BTUlu8905x7kLisI6HHUEwbzvZGTA/s580/Haworth%202023%20Fri%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="580" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSb6zX_rLCUFE3Etx2ULdlm3HDHrjhhcX2hTSapzEZ9WlzBa-oxJK8KOrpR4imhphTlUk-XPvAbC128-3siu8sFursiRtOOptw23VYWLZOZiY_IrEC-rn3GRxGwnYGxb0DjP8LHorpWP9I1CtIK6dzdAGJUoIJ98BTUlu8905x7kLisI6HHUEwbzvZGTA/s320/Haworth%202023%20Fri%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">On Saturday morning, the weather still wonderfully sunny, warm and bright. So Paul and I decided to walk to the Brontë bridge and falls. Early in the morning not many people are out and about, so we could enjoy a little bit of the tranquility on the moors on our way to the bridge. It is such a wonderful special place to be. I really could stay there all day just enjoying the beautiful scenery, but we had a meeting with the group at 2 pm, and had to go back in time.
We were meeting up with the group in the Old White Lion for two very interesting talks. </span></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GX4R6-dgdHNLbiA0Vbyzh2WUwB3pT2WSAZQ0kuAw97hZyHDxjg4IfONJNCHtG7pIGOj6D5TmidlyXdlnlyCIRD6SxlcGmSa1SBKOS2yJZm9PfnmYcm1zOUS7Qxn0osDg8rLPGrOvZpc7DYxEilR0HlacpMxzmdEjhukIPTqllLq0n7GRfosjrhwY_dI/s507/Haworth%202023%20Sat%201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="507" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9GX4R6-dgdHNLbiA0Vbyzh2WUwB3pT2WSAZQ0kuAw97hZyHDxjg4IfONJNCHtG7pIGOj6D5TmidlyXdlnlyCIRD6SxlcGmSa1SBKOS2yJZm9PfnmYcm1zOUS7Qxn0osDg8rLPGrOvZpc7DYxEilR0HlacpMxzmdEjhukIPTqllLq0n7GRfosjrhwY_dI/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%201.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QhvLkKWVhOgtHpbbow4iuRolJ9Ygiwt3oqY-BKBklAsvjEpQRl6eXBAcUxq1LkjzZ7oB5IjxW4_n3-HCkeoMOmDvPHptY9UtBLgPC4GX7RgYEORsbJQv1Q2fH5MNfngNsycPy6C23HUMliUCTKz7yW08CTK_3d-rf1jXRt4A_Gw4jg4SR-SyXTS7CI8/s678/Haworth%202023%20Sat%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="510" data-original-width="678" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-QhvLkKWVhOgtHpbbow4iuRolJ9Ygiwt3oqY-BKBklAsvjEpQRl6eXBAcUxq1LkjzZ7oB5IjxW4_n3-HCkeoMOmDvPHptY9UtBLgPC4GX7RgYEORsbJQv1Q2fH5MNfngNsycPy6C23HUMliUCTKz7yW08CTK_3d-rf1jXRt4A_Gw4jg4SR-SyXTS7CI8/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>The first talk was by Miriam Halahmy who talked about her new Brontë-related book. She was not really a Brontë fan but became interested in 2016 during the bicentenary of Charlotte Brontë when reading Claire Harman’s biography. Her book will be published in March 2024. The Brontës are not the main characters in this book. The heroine is Kate, a young village girl from Haworth. But the sisters do feature in the book because Kate is working in the parsonage. As a teaser, Miriam ended her talk by reading a few pages from her book. I’m sure that everyone in the room will be on the lookout when it gets published! </div><div><br /></div><div>The second talk was about <i>The Greatness of Anne Brontë</i> and professor Marianne Thormahlen was supposed to present this. However, as health issues prevented her from being present in Haworth, Patsy Stoneman read her paper, showing many reasons why Anne is as important a writer as her two siblings. Anne is often considered incorrectly as being in the shadow of Charlotte and Emily, but her two novels prove that she was a very good writer in her own right, fully aware of what was happening around her and having the guts to write about it. In defence of Anne’s greatness, Patsy also read her own paper on the subject, from another perspective but proving the same thing. </div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCM4BvwJ2VkWSuzC7yI7xojuRmIIcgoxWgzbks_TFNAp8VE_OKcuLJqUcl6ckBsVSJVCZB2dEgI72-4GNil--Di0sMKrgVHqpZNqZHoUxC-Idv3e6sk06Az_8WBg6lVRWKmu_cbId2WmK-lcJQVpaHz0Rm69OHZRTEwPJf0Tx-nin48Agbx-uOzwY24Vg/s473/Haworth%202023%20Sat%203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="357" data-original-width="473" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCM4BvwJ2VkWSuzC7yI7xojuRmIIcgoxWgzbks_TFNAp8VE_OKcuLJqUcl6ckBsVSJVCZB2dEgI72-4GNil--Di0sMKrgVHqpZNqZHoUxC-Idv3e6sk06Az_8WBg6lVRWKmu_cbId2WmK-lcJQVpaHz0Rm69OHZRTEwPJf0Tx-nin48Agbx-uOzwY24Vg/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%203.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>At 5 pm we were expected at the entrance of the Brontë Parsonage Museum shop for a ghost walk led by Nigel Nicholl. We were all invited to share our possible own experiences with ghosts or tell other ghostly tales we knew. And there were some tales indeed to be told, but mostly rational explanations could be given for what seemed to be ghostly at first. The walk went from the Parsonage (a picture of a ghost appearing in the front door was distributed and possible explanations for this apparition were shared), then to the schoolroom and the sexton’s house towards King’s Arms (strange noises late at night coming from the cellar), with ghostly tales at every stop. Also the Old White Lion was a haunted place (the ghost of the aeronaut Lily Cove who crashed to death in Haworth from a balloon, is haunting room 7). Then came Weaver’s in West Lane (the place where we were staying!) with the story of the Grey Lady appearing on 19th December (Emily Brontë’s ghost?). Further down West Lane towards North Street (where a bed began to heave in the middle of the night for no particular reason), and then on we went via Changegate back to Main Street and a visit to the graveyard. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuunRIUdy_BilZnuUQIpBLOvl93sNoTjKIkJqy_1r9pj22x5YZ1RCjo9HrUALUZvYXEslWIFZK7D8XaagD5dpDxO7qoJuDZZVPVWU9hqOhP31pvGpBZ-pxdtWBKjEbDtlNTsH0ofD0Poi6odmfer0yVUmjx2RQtTB6WWqS2yAKL1qOu8kkTSiSfGsqcA/s504/Haworth%202023%20Sat%204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="504" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHuunRIUdy_BilZnuUQIpBLOvl93sNoTjKIkJqy_1r9pj22x5YZ1RCjo9HrUALUZvYXEslWIFZK7D8XaagD5dpDxO7qoJuDZZVPVWU9hqOhP31pvGpBZ-pxdtWBKjEbDtlNTsH0ofD0Poi6odmfer0yVUmjx2RQtTB6WWqS2yAKL1qOu8kkTSiSfGsqcA/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%204.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymFVyWvHKvcWBeWbxzoyp6rRHCgHudV24vVqyysVMtLQw693QAOU45eczCxUNfKXwWeWD-UbsMaf2V-gfmnRYYVg3fyU481zAh44Po82ocuE0TdGqLuG-k6SqtGWc_6GNYIy7kqnkPKsUsqJRZ85Ybmgwuao4Oh7fZKuKSBd7vVHx4M_Nwlxacxn2TfA/s495/Haworth%202023%20Sat%205.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="495" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiymFVyWvHKvcWBeWbxzoyp6rRHCgHudV24vVqyysVMtLQw693QAOU45eczCxUNfKXwWeWD-UbsMaf2V-gfmnRYYVg3fyU481zAh44Po82ocuE0TdGqLuG-k6SqtGWc_6GNYIy7kqnkPKsUsqJRZ85Ybmgwuao4Oh7fZKuKSBd7vVHx4M_Nwlxacxn2TfA/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%205.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>But then something strange happened: While Brian Speak was trying to take a picture of all of us, there was an apparation of a woman in the front door of the sexton’s house! However, she was not a ghost, but she had an interesting tale to tell: she had always loved the sexton’s house when she was a child and she moved to this house recently. In researching her family tree, she then discovered that she was in fact a descendant of John Brown who was the sexton during the Brontës’ time in Haworth (a great-great-great-great-granddaugther). One of the daughters of John Brown married a Mr Binn and from this ancestry line she was a descendant. Her maiden name was Binn, but she married a Mr. Brown, and therefore she is now also called Brown (Elle Brown). Circle closed! </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTT-1WBSBfztXy0eCfrIHK8O5C9zqDrhy2iXnMvsLn0wSU8dte0okyiawE4u5G4o1XZn0ZwhfDX9UZ7S3gfBfoDbppWeYb6dXby6O-xDue9wCqM7EmV7tqYp8K2BWVxJgx2GfS5e5XhSFe29mi32sgNuhQ0Bh7YoinzPQ2p-qhJhPyqGtD5DspwWbTp0/s476/Haworth%202023%20Sat%206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="476" data-original-width="357" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYTT-1WBSBfztXy0eCfrIHK8O5C9zqDrhy2iXnMvsLn0wSU8dte0okyiawE4u5G4o1XZn0ZwhfDX9UZ7S3gfBfoDbppWeYb6dXby6O-xDue9wCqM7EmV7tqYp8K2BWVxJgx2GfS5e5XhSFe29mi32sgNuhQ0Bh7YoinzPQ2p-qhJhPyqGtD5DspwWbTp0/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%206.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">We were all flabbergasted when we heard this fascinating story, but we had to move on with the ghost walk, still to go to the Old Apothecary and the Black Bull (both popular haunts of Branwell). We were also supposed to go down Main Street to Haworth Old Hall (also a haunted place), but everyone seemed to agree with Nigel’s proposal not to do this. Tiredness set in and we all needed a cold drink, a nice rest and a good meal!
(Note: if you want to know more about this ghostly subject, you should really read “Ghosts & Gravestones of Haworth” by Philip Lister.) </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div>Some of us met up again in the Old White Lion for an evening meal and an evaluation of the day.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMZbIC_kjBDX2xcDXzTO3YfRdrJp6Ip-DR4PHv8u76Yb5G1erwnwcxXYwT02TLkyCX5ovfkXnD9-e0i8NXWsfWdjTCy77t9ehuebEdpYLKsZfTIlVCxtXi8VVoHhnFfo5auz68Zl65TULNVNwsPJCOKFOA2kiL5ILaOjiuyTw67-EWD4YKbvOvthtUjs/s436/Haworth%202023%20Sat%207.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="436" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWMZbIC_kjBDX2xcDXzTO3YfRdrJp6Ip-DR4PHv8u76Yb5G1erwnwcxXYwT02TLkyCX5ovfkXnD9-e0i8NXWsfWdjTCy77t9ehuebEdpYLKsZfTIlVCxtXi8VVoHhnFfo5auz68Zl65TULNVNwsPJCOKFOA2kiL5ILaOjiuyTw67-EWD4YKbvOvthtUjs/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%207.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzY_GkZXehVU2e86W0cG-fHAEuk3qHh6uYXV6SEZtkorYAWTAkDuPDivi2TH3QLoPik_L-jvNmD6ESo7ucoV8frqi6E5dPWea9vgtgHn2kdAgMMyp4gEaFrHCEmzsdVcB9qHRLDWEQ8kFWst0C4c25mUlAuR3kiPDak_yjYDo-OmMm8Zzb3m68PYSNDg/s436/Haworth%202023%20Sat%208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="326" data-original-width="436" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwzY_GkZXehVU2e86W0cG-fHAEuk3qHh6uYXV6SEZtkorYAWTAkDuPDivi2TH3QLoPik_L-jvNmD6ESo7ucoV8frqi6E5dPWea9vgtgHn2kdAgMMyp4gEaFrHCEmzsdVcB9qHRLDWEQ8kFWst0C4c25mUlAuR3kiPDak_yjYDo-OmMm8Zzb3m68PYSNDg/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%208.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-12sdcXbrqk-XRkwQvGTJU5CnPYlTfqLyuG1hEV8vRACqxrs_i5nqrfBRZjNmoo6U1WYlF8zKv4UluUa2BR0g5zmO0ohe6yE29Utg2bi2tBRvjXXUS0sbz5xntrUyd6tOTsMZVWCngeaxQI9xC6w6riU_5NRCYCzPwz9qQHs6Wa4i87XmoFi64LqKYZE/s430/Haworth%202023%20Sat%209.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="323" data-original-width="430" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-12sdcXbrqk-XRkwQvGTJU5CnPYlTfqLyuG1hEV8vRACqxrs_i5nqrfBRZjNmoo6U1WYlF8zKv4UluUa2BR0g5zmO0ohe6yE29Utg2bi2tBRvjXXUS0sbz5xntrUyd6tOTsMZVWCngeaxQI9xC6w6riU_5NRCYCzPwz9qQHs6Wa4i87XmoFi64LqKYZE/s320/Haworth%202023%20Sat%209.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Unfortunately, Paul and I had to leave the next day, so we sadly missed the events planned for Sunday: a group visit to the Parsonage or the Church Communion service as an alternative; a meeting in Parson’s field at the back of the Parsonage to reflect on the weekend, on what the area around the Parsonage was like in the time of the Brontës and also thoughts and ideas on what could be organised for next year’s members’ weekend. Yes indeed, another meeting is planned for the second weekend of June 2024 (7-9 June)! In the evening on Sunday there was again a joint meal in the Old White Lion with a quiz, a short skit <i>In the Heathcliff Tea Room </i>(by our own Helen) performed by members of the Brontë Society and a musical performance by Val Wiseman (a few songs from her beautiful Brontë Tribute Album Keeping <i>The Flame Alive</i>). </div><div><br /></div><div>It felt so good to be back in Haworth after such a long absence. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting up with so many familiar faces and talking Brontë (again and again). And we have been very lucky with the weather as well! </div><div><br /></div><div>I have already booked our accommodation for next year and I am looking forward to it already.
I do hope more Brontë enthusiasts will join us then! </div><div><br /></div><div> Marina Saegerman</div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /></div></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-47933253354685294572023-06-18T09:06:00.010+02:002023-06-18T10:15:16.402+02:00‘Emily’ — taking liberties<p>I always find it jarring when the film concentrates on the director's interpretation rather than making the the film believable. People, manners and social behaviour were different back then. </p><p>In the film <i>Emily</i>, Emily Brontë was romping around the moors and barns in a very unvictorian way! If nothing else, the weather in Haworth would make you think twice – and it took so long for them to unbutton all their clothes in the barn, I was left worrying about how on earth they would get Emily back in a neat enough manner to walk back to the Parsonage! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieW3cGifQbRVuhaF0rceTnIQ7ykpC8ODEIIKGbpiIFLlonMN4_lb7R8YnjU9TxoqzGDJaJI_tkNGU7ff3ryuZI8LxfJShPM7h7nkrv1SiE8yjelZSeG64MZbw3YJTYwSpWMnRiiDX6NgiTIvw9_1PofX2NC5UPbTC_Qc8MmfUxqYDha2xbtj8zWdU/s320/Emma%20Emily%20lying%20moors.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="158" data-original-width="320" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgieW3cGifQbRVuhaF0rceTnIQ7ykpC8ODEIIKGbpiIFLlonMN4_lb7R8YnjU9TxoqzGDJaJI_tkNGU7ff3ryuZI8LxfJShPM7h7nkrv1SiE8yjelZSeG64MZbw3YJTYwSpWMnRiiDX6NgiTIvw9_1PofX2NC5UPbTC_Qc8MmfUxqYDha2xbtj8zWdU/s1600/Emma%20Emily%20lying%20moors.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>They'll have them carrying mobile phones around next – claiming they would have done so if they were born today. Of course, we all know the Brontës were Aliens masquerading as humans, or is that the Royal Family? <p></p><p>They say that Emily must have had a passionate affair of her own to be able to write <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, but does that mean you need to have murdered someone to be able to write a crime novel? </p><p>I well remember the social pressure of my parents' and grandparents' generations to pre-marital shenanigans, and worse the stigma of unmarried mothers to the whole family. So much has changed since then – how much more so since the Brontë era. Even in everyday life here in Yorkshire – the neighbours would condemn you as a lazy housewife if you didn't scrub your doorstep to within an inch of its life every week. </p><p>I heard from an elderly lady how her mother had hidden a loaf from the shop in her bag so neighbours wouldn't see her carrying home a bought loaf instead of her baking one at home. People can be harsh if you don't conform. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ix9GVWXwC29QSOIWdXCVX0Zauk0e7645PYPwxvKkRXoGFw2cD8iNg5Sx3kRey_U9A8xA0_LmzCOH1DXnNgQnmiYaOaSa0jMf5SCzpFw35xfcYLGlGoooX1WOy2sHcyB3vzinRhmIKb-_XHWnKGCrlk_QzE8wZvguw7K-9-_JXDEVpZQJW9VHhr0b/s1012/Wm%20Weightman%20and%20Emily.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="1012" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1ix9GVWXwC29QSOIWdXCVX0Zauk0e7645PYPwxvKkRXoGFw2cD8iNg5Sx3kRey_U9A8xA0_LmzCOH1DXnNgQnmiYaOaSa0jMf5SCzpFw35xfcYLGlGoooX1WOy2sHcyB3vzinRhmIKb-_XHWnKGCrlk_QzE8wZvguw7K-9-_JXDEVpZQJW9VHhr0b/s320/Wm%20Weightman%20and%20Emily.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Also, the Brontë sisters were raised on local tales of the families who lived in the area. The Brontës had storytelling genes and Emily had a unique character and deep feelings for nature and the natural world and the people around her. Her interpretation would be original. </p><p>The film had its good points – the scenery is beautiful – but I just felt uneasy with the love story part in <i>Emily</i>. It took too many liberties – as, indeed, did Emily in this film! </p><p> Sheila Fordham</p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-82049155054439129032023-06-10T23:36:00.013+02:002023-06-11T00:04:19.801+02:00Guided walk in area near Bozar with Dr Christophe Loir <p>The Brontë-related area around the Bozar was the subject of a fascinating guided walk by Dr Christophe Loir from the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB) on Saturday 3 June 2023. In this walk, devised specially for the Brussels Brontë Group, Dr Loir talked about the rue Isabelle and its environs and the redevelopment of the area in the first half of the 20th century. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-6Km6epRNLR-cDZtkmYiPZp_zF0nWE4EqQDCAU1HfpdpacrPuFuVd3fVzi6aOEevUUcr2dmBCvyAGegwrh9z54p9GEzO2QNcRhiehdcGXWgg_qIJZiilHoWWj7aA15vXPqc3-DvM1OSiXLppGLJ8L766hoJHLsLwyv8dUpE0RNh6qzV_N8MD4xd-/s670/Dr%20Loir%20map%20close%20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="404" data-original-width="670" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL-6Km6epRNLR-cDZtkmYiPZp_zF0nWE4EqQDCAU1HfpdpacrPuFuVd3fVzi6aOEevUUcr2dmBCvyAGegwrh9z54p9GEzO2QNcRhiehdcGXWgg_qIJZiilHoWWj7aA15vXPqc3-DvM1OSiXLppGLJ8L766hoJHLsLwyv8dUpE0RNh6qzV_N8MD4xd-/s320/Dr%20Loir%20map%20close%20.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>Dr Loir conjured up the area as it was in the 1840s when the Brontë sisters were there, with the help of street plans of the period, travel guides, engravings, early photographs and press articles. </p><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p>More of a talk than a walk (rue Ravenstein, rue Baron Horta, and up the Belliard Steps into the Parc de Bruxelles), Saturday afternoon’s event treated participants to a wealth of information on the history and architecture of this part of Brussels. </p><p>Clearly impassioned by his subject, Dr Loir spent over two hours sharing his extensive knowledge, accompanied by documentary evidence and large-scale maps and images, the fruits of painstaking research carried out over the years with the aid of his colleagues and students. </p><p><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSZni5sa-lfMvuGzy7D5yxAlG75YX5XqhKVaouUw57lieTOOEGqVyfe7YIH_dUkCpGZ9dG8hP71ihm_RGVHK-g0XQom3U3Z1WvkOIdA7_G02BP5WFRhOdPKVxUsYtFKMxskv2iWDSUMHQK3TO3nFxxjJL9Cg4Pr2eiXa-MtBt6hZxqXgj3DiAoKCl/s750/Dr%20Loir%20and%20book%20close.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="688" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJSZni5sa-lfMvuGzy7D5yxAlG75YX5XqhKVaouUw57lieTOOEGqVyfe7YIH_dUkCpGZ9dG8hP71ihm_RGVHK-g0XQom3U3Z1WvkOIdA7_G02BP5WFRhOdPKVxUsYtFKMxskv2iWDSUMHQK3TO3nFxxjJL9Cg4Pr2eiXa-MtBt6hZxqXgj3DiAoKCl/s320/Dr%20Loir%20and%20book%20close.png" width="294" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr Christophe Loir</td></tr></tbody></table></p><p>Dr Loir, who teaches at ULB's department of History, Arts and Archeology, gave us a broad insight into the architectural history of the area (Horta, Malfait etc.), not to mention the authorities’ rather blinkered view of how to look after their architectural heritage. It was disturbing to learn that while Horta’s Palais des Beaux-Arts is a listed building, the Belliard Steps and their architectural setting do not enjoy the same degree of protection: witness the disappearance of the old lampposts on the side of rue Baron Horta, now occupied by what can only be described as an architectural monstrosity! </p><p>What was particularly fascinating for Brontë devotees was Dr Loir's particular concern to ensure that we had a vivid picture of the area in the years leading up to and including 1842-43, when Emily and, on two occasions, Charlotte, lived in the rue Isabelle. </p><p>It was news to me that this small area of Brussels had been the epicentre of resistance and fighting during an abortive attempt by the Dutch to regain control of the city during the revolution of 1830 that saw the founding of the Belgian state. So, although the Brontës visited some twelve years later, the area of the Belliard Steps, a major thoroughfare at the time between upper and lower town, would still have displayed the scars of battle. </p><p>Speaking of upper and lower town, we were also told of the stark social division between these two areas. English visitors and Brussels English society in general stuck very much to the upper town, which included the Parc de Bruxelles, hence Charlotte’s obvious familiarity with it in <i>Villette</i>. The Hotel de Bellevue nearby (now attached to the Royal Palace), was the go-to hotel of its day for well-to-do English visitors.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdZxDUdl9cPMeeftkUw78jn-z9rFH1E3KcjjL3-vV3Av5NZzEAeoEMVgGBD8ZwUsFT0thYDQIBBmpWJU2tOGflypQWtN50kEdjys2qRxoO5nTjayOAzxp1dtvldCXJIefu03jUmCGAuh12JGsBBt-sdqAPOKhIltAeljrGJKVBSNk5Mvm0JTZ-N4H/s4032/Loir%20Map.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggdZxDUdl9cPMeeftkUw78jn-z9rFH1E3KcjjL3-vV3Av5NZzEAeoEMVgGBD8ZwUsFT0thYDQIBBmpWJU2tOGflypQWtN50kEdjys2qRxoO5nTjayOAzxp1dtvldCXJIefu03jUmCGAuh12JGsBBt-sdqAPOKhIltAeljrGJKVBSNk5Mvm0JTZ-N4H/w300-h400/Loir%20Map.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div><p>Dr Loir read some amusing extracts from the police regulations governing the park, vigorously enforced by all accounts. The bottom line appeared to be that quiet walking was allowed, but pretty much everything else was not. A safe haven then perhaps for wary English visitors, particularly female? </p><p>Just a couple of nuggets from amongst the many entertaining and illustrated anecdotes we heard: an article written by a local journalist of the day, marvelling at the coexistence of ‘anglomanie’ and ‘anglophobie’ amongst local residents – plus ça change…! – and the astonishing fact that a vast proportion of advertising space in the Brussels newspapers in the later part of the 19th century was given over to dentists plying for trade, not least an English dentist who pioneered the profession in Brussels, thus prompting the advent of more English dentists! </p><p> Brian Holland</p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-20783786093480348982023-06-06T08:51:00.008+02:002023-06-06T09:17:59.370+02:00Just a few questions about 'Emily'<p>Once I saw a beautiful film about the French writer Colette. So beautiful that I watched it again when it was on television. I knew and still know very little about Colette, so I could enjoy the movie without thinking about the historical facts of her life or the international reception of her books. </p><p>Now there is Frances O’Connor’s film <i>Emily</i> about Emily Brontë, a writer of whom I like to think I know a lot more. This is also a beautiful film. But I have a few questions. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBCqpGjGQo9er-axHv2XUnYWIoYV21rDnShA7W7xHAbNvDWZVcCDdTpEary75iS-Fapw3-g7z25U1ndNRJGvWvtCLIYEbvQnjKxLRHggMpWVJDVwSObQn_rb6uxQfpITXU8KgY5Xv9h80--SpN24UxYFZIK4jhHXV3o10i3-DJseWYrXXgM5TbPev/s800/emily-pelicula%20emma%20mackey.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzBCqpGjGQo9er-axHv2XUnYWIoYV21rDnShA7W7xHAbNvDWZVcCDdTpEary75iS-Fapw3-g7z25U1ndNRJGvWvtCLIYEbvQnjKxLRHggMpWVJDVwSObQn_rb6uxQfpITXU8KgY5Xv9h80--SpN24UxYFZIK4jhHXV3o10i3-DJseWYrXXgM5TbPev/s320/emily-pelicula%20emma%20mackey.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>It is good that the poems are there in <i>Emily</i>. It is good that the actors look like one could imagine the Brontës might have looked, with the exception of the one who plays Branwell. The house looks like the Parsonage in Haworth, though there seems to be more space in every room. </p><p>It’s a beautiful film, but … </p><p>… why is there so little about the relation between Emily and Anne (like twins they were, according to Ellen Nussey)? </p><p>… why is the rivalry between Emily and Charlotte made so big? </p><p>… why is there nothing about Emily’s love for dogs and other animals? </p><p>… Emily did not write <i>Wuthering Heights</i> after Branwell’s death. She would not have had the time. </p><p>… in the film the Rev. Patrick Brontë finds Emily odd, but usually we are told he loved her most of his children. </p><p>… for us in the Brussels Brontë Group, it is a pity that there is so little about the sisters’ stay in Belgium. And I do not think they had their own room in Brussels, just a part of the dormitory, separated with curtains. </p><p>… it is unlikely, that Emily would have met William Weightman for the first time at Top Withens. Why would Patrick have not introduced his new curate to his children at home? </p><p>… how on earth could Emily and William Weightman have found the time and place to meet and make love regularly and in secret in or around Haworth? </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHTjRz0jGkZoCD0qU8Uc1cq1olbHL1Iy0hFvH864C5JLdyBfluXbFXJd49vKbIoJ-X8jhlBHviadD8LPaipoIE7J5l0ygf9VSTp1QE-pcCeQD8vIzcOwkEeDEl4j6zpk2foE_vyWkzfoG8ae2XEgrTl_AtBRYelCvaTtEDjOLERhPLD-qdqepvpeo/s1012/Wm%20Weightman%20and%20Emily.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="548" data-original-width="1012" height="173" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSHTjRz0jGkZoCD0qU8Uc1cq1olbHL1Iy0hFvH864C5JLdyBfluXbFXJd49vKbIoJ-X8jhlBHviadD8LPaipoIE7J5l0ygf9VSTp1QE-pcCeQD8vIzcOwkEeDEl4j6zpk2foE_vyWkzfoG8ae2XEgrTl_AtBRYelCvaTtEDjOLERhPLD-qdqepvpeo/s320/Wm%20Weightman%20and%20Emily.png" width="320" /></a></div><p>And the strangest thing in this film: the scenes with the mask, Emily “being” their mother. I really did not understand this part. Why would the Brontës not talk about their mother? Both their father and their Aunt Branwell must have missed her a lot and remembered her to the children. </p><p>But still it is beautiful film. </p><p> Marcia Zaaijer</p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-73409340536908748912023-06-01T15:40:00.017+02:002023-06-02T11:26:24.067+02:00'Emily' and Top Withens <p>For a special reason, I viewed Frances O’Connor’s film ‘Emily’ not once but three times.
It was inevitable that I should see this movie. I first read Emily Brontë’s <i>Wuthering Heights</i> more than half a century ago. But it wasn’t until 53 years after reading the book that I visited Haworth for the first time. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPRpkQihLtUqwR0rdoOVLcyI1bIyBI2M5JRpjwuBWGymgGaOyRuXi9BpfIOwF9XelU3pdGihZIzyY2KkODftYROlelqYNBAZygGGevk-6xiY6IFS26ApqOut2zY5FSlBmgHghJ6xWGLrYMnx-HGhvY4ti0Qvr-fjt2hO817B0hCvgo9-DKkLbPdDS/s4624/Jean%20de%20Wolf.jpeg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3468" data-original-width="4624" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGPRpkQihLtUqwR0rdoOVLcyI1bIyBI2M5JRpjwuBWGymgGaOyRuXi9BpfIOwF9XelU3pdGihZIzyY2KkODftYROlelqYNBAZygGGevk-6xiY6IFS26ApqOut2zY5FSlBmgHghJ6xWGLrYMnx-HGhvY4ti0Qvr-fjt2hO817B0hCvgo9-DKkLbPdDS/w320-h240/Jean%20de%20Wolf.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jean de Wolf with his model of Top Withens</td></tr></tbody></table><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>Fascinated by Emily’s novel, I wanted to see the place where she had lived and see with own eyes the important places of the story. Since that moment, a closer connection exists between that novel, the author, that place and myself. And in addition to all that, now comes Frances O’Connor’s film. <p></p><p>From the first moment the film was launched in theatres, chins were wagging about “the love affair” between Emily and the curate William Weightman. I suppose this came mainly from the “long-term Brontë fans” for whom it is excused; they apparently could not accept that in this movie Emily could have had some feelings for this young, good-looking curate. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKY4siACB-ntWNN7PW9UKQMPHddNDlANYQk7lFoEcTWlYMuJoH08t-OGl6dgUxrQNmqMYsAsEd_oHraxSrJZLDZ1k7CD0mQwNm4hKEATQNVn3NNAOZ1uCdJ3vzsmRWRWKOlr4ZJp2FaSPVL-iPMFZtnJn0qF7AZYQGo_480KowoZ42zrAg3MV7G2j/s3951/Jean%20model%202.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2359" data-original-width="3951" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNKY4siACB-ntWNN7PW9UKQMPHddNDlANYQk7lFoEcTWlYMuJoH08t-OGl6dgUxrQNmqMYsAsEd_oHraxSrJZLDZ1k7CD0mQwNm4hKEATQNVn3NNAOZ1uCdJ3vzsmRWRWKOlr4ZJp2FaSPVL-iPMFZtnJn0qF7AZYQGo_480KowoZ42zrAg3MV7G2j/s320/Jean%20model%202.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I’m not saying whether it was or wasn’t factual, but in my opinion both scenarios are possible. Although, as far as I know, nothing is proven, in a period where certain things by preference were hidden or hushed up, it could be that Emily had some feelings of love. Even if these didn’t really lead to the situation as taken up in the movie, these feelings were perhaps used in her novel. </p><p>In watching the scenes unfold in O’Connor’s film, it was so nice to recognize some local places, some interiors giving a picture how they lived in the 1840s, the region with its moors, locales and names taken out of the novel, like shots of the “curiosity shop” with the Haworth church and Main Street in the background; the Linton family with the dogs; the landscape with some special pictures of the roofs evoking in our minds the homestead Top Withens (later in Emily’s mind <i>Wuthering Heights</i>). </p><p>All this and much more is shown to us in a fascinating way and with gorgeous images.
The film also made me think about the character of Emily and her way of living in the family, which was captured well in the movie. Overall, the cast did a beautiful job and all together made a wonderful movie that at no time bored. The whole experience let the viewer go home with the thought: "Well done to Emily. And <i>Wuthering Heights</i> -- I have to take it up again.” </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJnL40_FXPMi4Yg13QjaYaCtIktCe72_6t6ZuA-tv5Ln2WUBSmLesykAiIfRpeYn19M8QhYlStTGu1MFwbLbsRQiPqleLZ2m04ktuCeoPIgHGg7govKXOWDUTcbV8Pjc5xARSoCCkFZ-O3qnoZ-liK8OOEyrA0yDgg8QKrvxEooJNBu03tkEbCeHo/s3000/Jean%20model%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1818" data-original-width="3000" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHJnL40_FXPMi4Yg13QjaYaCtIktCe72_6t6ZuA-tv5Ln2WUBSmLesykAiIfRpeYn19M8QhYlStTGu1MFwbLbsRQiPqleLZ2m04ktuCeoPIgHGg7govKXOWDUTcbV8Pjc5xARSoCCkFZ-O3qnoZ-liK8OOEyrA0yDgg8QKrvxEooJNBu03tkEbCeHo/s320/Jean%20model%201.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p>I saw the film three times, due to a very special reason. </p><p>Soon after the launching of the film in the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, I asked the local cinema in Dendermonde whether they too would present the movie. I showed the manager some pictures of a scale model I was making of Top Withens and told him how it was the farmhouse associated with Emily Brontë’s <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. He was fascinated and asked me to show the model in the cinema, if the film was approved for distribution in Belgium. </p><p>And so it happened that the movie came to Belgium and he took it up on his programme and contacted me for the presentation of my model. In the announcement to the public about the movie, the theatre added a <a href="https://www.cinema-albert.be/emily">special section</a> saying “Mr. Jean De Wolf will show his model of the farm <i>Wuthering Heights</i> at the entrance of the room.” So for two nights in April, I showed my model and gave a little explanation concerning the Top Withens farm and <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. And so I took the opportunity to watch and enjoy again this beautiful movie.</p><p> Jean de Wolf </p><p></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-68966071337710064132023-05-27T07:22:00.007+02:002023-05-27T07:26:32.035+02:00Brussels Brontë Group and Matrimony Days<p>The Heritage Days have a firm reputation in Brussels, but recently there has been an addition to the program which focuses specifically on the women-centered heritage and history of our city. Since 2019, the non-profit organization L’architecture qui dégenre, has started organizing the Journées du Matrimoine (Matrimony Days), with ‘Matrimony’ signifying a ‘tangible or intangible good of artistic or historical importance inherited from women.’ </p><p>Especially for the Matrimony Days, we have developed a guided walk in the city center that focuses on the feminist elements in the work of the Brontë sisters. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBe8H0ZEZlmArkbe9yLYSAdXVbEIGqa7X8xL-R4j6JlcGjxo8VSnlQ37UUwqmx4jNEA8z8whEIdqyxRzm-Z-Vmn8Ut2poJsRbIAk32pFONe5PZ_B94_Jqk16_XrdWjaq0q7IxYDv5EL9GIgd1a8ze0qpTvxXvR8PE6ogOEhhrvS9QpkmRZexWEjEQd/s242/Matrimony%20Days.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="82" data-original-width="242" height="82" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBe8H0ZEZlmArkbe9yLYSAdXVbEIGqa7X8xL-R4j6JlcGjxo8VSnlQ37UUwqmx4jNEA8z8whEIdqyxRzm-Z-Vmn8Ut2poJsRbIAk32pFONe5PZ_B94_Jqk16_XrdWjaq0q7IxYDv5EL9GIgd1a8ze0qpTvxXvR8PE6ogOEhhrvS9QpkmRZexWEjEQd/s1600/Matrimony%20Days.png" width="242" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>It’s important to note that the sisters supported themselves by working as governesses/teachers and later by writing literary masterpieces (however, they felt they had ‘to walk invisible’ and had to publish under a male pseudonym).
Moreover, Charlotte and Emily travelled to Brussels as two young women which showed their courage and Charlotte defied tradition and propriety by falling in love with a married man. <p></p><p>The Brontës are well-known for their liberated minds and long walks on the wild and rugged moors. They have become emblems for many women and girls, writers and readers, …
In this walk we focus on the two years these writers lived in Brussels and on the architecture that surrounded them back in that time. </p><p>We did the first walks in French and Dutch in September 2022 during the Matrimony Days. It was such a success that the Matrimony Days organization asked us to repeat the walks for the Matrimony Season that runs to June 2023. </p><p>We have met many lovely and enthusiast people on these walks and it was good to feel the interest for the Brontës in Brussel growing as well as working together with the people of the Matrimony Days and celebrating women’s heritage in the city together.</p><p> <span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px;">Pauline Ghyselen</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ8m_g4dIpky2DSKc1y5lP9uJj4kPHj57EGZn5ppUpRQsHKctPDxtfSrQ8Y5uM8uLHF78Mv7c72fovM_KcFZ229ffwqt0J7FfyNWekJAC-uzb_qSQIOf5Yr3pjPg4iIMPvS1rwxHBEV9VGatVGlGXsG9XFRh7x5KGq4nALziZuyLbKuVlQIBCN1hZ/s434/Matrimony%20Days%201.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="434" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkZ8m_g4dIpky2DSKc1y5lP9uJj4kPHj57EGZn5ppUpRQsHKctPDxtfSrQ8Y5uM8uLHF78Mv7c72fovM_KcFZ229ffwqt0J7FfyNWekJAC-uzb_qSQIOf5Yr3pjPg4iIMPvS1rwxHBEV9VGatVGlGXsG9XFRh7x5KGq4nALziZuyLbKuVlQIBCN1hZ/s320/Matrimony%20Days%201.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 15.4px;"><br /></span><p></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-71097294089364921212023-05-23T11:20:00.016+02:002023-05-27T08:04:59.313+02:00Frances O’Connor’s ‘Emily’ and the French connection<p>Frances O’Connor’s film <i>Emily</i> is full of surprises. This is perhaps only to be expected in a movie that the writer-director herself describes as a story inspired by the Brontës’ lives, not factually based on them – a fictional story inspired by real-life people. </p><p>For me, one of the film’s more agreeable surprises is how much French there is in it. Not only are we startled to find Patrick’s curate William Weightman, with some difficulty, unlacing Emily Brontë’s corset in a scene of passion as they embark on a love affair; we are also taken aback to find him tutoring her in French in a deserted Haworth schoolroom. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgD4pLeKp3WnXJHsqTxXq_EgnXTyze-OAlPfePamnY8a7Co6sppWDrxp5l8SbAGiCtAUXrVVtYsGGQghJzP5u1WGSm1D_nQCgT744atAFR4Cs5RumuW7q52nudtPDjFO307R3R01zlLarzTRl2ToEYNjlIpF12VejG8n0iyfM4r3OIC_DKWJdCkFO/s1184/Emma%20Mackey%20Emily%20image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="756" data-original-width="1184" height="204" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPgD4pLeKp3WnXJHsqTxXq_EgnXTyze-OAlPfePamnY8a7Co6sppWDrxp5l8SbAGiCtAUXrVVtYsGGQghJzP5u1WGSm1D_nQCgT744atAFR4Cs5RumuW7q52nudtPDjFO307R3R01zlLarzTRl2ToEYNjlIpF12VejG8n0iyfM4r3OIC_DKWJdCkFO/s320/Emma%20Mackey%20Emily%20image.png" width="320" /></a></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>French crops up in this movie from the start. I watched it in a Brussels cinema in the original version with subtitles in French and Dutch and was amused to see the French subtitles disappear from the screen at regular intervals as the actors broke into (sometimes quite fluent) French. </p><p>Early on in the proceedings, Emily, accused of being ‘different’ and ‘strange’ and of not making herself useful enough around the house, mutters in excuse that she is ‘working on her French.’ French makes an appearance in the film’s much-commented mask scene, at which Weightman is present. Each participant takes it in turn to hide behind a mask and pretend to be someone else, the others trying to guess who it is by asking questions. </p><p>This is based on the real-life mask episode well known to Brontë lovers. One day when the children were small, their father asked them questions and got them to answer from behind a mask to encourage them to speak out without timidity. The Brontë children’s answers were thoughtful and precocious in the extreme. Asked what she most wanted, Anne Brontë, then about four years old, answered ‘Age and experience.’ Asked what was the best way of spending her time, Maria, the eldest, who died in childhood, replied ‘By laying it out in preparation for a happy eternity.’ </p><p>The mask game in the film is much more fun than this until Emily pretends to be her mother returned from the dead to address her children and the game ends in tears. Before this, however, the use of French comes up again as Charlotte pretends to be Marie Antoinette and the others ask her ‘Aimez-vous les brioches?’ </p><p>Another episode in the film involving French is also based on a real-life incident, when the three girls receive Valentine cards from Weightman. This was a gesture typical of a man who not only flirted with every girl he met but was kind-hearted and loved by everyone who knew him. The messages in the real-life cards were in English. But in the film, they’re in French. </p><p>Several times in the film Charlotte addresses herself to Emily in French, encouraging her to improve in the language. Once Weightman is Emily’s tutor, it is not just her French that improves. Like so much in the film, having him as a French teacher is an imaginative jumbling up of real-life people and situations, since Emily was in fact taught by Constantin Heger in Brussels and it was Charlotte, not Emily, who fell in love with the French tutor. At the start of the cinematic tutoring, a stern Weightman questions Emily in French about his latest sermon. As their relationship moves on from the schoolroom, they sometimes use French in more intimate settings. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_eUSJ3IE6V5xwN0A4WRFv-ftXIqp-ZKr5RpzsY4sb1SFcooZzdOL3g_boE8R64Oonx5BIi_8j9cE_rob5WeVYglo9ooW9Niquh2gX1ALEiOQPjpQMZo2uPxShDBs7TROnQdNm5sSfqXHvIaxfP5ANJZs6kJuRqJbvrNdAWBjx_JslqSp1XFVa9mS/s2000/Emma%20Mackey%20as%20Emily%201.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="2000" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO_eUSJ3IE6V5xwN0A4WRFv-ftXIqp-ZKr5RpzsY4sb1SFcooZzdOL3g_boE8R64Oonx5BIi_8j9cE_rob5WeVYglo9ooW9Niquh2gX1ALEiOQPjpQMZo2uPxShDBs7TROnQdNm5sSfqXHvIaxfP5ANJZs6kJuRqJbvrNdAWBjx_JslqSp1XFVa9mS/w400-h266/Emma%20Mackey%20as%20Emily%201.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Emma Mackey as Emily</td></tr></tbody></table><p>While this ‘French tuition’ is going on, Charlotte, away from home in a dreary teaching job, receives a teasing letter in which Emily tells her that she is enjoying her home education and becoming more and more fluent in French. When Charlotte returns home and speaks French to her sister to test her, Emily accuses her of speaking the language in order to belittle and mock her. Emily then addresses Charlotte in fluent French, her new-found proficiency bearing out her claim to have made considerable progress in the language under Weightman’s tuition. </p><p>Emily decides to accompany Charlotte to Brussels even though her French has progressed so much she hardly seems to need a continental stay to perfect it. Towards the end of the film, we briefly see the two sisters at what is supposed to be the Pensionnat Heger receiving the news of Weightman’s death from cholera. I found this glimpse of a European school rather charming because of, rather than despite, the improbably over-the-top interior décor. The Pensionnat was a pleasant enough place, but I doubt that its walls were quite as laden with gilt-framed pictures or its staircases as richly-carpeted as in the film. Charlotte and Emily are glimpsed sitting with other well-dressed young ladies round a table in what looks like a drawing room rather than a schoolroom; presumably, though, some kind of tutoring is taking place. The sisters read the letter bringing the news about Weightman at a table in a conservatory crammed with plants. The contrast between the Haworth scenes and these glimpses of elegance and luxury in the Belgian capital could not be greater. </p><p>Emily’s European stay is cut short by Aunt Branwell’s illness and death, following closely on Weightman’s, and she returns to the Parsonage – presumably with even more fluent French than when she left it. </p><p>Before I saw this film, I knew next to nothing about Emma Mackey, the actress who plays Emily, and it came as a surprise to find that she is the daughter of a French father and English mother and grew up in France. In interviews for French media, she rattles away in incredibly rapid French about her role as Emily. Amusingly, in the film she has to play Emily learning French and speaking it with a strong English accent. </p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ4TFPuRjKS9_DneQ-kWvbowIAFLpep_53g1OHLvh4tDD3EpkPcXJdbHQY-30GyvB7Zxif4z7AsC22RZBP7Uc5UnbQD30RZe-YXXCUdjmxBH8eOCi9NV4AxyGcjxmv9phAv82GRpORsmYnmNBZISc449c9bjEdydoUEfyrIe28B0sEcK1--ubjw7k/s320/emily-oliver-jackson-cohen.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnZ4TFPuRjKS9_DneQ-kWvbowIAFLpep_53g1OHLvh4tDD3EpkPcXJdbHQY-30GyvB7Zxif4z7AsC22RZBP7Uc5UnbQD30RZe-YXXCUdjmxBH8eOCi9NV4AxyGcjxmv9phAv82GRpORsmYnmNBZISc449c9bjEdydoUEfyrIe28B0sEcK1--ubjw7k/s1600/emily-oliver-jackson-cohen.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Oliver Jackson-Cohen</span></td></tr></tbody></table>And what about Oliver Jackson-Cohen, the actor who plays Weightman? He speaks perfect French in the movie. It’s so rare for British actors to have such foreign language skills I wondered whether he had been dubbed or simply well coached. Not a bit of it. I now know from his Wikipedia entry that he ‘attended the French lycée in London and claims to have a slight French accent’! On his father’s side he comes from a Jewish family that moved to France in the 1950s. </p><p>Whether one likes or hates the film and the artistic licence it deliberately takes with Brontë biography, it has pleasures to offer and for me its French connection is one of them. Many Brontë movies focus almost exclusively on the Haworth and Yorkshire background: stormy weather and northern accents. It’s refreshing to see a film in which the atmosphere is softened by a warmer, lighter air blown in from the Continent. </p><p>We know from Emily and Charlotte’s essays written in Brussels that they were competent French speakers. Charlotte’s novels are full of French; all her fictional heroes and heroines speak it, either as native speakers or students of the language. In her novel <i>Shirley</i>, French tuition takes place. Weightman’s tuition of Emily in French, like the instruction he gives her in other skills, is a flight of a film director’s imagination, but the sisters’ interest in foreign languages – which is what brought them to Brussels – is no fantasy. </p><p> Helen MacEwan</p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-44187178579268529782023-05-13T10:02:00.017+02:002023-06-14T18:01:07.487+02:00Review: Frances O’Connor's 'Emily' <p>The new film <i>Emily</i> is often described as “a part-fictional” portrait of Emily Brontë. When I saw it recently, I found it only partly satisfying. </p><p>The film is directed by Frances O’Connor who, more than twenty years ago, starred as Fanny Price in a creative <i>Mansfield Park</i> adaptation, which departed from the novel in many ways and transformed the least popular Jane Austen heroine into a more spirited and almost feisty character while including feminist and post-colonial themes as well. </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOVRBAg7CdnEdMz-Nh3hJXLNKgFW_uTiMwIiCSU2BeR7iMBNdElzvMR94se2a_bKv0vEAoclgIKuFBLwlAjIZtH4a36kQlzdrnxsqj35pG5QVqYRL7Evz9yE9KPXAkd4SjK48TKEHyXTpeFN79-oxS3seupzGG2HR29-ijG5VZnQXqPKIfhEtqJWH/s474/Frances%20OConnnor%20Emma%20Mackey.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="332" data-original-width="474" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSOVRBAg7CdnEdMz-Nh3hJXLNKgFW_uTiMwIiCSU2BeR7iMBNdElzvMR94se2a_bKv0vEAoclgIKuFBLwlAjIZtH4a36kQlzdrnxsqj35pG5QVqYRL7Evz9yE9KPXAkd4SjK48TKEHyXTpeFN79-oxS3seupzGG2HR29-ijG5VZnQXqPKIfhEtqJWH/s320/Frances%20OConnnor%20Emma%20Mackey.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frances O'Connor and Emma Mackey</td></tr></tbody></table><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>Patricia Rozema (the director of that 1999 <i>Mansfield Park</i> adaptation) has stated that her film should not be seen as a classic adaptation of Jane Austen’s work: “It’s a Patricia Rozema film. My job as an artist is to provide a fresh view.” </p><p>It seems as if Frances O’Connor shares this view with her once-director; in her semi-biopic <i>Emily</i>, O’Connor takes quite some creative liberties with the life of Emily Brontë such as her getting a tattoo on her arm, opium use, and sexual relations with her father’s curate William Weightman as the cherry on top of the cake… It’s understandable that these liberties have agonized quite a few people in the Brontë-community to the extent that some people refuse to actually even watch the film. </p><p>Emily Brontë has always been an enigma, even when she was alive people around her were puzzled by her somewhat eccentric behavior and extremely shy nature. Her only novel, <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, now one of the most beloved classics in English literature, caused quite some controversy when it was published because of the savagery and cruelty of the characters, the sexual nature of the book as well as some of its themes and values. For example, Graham’s Lady Magazine wrote in a contemporary review: “It is a compound of vulgar depravity and unnatural horrors.” </p><p>In the years to come – when it became known that this violent and passionate story had been written by a reclusive young lady, a curate’s daughter no less, who lived in a very small village in Yorkshire – there was a lot of speculation and attempts to make sense of this (including one theory that claims Branwell is actually the author). This question is also the driving force behind O’Connor’s film, as in the opening scene Charlotte asks at her sister’s deathbed: How did you write <i>Wuthering Heights</i>? </p><p>O’Connor’s film can be seen as a personal interpretation of Emily’s life. She is not interested in reality; she gives us a fictional account of what could have happened. In an interview with the Guardian, she stated that “if you’re going to tell a story now, I think it’s good for it to speak to women in a way that’s alive, rather than as something they’re looking at from behind a very respectful glass case.” </p><p>That’s a bold decision and I have to say that during the first part of the movie, it worked for me. For the first part of the movie, I found myself emerged in the setting – the wild and rugged moors, the wind, the rain, the birds, the gorgeous soundtrack that went with it, the strong emotions and the focus on Emily and Branwell. Furthermore, Emma Mackey who plays Emily does a terrific job. I’m sure that this film will bring a new generation of readers to <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, and even to the other Brontë books, and that in itself surely is an admirable feat. </p><p>However, for this viewer, it was the second part of the film when things somehow started to sink. Enter: the love story plot. There is no evidence whatsoever that Emily had a sexual affair with her father’s curate, William Weightman. In fact, in her seminal biography of the Brontës, Juliet Barker wrote that there are some (minor) arguments for believing that Anne may have felt attracted towards the curate (a poem she wrote after his death, for instance), but that it was Charlotte especially (because of what she wrote in some of her letters at the time and her studies for a portrait of the curate) “who fell for his charms.” The romance plot in the film feels forced and even a bit silly in how fast and unbelievable it all is rushed to the dramatic ending. </p><p><i>Emily</i> is often hailed as a feminist film, but I somehow find the idea that Emily needed a sexual affair with a man in order to be able to write <i>Wuthering Heights</i>, and Weightman’s encouraging words to finish it, a bit simple and even reductive. The idea that writers cannot write well about something that they have not experienced themselves is outdated. The Anne Hathaway vehicle <i>Becoming Jane</i> (2007) suffered from the same problem.</p><p>There is also a strong suggestion in the film that Emily was desperate for her father’s approval (the Reverend is depicted as a mean stonehearted father), whereas her relation with her two sisters is actually more or less overlooked in the film. Moreover, Charlotte (and Anne too) is a flat character, even a bit superficial and evil, with no emotional depth to her. This could be explained by the fact that the movie is about Emily’s story and experiences, not Charlotte’s; but as stated above, the same problem holds for Emily as she seems to have become a vessel for a love story in this movie. </p><p>When I walked out of the movie theatre, I had mixed feelings, I somehow liked parts of the film, but the overall thought that lingered was that Emily deserves a better film. A woman’s (and writer’s) life does not need a dramatic love story to be interesting. I fear that somehow I was not able to exercise the concept of that other great Romantic writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s (willing) suspension of disbelief, during this movie because my love for Emily, her sisters and their writings is just stronger than for what the film had to offer me.</p><p> Pauline Ghyselen</p><p>
</p><p>Sources:<br />Barker, Juliet (1994) The Brontës. Phoenix Giants.<br />Byrne, Paula (2017) The Genius of Jane Austen: Her Love of Theatre and Why She Is a Hit in Hollywood. ch.11, HarperCollins</p><p>- - - - </p><p>
</p><p><b>Other views on <i>Emily</i></b></p><p><b><i><br /></i></b></p><p><b>Mixed feelings</b></p><p>For those who are not familiar with the Brontë story and the biography of Emily Brontë in particular this is most probably a wonderful romantic film.
However, for us Brontë fans, and especially Emily Brontë fans (like me), who know what is known for a fact about the Brontës and about Emily, the film is sometimes very annoying and disturbing. </p><p>The biography timeline is not always respected, the love story between Emily and William Weightman is completely invented, exaggerated and not correct, and some scenes in the film (e.g. the mask scene) are really bizarre. </p><p>Did I like it? I don’t really know: I have very mixed feelings about this film. </p><p> Marina Saegerman</p><p><br /></p><p><b>A second viewing</b></p><p>
The first time I saw the film <i>Emily</i>, it was at home on a small screen. And I wasn’t impressed or deeply moved by the movie. The fact that the producers didn’t stick to her real life and character disturbed me. The character of Emily was beautifully dressed in the film, while I read that even in Brussels she didn’t bother to follow the current fashion of dressing. </p><p>In the beginning of the film, we learn to know a shy Emily, but in her interactions with her brother, Branwell, and the curate William Weightman we see a free-spirited, daring woman. The love story with Weightman was too bold for a shy person, I found. I felt disappointed and thought that the film <i>To Walk Invisible</i> helped me more to be acquainted with the three Brontë sisters. </p><p>Then I saw the film again, this time in the cinema. I had another experience.
I let myself be immersed by the film and I enjoyed seeing the moors, the Brontë siblings and the partly imaginative story of Frances O’Connor. I realized that Emily is a deeply layered film. </p><p>According to O’Connor, it was Emily’s love story with Weightman – plus Branwell’s influence and Emily’s use of opium – that sparked her genius to write <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. But I find it a strange idea, Emily who used opium, just like the consummation of her love with Weightman. </p><p>I found it interesting to see another Emily now than I had in mind after reading biographies. It enhances my interest in Emily Brontë to get closer to who she really was. Was she rebellious in her way of living or just in her writing?
The scene with the mask, which I at first found so strange, reminded me in my second viewing of the story of Catherine’s ghost, moaning at a window during stormy weather in <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. </p><p> Lucie Craen
</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p><p><br /></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-49191319916118530122023-05-10T22:39:00.016+02:002023-05-13T10:26:22.698+02:00Brontë Sisters Square in Koekelberg comes a step nearer!Three years ago we reported a <a href="http://brusselsbronte.blogspot.com/2020/07/brussels-square-to-be-named-after.html">proposal</a> for a square in Koekelberg to be named after the Brontë sisters. It’s an initiative of Koekelberg councillor Robert Delathouwer, a member of the social-democratic political party Vooruit, as part of the Brussels authorities’ move to have more streets named after women (the ‘feminisation’ of street names). <div><br /></div><div>The Brontë square has now moved a step nearer. On 17 April 2023 the commune’s council approved the initiative in principle, as well as proposals for three other streets in the commune to be named after women. What is proposed is for part of the Dapperenstraat/Rue des Braves (numbers 1 to 20) to be renamed Gezusters Brontëplein/Place des Soeurs Brontë. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg0ozwHpS2p6AKy2I7UYD_N84zRC3qBi5FbAL7Ax3fBBkn7Yu96-gUkHqyypvxXROIv6wpqqLvF2HztcdJ9vrSTt4iM-c52yYrbuUERCpIsul1rPApp8-FskHK3hN6FR4Dohjoh14Pxcz6baxccAEYvpwR5Po8FzZweDj0n5ewatfxeFrlaT365ly/s568/Koekelberg%20image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="232" data-original-width="568" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheg0ozwHpS2p6AKy2I7UYD_N84zRC3qBi5FbAL7Ax3fBBkn7Yu96-gUkHqyypvxXROIv6wpqqLvF2HztcdJ9vrSTt4iM-c52yYrbuUERCpIsul1rPApp8-FskHK3hN6FR4Dohjoh14Pxcz6baxccAEYvpwR5Po8FzZweDj0n5ewatfxeFrlaT365ly/s320/Koekelberg%20image.png" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>A consultation of residents still has to take place before a final decision is taken at a future council meeting, hopefully this year. </div><div><br /></div><div>We have often dreamed of a having a Brussels street or square named after the Brontës and now at last it seems this is to become a reality. </div><div><br /></div><div>Why Koekelberg? Because during Charlotte and Emily’s time in Brussels their Yorkshire schoolfriends Mary and Martha Taylor were studying at a school called the Château de Koekelberg, and the Brontës visited them there. On one of these visits the four girls wrote a joint letter to a mutual friend, Ellen Nussey, describing what it was like to study in Brussels. Charlotte seems to have been very happy with her own school, the Pensionnat Heger. She wrote: ‘I think we have done well – we have got into a very good school. Just now we are at Kokleberg [sic] spending the day with Mary and Martha Taylor – such a happy day.’ </div><div><br /></div><div>The Koekelberg school was very international, with pupils not just from Belgium but Germany, France and Britain among other countries. Mary and Martha described it as a kind of Tower of Babel where English, French and German speakers attempted to learn one another’s languages, not always successfully. Martha complained: ‘In attempting to acquire other languages I have almost forgotten the little I knew of my own.’ </div><div><br /></div><div>Also on the Koekelberg school curriculum were drawing and piano lessons, singing, dancing, gymnastics and ‘cosmography.’ The Taylor girls were not very respectful in describing their schoolmasters and mistresses. The drawing master, Mary Taylor wrote, ‘would be my favourite if he did not smell so of bad tobacco.’ The gymnastics master ‘makes strange noises in the back school room teaching gymnastics to some of the girls.’ The ‘cosmography’ master was nicknamed by the girls ‘Ainsi donc’ because of his oft-repeated pet phrase ‘Ainsi donc! C’est bien compris, n’est-ce pas?’ The singing master was described by Mary as having ‘a tremendous mouth’ – ‘He is constantly telling his pupils that the voice has but a very little hole to get out at and that there are both tongue and teeth to interrupt it on its road and that the orifice ought by all means to be opened as wide as possible,’ she said. </div><div><br /></div><div>We can only hope that the Taylor girls learned some French and German as well as having fun observing the eccentricities of the teachers. The Château de Koekelberg school was run by a Madame Goussaert, an Englishwoman née Catherine Phelps who was married to a Belgian. Along with the Pensionnat Heger, it was one of the most renowned girls’ boarding schools in Brussels. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Taylors’ happy times in Koekelberg ended sadly when Martha died at the school there aged just 22 in October 1842. Hers was just one of three deaths that changed the Brontës’ lives that autumn. Their aunt Branwell, who had helped to fund their European trip, died in the same month and their father’s popular curate, William Weightman (who makes an appearance in the 2022 film ‘Emily’ as Emily’s love interest) died in September aged 28. </div><div><br /></div><div>Martha was buried in the now vanished Protestant cemetery outside the Porte de Louvain and Charlotte often paid visits to her grave. She visited it, for example, on 1 September 1843 on one of her long walks when she stayed on alone at the Pensionnat during the summer holidays. It was on her return from this trip to the cemetery that she went to confession in the Cathedral to relieve her feelings of isolation.
We are not sure what Martha died of. Many biographers have assumed that her disease was cholera, but Eric Ruijssenaars disputed this cause of death in an article on our blog a few years ago:</div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;"><a href="http://brusselsbronte.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-true-cause-of-death-of-martha-taylor.html">The true cause of death of Martha Taylor</a></h3><div> </div><div>Martha inspired the character of Jessy Yorke in Charlotte’s novel ‘Shirley,’ in which Charlotte describes Jessy’s early death and grave in a foreign country. </div><div><br /></div><div>Mary Taylor, the elder sister and one of Charlotte Brontë’s best friends, was an intrepid, outspoken woman who went on to live into old age. For a time she moved to New Zealand where she set up and ran a successful business, a shop. There were few work opportunities for middle-class women in England and she believed that women should work for a living in order to lead a fulfilled and independent life. She wrote a feminist novel, Miss Miles, and at the age of nearly 60 led an all-women expedition up Mont Blanc. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Gezusters Brontëplein/Place des Soeurs Brontë, if approved, will be on a site close to Place Simonis and near the place where Madame Goussaert’s school stood. The home and workshop of the sculptor Eugène Simonis were nearby. </div><div><br /></div><div>Given that the Brontë and Taylor sisters came to Brussels to study, it seems appropriate that the street to be named after them is lined with brand-new educational buildings including a school, a Flemish cultural centre and a library. </div><div><br /></div><div>Watch this space for the official naming of the street if the project is finally approved! </div><div><br /></div><div>Helen MacEwan</div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-81905664053291586252023-04-28T21:15:00.020+02:002023-04-29T12:51:04.753+02:00Monica Wallace: The Irish relations of the Brontë familyMonica Wallace, a former member of the Brussels Brontë Group who has moved back to Ireland, gave the group a fascinating glimpse into the lives of some of the Irish relatives of the Brontë sisters. <div><br /></div><div>Monica’s interest in the subject was kindled when she discovered that an elderly neighbor in Ireland was a descendant of William Brontë, the Reverend Patrick Brontë’s brother, and had a carton of “silly old family stuff” in her attic. Monica dove in and so began an “amazing journey of research and discovery about the Irish Brontë cousins.” </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYIy-IIeY8bMayyHn2pYWBP1JI2_4jJ-qqEfIGmgA9gKJ4gBK_BCvBMbv1NCMKTlJSCMEmTI_OJBgzsFUdOuep4RCsV49tgqZASazVvbSb8bmctUF2ejeT3VTvRCvql_ZPikFQIQJG2fApRWox-hwlGIrEyofBA1Ya3hzSHQ3jE19yZnc_tBnlQ7b/s730/County%20Down.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="462" data-original-width="730" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZYIy-IIeY8bMayyHn2pYWBP1JI2_4jJ-qqEfIGmgA9gKJ4gBK_BCvBMbv1NCMKTlJSCMEmTI_OJBgzsFUdOuep4RCsV49tgqZASazVvbSb8bmctUF2ejeT3VTvRCvql_ZPikFQIQJG2fApRWox-hwlGIrEyofBA1Ya3hzSHQ3jE19yZnc_tBnlQ7b/s320/County%20Down.png" width="320" /></a></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>In her talk on Saturday 22 April 2023, Monica told us about John Brontë, the son of a nephew of the Patrick Brontë and the great-grandfather of Monica’s neighbor, Jenny. John became a druggist and emigrated to New Zealand. But he was also immersed in the debate about the Irish Brontës that was raging in the 1890s after the publication of William Wright’s 1893 book <i>The Brontës in Ireland</i>, which gave the oral history of Patrick’s Irish ancestors in County Down. </div><div><br /></div><div><div>John had grown up in Lacken in County Down, with ready access to the reminiscences of his grandfather, William Brontë (Patrick’s brother), who lived next door. John was a young adult at the time that his Haworth cousins rose to literary fame and would have remembered family discussions about them. John defended Wright’s book amid a chorus of criticism, praising it as “the last word on the history of the Brontës in the British Isles.” </div></div><div><br /></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicOTqOEXseeuSC39wbuAnNztFxQP7g26lxkmQ7NYcwAfDKlt5kbbAlLWFblzFICoWGD30cfUztTxcA4BxmwUfebeOBbmjEv7I65FuyDlq7iZKZrj8I02lLegq1zij15Uv9IO-Tx3YFTm72h_OI1AFfTl25oBRHaA_liElNqfL4dCNUot5BrEU-b73N/s722/Monica%20Wallace%20John's%20line.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="722" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicOTqOEXseeuSC39wbuAnNztFxQP7g26lxkmQ7NYcwAfDKlt5kbbAlLWFblzFICoWGD30cfUztTxcA4BxmwUfebeOBbmjEv7I65FuyDlq7iZKZrj8I02lLegq1zij15Uv9IO-Tx3YFTm72h_OI1AFfTl25oBRHaA_liElNqfL4dCNUot5BrEU-b73N/s320/Monica%20Wallace%20John's%20line.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Monica Wallace</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div>A copy of Wright’s book passed down through John’s family, along with Clement Shorter’s volume <i>Charlotte Bronte and her Circle</i> (1896). John’s daughter Catherine annotated the Clement Shorter book, with some of her marginalia criticizing Charlotte’s husband, Arthur Bell Nicholls, whose family was from County Antrim, just north of County Down. Monica speculated about how much contact – and animosity – there was between the two families. </div><div><br /></div><div>Catherine had three children, each with Brontë as a middle name. It was her daughter Elizabeth (“Dolly”) who kept the box of “silly old family stuff” that Monica’s neighbor Jenny had in her attic. Dolly was Jenny’s aunt. </div><div><br /></div><div>In her talk, Monica also went through other branches of the Irish Brontë family. One interesting revelation was that two of Charlotte Brontë’s first cousins who emigrated to the United States owned slaves – one in Mississippi and one in Tennessee. </div><div><br /></div><div>Monica has written about her research in Brontë Studies (Vol. 47 No. 3 July 2022). <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10.1080/14748932.2022.2077993?needAccess=true&role=button">Subscribers</a> can read her article, as well as lots of other interesting pieces on the Brontës going back decades.</div><div><br /></div><div> <i> -- J.H.</i></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-51602442713960756652023-04-26T22:45:00.011+02:002023-04-27T11:20:13.122+02:00Robert Logan: ‘Ireland and the Moulding of Patrick Brontë’Robert Logan, chair of the Irish section of the Brontë Society, gave the Brussels Brontë Group an absorbing overview of the Irish heritage of the Brontë family, focusing on the experiences of Patrick Brontë before he moved to England in 1802 and how these in turn reflected on the lives of his literary children. <div><br /></div><div>The detailed discussion on Saturday 22 April 2023 included several providential relationships, a family story about a swarthy orphan and the seminal impact of the Irish Rebellion of the late 1790s on Patrick’s views and outlook.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIloyucFvlEa5ZU5ulAh_esGrfgX0JffiaXi-eSIo6aNaRiIdWx6PNMaS3agqD5bgcwuwu7hGjSbVOrHYsxaeXAYkJa8aNyvl5zu8KiBgmMfR55xwfh5Y0QXQGZDWJygV4Oxh1ruHEvfPvUEHa96ynsDPreoaO-kBAnEK2VZdyY3gxcPZmWPfq_Vz/s1464/Robert%20Logan%20Patrick%20closer2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="812" data-original-width="1464" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMIloyucFvlEa5ZU5ulAh_esGrfgX0JffiaXi-eSIo6aNaRiIdWx6PNMaS3agqD5bgcwuwu7hGjSbVOrHYsxaeXAYkJa8aNyvl5zu8KiBgmMfR55xwfh5Y0QXQGZDWJygV4Oxh1ruHEvfPvUEHa96ynsDPreoaO-kBAnEK2VZdyY3gxcPZmWPfq_Vz/s320/Robert%20Logan%20Patrick%20closer2.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div>Even after they become famous writers, there was very little attention given to the Irish background of the Brontë sisters for most of the nineteenth century. In her 1857 biography The Life of Charlotte Brontë, Elizabeth Gaskell includes “only one short paragraph referencing Patrick’s Irish background,” Logan said in his enlightening talk. </div><div><br /></div><div>It wasn’t until the 1890s “that the Irish dimension to the Brontë story was revealed,” he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>William Wright was the first to really promote the famous family’s Irish background with his 1893 book <i>The Brontës in Ireland</i>, which detailed the history of Patrick’s ancestors before and during his time in County Down. Wright’s work was based on extensive research of oral histories from people familiar with Patrick’s family over several generations. While the book has been criticized for its lack of written evidence, it revealed “the Irish angle to the Brontë genius,” Logan said. “The book was a sensation in its time,” he said. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit74o2jA2wO5bG8zh-7zvvwW3LGFuAh7bfbb3tL7P-eYxdCQ-9batud_4DulrD6qWlg37M9H3O7C2LLseM3yN0FOm7XDvgAOrjSUIeiXOKvKSXzbqs4sGmD0-NU5-lyKloblE6ssGadW2TrTWgP-wDJ4E3OHPjchsoE7rq1mYXZScg1JxrfZj2rLuo/s499/Brontes%20in%20Ireland%20cover.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit74o2jA2wO5bG8zh-7zvvwW3LGFuAh7bfbb3tL7P-eYxdCQ-9batud_4DulrD6qWlg37M9H3O7C2LLseM3yN0FOm7XDvgAOrjSUIeiXOKvKSXzbqs4sGmD0-NU5-lyKloblE6ssGadW2TrTWgP-wDJ4E3OHPjchsoE7rq1mYXZScg1JxrfZj2rLuo/s320/Brontes%20in%20Ireland%20cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></div>One account that Wright brought to light has particular resonance for fans of <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. Logan recounted the narrative as reflected in Wright’s book. It goes something like this: </div><div><br /></div><div>Patrick Brontë’s great-grandfather was a farmer and a dealer in cattle in Ireland who frequently traveled to Liverpool to sell stock. On one of these journeys, his wife persuaded him to adopt a swarthy infant that was found abandoned on the ship. They called him Welsh. Over time, this boy became indispensable to the father and his favorite, arousing the jealousy in the other siblings. </div><div><br /></div><div>Then, after the sudden death of the father while on a trading trip and the disappearance of the money he had gained in cattle-dealing, Welsh was evicted from the family home. The boy eventually regains the trust of one of the female siblings, Mary, and they end up getting married. Childless initially, they approach one of the other siblings with an offer to adopt one of their children, which was accepted. That young boy was Hugh Brunty. </div><div><br /></div><div>But Hugh was brought up in appalling conditions, subjected to cruel misuse and constant heavy work. So after several years, he ran away and made his way north to County Down. There was no need to point out the parallels with Heathcliff’s story in Emily Brontë’s novel. But Logan also pointed out that Wright’s account, which is based on oral history, came many decades after the actual events, “so it’s possible that people adapted their stories” to the action in <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>In County Down, Hugh eventually eloped with Alice McClory. The couple had a large but very poor family, the first child of which was Patrick, who became a teacher in 1798 and later changed his name to Brontë. </div><div><br /></div><div>“Patrick’s progress wasn’t feather-bedded,” Logan said. But it was fortuitous. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCQIbLE7cyNjqFcmz_Qe9zg3y58wvT68-ECIfi0OwIortTGBFwkp8yZONKiaSz3DJO0AdLUinnG3HL1kmDQnv_g9aA8v-S8Plw3uhOVCtsMJ1caGoZyPl_nppEqgwYgsIfWYJFAZyGou6JB0q5bLQYFqJKl2-Aj80Eu0PMztBbQw59xqEtJnCAXVv/s1082/Robert%20Logan%20close.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1082" data-original-width="878" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnCQIbLE7cyNjqFcmz_Qe9zg3y58wvT68-ECIfi0OwIortTGBFwkp8yZONKiaSz3DJO0AdLUinnG3HL1kmDQnv_g9aA8v-S8Plw3uhOVCtsMJ1caGoZyPl_nppEqgwYgsIfWYJFAZyGou6JB0q5bLQYFqJKl2-Aj80Eu0PMztBbQw59xqEtJnCAXVv/w260-h320/Robert%20Logan%20close.png" width="260" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robert Logan</td></tr></tbody></table>In Ireland, Patrick benefited from several providential associations, and their impact on him filtered through to his gifted children. These associations included the Reverend Thomas Tighe, who appointed the teenaged Patrick as a teacher at Drumballyroney School and later helped him get to Cambridge. </div><div><br /></div><div>Another positive impact was a book published just after Patrick was named as schoolmaster – <i>Practical Education</i> by Richard Edgeworth, the father of the Anglo-Irish novelist Maria Edgeworth. Edgeworth’s theory of education was based on the premise that a child's early experiences are formative and that the associations they form early in life are long-lasting. </div><div><br /></div><div>Logan explained that in this “ground-breaking, hugely influential” work, Richard Edgeworth advocated that: “The child should be treated as a rational being, lured sympathetically to think for itself, kindled to delight in the development of its intellectual powers.”
Edgeworth added: “The child should be encouraged to experiment and think freely and without interference,” Logan said. “Surely Patrick must have read this book,” he said, suggesting a source for Patrick’s liberal parenting style. </div><div><br /></div><div>But political developments also had an impact on Patrick and his family in Ireland. His brother William participated in the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and had to spend a long time in hiding. “Patrick was very aware of the political realities and consequences of political action,” Logan said. </div><div><br /></div><div>“His whole life in Ireland was riddled with disputes, and the growing dissatisfaction of the nonconformists and the Roman Catholics; the consequential rise of the United Irishmen, open rebellion,” Logan said. “Ultimately all of this must filter through to his children, the way he taught him.” </div><div><br /></div><div>“All their novels have rebellion at their core,” Logan said.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>-- J.H.</i></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-67461317007280224652023-03-01T20:51:00.023+01:002023-03-01T23:43:45.456+01:00Interior Design in Charlotte Brontë’s ‘Belgian Novels’<p>Dawn Robey, a former Brussels Brontë Group committee member who now lives in France, returned to Brussels to give a talk to the group on ‘Interior Design in Charlotte Brontë’s “Belgian novels” – <i>The Professor</i> and <i>Villette</i>. In her presentation on Saturday 11 February 2023, Dawn explained how Charlotte uses descriptions of rooms to provide insights into the characters with whom they are associated. </p><p>Through readings and commentary on numerous extracts from <i>The Professor</i> and <i>Villette</i>, Dawn highlighted the details in Charlotte’s descriptions of settings that give clues to character – contrasting, for example, the glitter and gilt of Zoraïde Reuter’s parlour with Frances Henri’s much plainer lodgings. </p><span><a name='more'></a></span><p>One of the first interiors that Dawn discussed was William Crimsworth’s room when he arrives at the school in Brussels in <i>The Professor</i>. The chamber has practical and moral aspects, with the most notable feature being a boarded-up window. Crimsworth’s chamber is “a very small room with an excessively small bed. Yet though being so limited in dimensions, it has two windows … one of those windows was boarded up.” </p><p>Dawn explained that Monsieur Pelet, the headmaster of the boys’ school, indicates that “propriety” requires the boarding up of the window, which otherwise afforded a view into the garden of the girls’ school next door. Crimsworth is disappointed not have the chance to study “female character in a variety of phases, myself the while sheltered from view by a modest muslin curtain.” </p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8v1F2rpGo28pcZZwL6BTzHwEMeaTLXuwWb8rO-CYQciNA_JdvZQFKYNrrb_IDajXM1YULC-FuTuXbztTtrM50980uEe6R10u0Sz-knCePsV7H7Y6oa3UAzy2kbS9sbCx2Tja4OpRGcLyfhCWyWxtQ7D-bS1rDEit4_m2eFhVYgiK8UDHWYDaCjhD/s456/Dawn%20Robey%20image.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="456" data-original-width="440" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgb8v1F2rpGo28pcZZwL6BTzHwEMeaTLXuwWb8rO-CYQciNA_JdvZQFKYNrrb_IDajXM1YULC-FuTuXbztTtrM50980uEe6R10u0Sz-knCePsV7H7Y6oa3UAzy2kbS9sbCx2Tja4OpRGcLyfhCWyWxtQ7D-bS1rDEit4_m2eFhVYgiK8UDHWYDaCjhD/w193-h200/Dawn%20Robey%20image.png" width="193" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dawn Robey</td></tr></tbody></table><p>And thus begins the theme of surveillance and spying that runs throughout <i>The Professor</i> and <i>Villette</i>. Dawn explained how interior design elements – such as mirrors, lace-curtained windows and glass doors – accommodate such surveillance, and they come up again and again in Charlotte’s descriptions of the interior settings of her novels. </p><p>Dawn quoted Heather Glen in the introduction to the 1989 Penguin Classics edition of <i>The Professor</i>: “Charlotte Brontë’s carefully constructed prose … charts a pervasive process … of constant mutual surveillance.” </p><p>Charlotte also uses her descriptions of interiors to highlight the differences between her characters. Inside Mademoiselle Reuter’s pensionnat, there is “a passage paved alternately with black and white marble; the walls were painted in imitation of marble also; and at the far end opened a glass door.” The furnishings include many other lustrous items – a highly varnished floor, gilt frames, a porcelain stove. </p><p><br /></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQEGgiA5EMeq5kkcfF6xB0H-maUnZrhKdoNdrbuUFDRKIPimpSGhl_TuAFOclub6cXAutKCiR0D7mheCLQSJ3slYP0fdUtRY_JofY73c0WHFbtGUqVDjoKeUr6l9gWoBYzUJ6FBmf3aaAjMEHbLSwZjvPOXya34245kx2lK4EeJyh7zeHZ7NFF-L_/s800/bronte-novels-the-professor-bronte.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="577" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMQEGgiA5EMeq5kkcfF6xB0H-maUnZrhKdoNdrbuUFDRKIPimpSGhl_TuAFOclub6cXAutKCiR0D7mheCLQSJ3slYP0fdUtRY_JofY73c0WHFbtGUqVDjoKeUr6l9gWoBYzUJ6FBmf3aaAjMEHbLSwZjvPOXya34245kx2lK4EeJyh7zeHZ7NFF-L_/w231-h320/bronte-novels-the-professor-bronte.webp" width="231" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Professor</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">That contrasts starkly with Frances Henri, who is everything Mademoiselle Reuter is not. Crimsworth enters the humble house of Frances as a “rushing, flashing, whitening storm” starts:
“Stepping over a little mat of green wool, I found myself in a small room with a painted floor and a square of green carpet in the middle; the articles of furniture were few, but all bright and exquisitely clean; order reigned throughout its narrow limits – such order as it soothed my soul to behold.” </div><p>Frances dislikes Mademoiselle Reuter’s surveillance methods, saying the school “is a building with porous walls, a hollow floor, a false ceiling, every room … has eye-holes and ear-holes ...” </p><p>The spying continues in Villette. “Surveillance, espionage — these were her watchwords,” Lucy says of Madame Beck. And she notes “a clear little oval mirror fixed in the side of the window recess – by the aid of which reflector, madame often secretly spied persons walking in the garden below.” </p><p>Details such as these show how Charlotte Brontë used vibrant descriptions of domestic interiors and the objects in them to illuminate the personalities of her characters. But Dawn said these can play an active role in the plot, too. </p><p>In <i>Villette</i>, arguably the most important interior is that of La Terrasse, the home of Dr. John and his mother, Mrs. Bretton. When Lucy goes there, all the furnishings seem strange and unfamiliar. But she slowly realizes that the Brettons, although displaced to the Continent, still carry on their lives as they did in England 10 years earlier. </p><p>Lucy says: “Tea stood ready on the table – an English tea, whereof the whole shining service glanced at me familiarly; from the solid, silver urn, of antique pattern, and the massive pot of the same metal, to the thin porcelain cups, dark with purple and gilding. I knew the very seed-cake of peculiar form, baked in a peculiar mould, which had always had a place on the tea-table at Bretton. Graham liked it …”</p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-29175893220562029192023-02-17T20:00:00.020+01:002023-03-01T21:55:54.164+01:00Roel Jacobs: Brussels in the Brontës’ timeRoel Jacobs, a leading Belgian historian, provided a great overview of the city of Brussels as Charlotte Brontë would have known it during her stay in the city between 1842 and 1844. Roel Jacobs is one of the specialists on this subject and his enthusiasm was only exceeded by the passion of Myriam’s introduction for his talk on Saturday 11 February 2023.<div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DlqqzmPhuDR7nu9QIBmsCFhDJHliQYCWW2bKl6QwhxQDL3l3PJr3JNDnGQTsXh7XJ_iqJ_PmdaetBnS2BXnRUeLIXUeyoGB4gji95UUKIbB95b86N_DQjJoESbks7mUKyh1Ns-i5MR4ZUtNr_W0Cucfc9O3cMWPy__SvRCBnRjg-VLP5XCaWrbvR/s1842/Plan%20de%20Bruxelles%201850.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1376" data-original-width="1842" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9DlqqzmPhuDR7nu9QIBmsCFhDJHliQYCWW2bKl6QwhxQDL3l3PJr3JNDnGQTsXh7XJ_iqJ_PmdaetBnS2BXnRUeLIXUeyoGB4gji95UUKIbB95b86N_DQjJoESbks7mUKyh1Ns-i5MR4ZUtNr_W0Cucfc9O3cMWPy__SvRCBnRjg-VLP5XCaWrbvR/w200-h149/Plan%20de%20Bruxelles%201850.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div><div><br /><div><span><a name='more'></a></span>As a bilingual <i>ketje</i>, Roel has access to historical sources in French and in Dutch, and he isn’t afraid of polemics with fellow historians. </div><div><br /></div><div>First of all, Roel explained that Brussels wasn’t a sleepy provincial town in the 1840s but a busy capital of a very progressive and young country. He mentioned the Belgian Revolution of 1830 that overthrew the first (and authoritarian) King of the United Netherlands, William I, and saw a coalition of (progressive) liberal and (conservative) Catholic politicians take charge. So Brussels became the political capital of the young kingdom, but gradually also an economical and cultural centre. </div><div><br /></div><div>Roel mentioned members of the Héger family (a famous doctor, friend of Nobel prize winner Jules Bordet; also a minister), but also Zoé Héger’s friend Zoé Gatti de Gammond the educator and feminist who fought for a better education for girls. There was some industry in Brussels as well: the local locomotive factory provided engines for the Belgian railways – the first passenger railway line on the European continent was opened the 5th of May 1835, between Brussels and Mechelen (Malines). There were also the big urbanisation projects in the 1860s, but even before, still under the Dutch rule, important works had been realised: the medieval city walls were torn down by Napoleon, the Brussels Warande Park (in front of the Royal Palace) was created during the XVIII century; the Botanical Garden was created by scientists during the reign of William I as well as some squares and still existing quarters. </div><div><br /></div><div>So Brussels wasn’t the damned <i>hellhole</i> Charlotte Brontë or Baudelaire (or a certain president…) made of it. Was it revenge on Charlotte’s part, as Roel claimed? I myself don’t think so: In my view it was probably largely the ignorance of a Yorkshire lass visiting for the very first time, unprepared, a country with a totally different culture, language and religion. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaNFcTT9Zsb3VhxPctRa04HSEgExaIrY78A1Zy3cbppkPbjugkh2tWJRCOqGBel0WVxGHP8-92XF67ZzhM9vNRnJ6ZVUsuhLFCMiSxotK6wQ94QLEi4etFFM0End_FZf_-bizO7ytTtdiL6nOw-p501z95KFWh7wJjx_CDD1E477BHT2uOcgYBilq/s863/Plan-of-Brussels%20old.webp" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="578" data-original-width="863" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaNFcTT9Zsb3VhxPctRa04HSEgExaIrY78A1Zy3cbppkPbjugkh2tWJRCOqGBel0WVxGHP8-92XF67ZzhM9vNRnJ6ZVUsuhLFCMiSxotK6wQ94QLEi4etFFM0End_FZf_-bizO7ytTtdiL6nOw-p501z95KFWh7wJjx_CDD1E477BHT2uOcgYBilq/w400-h268/Plan-of-Brussels%20old.webp" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>The great thing was that Roel was able to show us pictures and maps of the city of Brussels in Charlotte’s time, so we could almost feel the city. His passion and humour made us stay awake during more than one hour. I don’t think that the fact that he spoke French was an impediment for the members.
However, when you invite Roel Jacobs, you know in advance that he is not just going to prove that Brussels was a great city, but also <i>the greatest of all the great cities in the world</i>. He has the kind of modesty typical of all inhabitants of capitals. For instance, I doubt if the one locomotive factory located in Brussels was better than the industrial complexes of the Liège area or the Borinage. And the Brussels port couldn’t compete with Antwerp. </div><div><br /></div><div>And of course, Brussels wasn’t the only railway station in the country and the first project wasn’t to give Brussels a railway, but to create an international connexion between Ostend and Cologne; the Brussels-Mechelen section was just an extension. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3KZp7FOYH7q3oOOx2KYvhDIEQymkL1ScXA44fuqf60nVe2mp9JE1D4agVDwmwTb7qksVOYrdJAv780BMyjcwhif2yR6Gd-qdYQva3GSAQhjRCocKss758ofoAtDh21FYfdBHBVpEiNN9kDJMw6L3zXxpcNi13Y8yIZLxWsP0peB9A2Zi2MjKU1dyF/s640/Roel%20Jacobs%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3KZp7FOYH7q3oOOx2KYvhDIEQymkL1ScXA44fuqf60nVe2mp9JE1D4agVDwmwTb7qksVOYrdJAv780BMyjcwhif2yR6Gd-qdYQva3GSAQhjRCocKss758ofoAtDh21FYfdBHBVpEiNN9kDJMw6L3zXxpcNi13Y8yIZLxWsP0peB9A2Zi2MjKU1dyF/s320/Roel%20Jacobs%20(1).jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roel Jacobs</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>There is also an ideological issue: Jacobs is clearly politically engaged himself. Nothing against that of course (although it demonstrates that <i>all things cultural and social</i> are highly politicised in Brussels…). But when he states that the educational system gets better when it is taken away from the Catholic Church and entrusted to the public authorities, that remains to be seen. Jacobs forgot to mention the dozens of private schools in Brussels in Charlotte’s day and the good Catholic colleges in Belgium. In this country, socialists and liberals fought two <i>school wars</i> against the Catholics (during the 1870s and the 1950s). Education is above all (even still today) an ideological matter in Belgium. We shouldn’t forget either that higher education in those days was a privilege of <i>the happy few</i> and that the proletarian masses (and the girls) weren’t concerned… </div><div><br /></div><div>But don’t let it be said that these minute details kept me from enjoying Roels’ talk. I would say like most Belgians would: <i>“Meer van dat!”</i> Give us more of that! </div><div><br /></div><div><i> -- Johan Hellinx
<br /></i></div></div></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-33236505653808647192022-10-26T12:17:00.016+02:002022-10-26T13:07:22.455+02:00British writers on Belgium and Belgians<p>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. </p><p>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 <i>Villette</i>. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLqDZttqmo95U4Xec5lTvt5-3hwwSILgjUnwz06TzpkUVpRnnuE8wlXT4jwtHppQCs_j94En5C2UHgVb9sklyAVqzyXNMHe8jmra2DNwXJcTUToWwJ9hUmHn19tO42tZwC0jr1TUgULi8yvheJP9Xra7IAX_YwjsGYLRoBiZPNSxeZLvLK2Q7I7dN/s788/Leen%20Huet%20with%20Bruegel.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="422" data-original-width="788" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsLqDZttqmo95U4Xec5lTvt5-3hwwSILgjUnwz06TzpkUVpRnnuE8wlXT4jwtHppQCs_j94En5C2UHgVb9sklyAVqzyXNMHe8jmra2DNwXJcTUToWwJ9hUmHn19tO42tZwC0jr1TUgULi8yvheJP9Xra7IAX_YwjsGYLRoBiZPNSxeZLvLK2Q7I7dN/s320/Leen%20Huet%20with%20Bruegel.png" width="320" /></a></div><p><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>In her talk to the Brussels Brontë Group on Saturday 15 October 2022, Leen told us that “Belgian historiography” begins with Julius Caesar, who wrote about the connections between the regions that later became Belgium and Britain (as he was documenting conquering the peoples). The Druids in southern Britannia had frequent contact with the Druids in Gaul, she said, and there already was a lot of traffic across the channel in Caesar’s time.
Leen then leapt ahead to the fifteenth century, when Margaret of York was instrumental in the publication of the first book printed in English, which was produced in Bruges in 1464. Margaret was the patron of William Caxton, who translated into English <i>The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye</i>, French stories about the fall of Troy. She even edited Caxton’s text before publication, Leen said. “It sold quite well, too.” <p></p><p>Leen then told us how the Archduchess Isabella, co-ruler of this region when it was the Spanish Netherlands in the seventeenth century, employed the Flemish painter Peter Paul Rubens as a diplomat and spy. In the 1620s, Isabella sent Rubens to Madrid and London to help negotiate a peace treaty between Spain and England. He succeeded. “He must be the only painter in the history of art who brokered an important peace treaty between two major European countries,” she said. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiE3gdnzSfJNKjH3DGy8lqgpPD_SR-iMo5gzUbY9NnaxjOluK_pYTKuadJYfHxHRhqM-T8BSGAJhlMqX-Z57JsltOlf2_XNptydiXFfLR5xAREbk45Tv2SEjEEbQ-fb81j1MmdsUgGqdoBfJb_RxUlHOh2Aqi6BXYncHT6TUj-ZguZ2dGTOajcZiy/s1977/Peregrine_Pickle_1st_edition.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1977" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuiE3gdnzSfJNKjH3DGy8lqgpPD_SR-iMo5gzUbY9NnaxjOluK_pYTKuadJYfHxHRhqM-T8BSGAJhlMqX-Z57JsltOlf2_XNptydiXFfLR5xAREbk45Tv2SEjEEbQ-fb81j1MmdsUgGqdoBfJb_RxUlHOh2Aqi6BXYncHT6TUj-ZguZ2dGTOajcZiy/s320/Peregrine_Pickle_1st_edition.png" width="194" /></a></div><p>Speaking of Rubens, Leen recounted a funny scene in Tobias Smollett’s 1751 novel <i>The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle</i> that takes place during a visit to the tomb of the Flemish painter in Antwerp’s Church of St. James. Pickle goes with a pretentious painter named Pallet to Antwerp to see some works by Rubens, stopping in Brussels and Mechlin (Mechelen) along the way. Pallet believes he resembles Rubens in both skill and physiognomy, and in order to render the perceived physical similarity more striking, “he had, at one time of his life, resolved to keep his face sacred from the razor.” </p><p>Attempting to demonstrate the “extraordinary inspiration” he felt from Rubens, Pallet’s “whole behaviour was an affectation of rapture, expressed in distracted exclamations, convulsive starts, and uncouth gesticulations,” Smollett writes in the novel. Pallet ends up causing a stir among the friars and priests in the Antwerp church. He was “in danger of being very roughly handled by the crowd, had not Peregrine stepped in, and assured them, that he was a poor unhappy gentleman, who laboured under a transport of the brain,” the novel says. </p><p>“British tourists!” was Leen’s assessment. </p><p>One reader who we know appreciated Smollett’s comic scene in Antwerp was Lord Byron, Leen said. In an 1816 letter, Byron writes: </p><p><i>“At Antwerp we pictured – we churched – and we steepled again … as for Rubens – I was glad to see his tomb on account of that ridiculous description in Smollet’s Pickle of Pallet’s absurdity at his monument.” </i></p><p>Lord Byron goes on to give his verdict on Rubens: </p><p><i>“... but as for his works … he seems to me (who by the way know nothing of the matter) the most glaring – flaring – staring – harlotry impostor that ever passed a trick upon the senses of mankind – it is not nature – it is not art – with the exception of some linen (which hangs over the cross in one his pictures) which to do it justice looked like a very handsome table cloth – I never saw such an assemblage of florid nightmares as his canvas contains …” </i></p><p>Leen’s analysis: “Lord Byron and the art-historical Brexit – right there!”</p><p>Another Brit who wrote about Belgium was Henry Robert Addison, an army officer who published an 1843 guidebook titled <i>Belgium as She Is</i>. </p><p><i></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJY2l2aBn5LvIfhjs9ktEIAmjmEifKdFvSd0C6ROKn3cI8BEu6b7nX1Jq-UCeFYlAaZa3I3mFbpsc7756PMuvYmOI9v9mUtoeefbRK1tYaOM0CUD69i9VGIgl-Z6SPG1wTRjps7mxPDjC3_UF8Yn-1t2GpGlB3kC32zyqz9WODZGR2LogL1SEVMOX9/s706/Belgium%20as%20She%20Is%20cover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="706" data-original-width="462" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJY2l2aBn5LvIfhjs9ktEIAmjmEifKdFvSd0C6ROKn3cI8BEu6b7nX1Jq-UCeFYlAaZa3I3mFbpsc7756PMuvYmOI9v9mUtoeefbRK1tYaOM0CUD69i9VGIgl-Z6SPG1wTRjps7mxPDjC3_UF8Yn-1t2GpGlB3kC32zyqz9WODZGR2LogL1SEVMOX9/s320/Belgium%20as%20She%20Is%20cover.png" width="209" /></a></i></div><p></p><p><i>“A more strikingly handsome place, a more cheerful and inviting looking city, is not to be met with on the Continent of Europe. … Her wide streets and squares are airy and clean. Like Edinburgh, she is divided into two distinct towns – the old and new, the former is dirty and irregular as her prototype the capital of Scotland; the latter is handsome and picturesque …” </i></p><p>Leen noted that Addison’s guidebook was published while Charlotte Brontë was in Brussels; they might have seen each other on the streets. </p><p>“One of the nicest things, and one of the funniest things, in his book is that he included a Flemish vocabulary,” Leen said, “for those who had the misfortune of having to speak to a Flemish peasant.” </p><p>Leen quoted the text: “If you do not speak Flemish and meet with a peasant, speak English to him instead of French ... transpose the words, pronounce them in a broad Yorkshire dialect and you will make yourself understood.” </p><p>Charlotte could have benefited from that advice while she was in Belgium. But she did manage to pick up a little Flemish while she was here, Leen said, citing a letter to Laetitia Wheelwright in which she appends: Denk aan mij en ik zal aan jou denken. Je vriendin, Charlotte. </p><p>Leen said she found the Addison guidebook while writing her book titled <i>Mijn België</i> (<i>My Belgium</i>), which is set out alphabetically and can be described as an A-to-Z of Belgianness. The V section is on <i>Villette</i>. </p><p>Charlotte’s final novel is what Leen turned to next in her talk. She focused on Chapter 38 Cloud, when Lucy Snowe takes an opium-induced wander through Place Royale and into the Parc Bruxelles. </p><p><i>“Villette is one blaze, one broad illumination; the whole world seems abroad; moonlight and heaven are banished: the town, by her own flambeaux, beholds her own splendour — gay dresses, grand equipages, fine horses and gallant riders throng the bright streets. I see even scores of masks. It is a strange scene, stranger than dreams.”</i> </p><p>The novel describes Lucy’s loneliness and mental suffering. “It goes on for pages, pages, pages. It is an incredibly impressive description of depression, loneliness and mental collapse almost,” Leen said. “It seemed to me something new for the time for literature.” </p><p>“I had never read about the suffering of a female heroine in that way,” she said.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCXiFuVsxRLtx-OrbylWkf_7_ugxL5MVzAiIdQSD8UDrFC5HNsm_PWekG-EthKypcMcdp689zca61Phrd3t5n_S0fp0endD7IQeW_LU53d3K4wMBfi5zgM1cJS9fjXtIHE4LZpBXfChNxVSCZzCb5nj6x619QNhUEoxR7dH8tHW8NO1mcsDkaKDAz/s450/Mijn%20Belgie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVCXiFuVsxRLtx-OrbylWkf_7_ugxL5MVzAiIdQSD8UDrFC5HNsm_PWekG-EthKypcMcdp689zca61Phrd3t5n_S0fp0endD7IQeW_LU53d3K4wMBfi5zgM1cJS9fjXtIHE4LZpBXfChNxVSCZzCb5nj6x619QNhUEoxR7dH8tHW8NO1mcsDkaKDAz/s320/Mijn%20Belgie.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-8479890685398171942022-10-24T17:32:00.011+02:002022-10-24T17:57:32.353+02:00'UNvictorian' female writers: The Brontës, Rossetti, EliotI 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. <div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYMLr_kUx6vjm1K_FCchEh26SjGv3bD3Z7yfoB7AzGgNtfxs1j64CGJLiDl_qEzcQszrE-2tRtrN4G1VISuKee5FIQcmwplleeCGQ5w7zcTJUSPYymDgZUI2jmtuE-RlJSeRhzNfnq34nWAzqIzHwwcO6VoBxe0Emfv0BKrzU0vXrqfdkhfZhuFT_/s620/bronte%20pillar%20portrait.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="387" data-original-width="620" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYMLr_kUx6vjm1K_FCchEh26SjGv3bD3Z7yfoB7AzGgNtfxs1j64CGJLiDl_qEzcQszrE-2tRtrN4G1VISuKee5FIQcmwplleeCGQ5w7zcTJUSPYymDgZUI2jmtuE-RlJSeRhzNfnq34nWAzqIzHwwcO6VoBxe0Emfv0BKrzU0vXrqfdkhfZhuFT_/s320/bronte%20pillar%20portrait.webp" width="320" /></a></div><div><div><br /></div><div>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. </div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div>In the Victorian era, women in general were expected to either get married and raise a family (and support their husbands) or, if they did not marry, find a job as a governess (middle class) or in a factory or in service (lower class). All the women in the title did not follow that Victorian pattern. They did not conform to the Victorian model of living, the Victorian ideas of how women should behave, act, live their lives – they all became famous writers in their own right and claimed their place in literature. </div><div><br /></div><div>The three Brontë sisters – Charlotte (1816-1855), Emily (1818-1848) and Anne (1820-1849) – were first in line in the lectures. Of course, being a Brontëite I did not expect to learn much from this talk on the Brontë family. But I was curious to see how this vast subject would be handled in this series of lectures. The approach and the focus were somewhat different than what I would have chosen. The lecturer sometimes went into extreme detail on some minor aspects of the Brontë family biography while not focussing on other major aspects of their lives. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the first Monday afternoon, the family history in general was dealt with (parents’ background, move to Haworth, education, childhood years, death of mother and two siblings, Brussels, publications under male pseudonyms – Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell – further deaths in the family, Charlotte left alone, marriage, Charlotte’s death, her legacy). A lot of focus went on Charlotte Brontë and her novels: the refusals she received from publishers for her first novel <i>The Professor</i>, detailed explanation of Jane Eyre (and a reference to the prequel <i>Wide Sargasso Sea</i> by Jean Rhys – the lecturer obviously admired this book), a brief explanation of <i>Villette</i> (and a reference to Jolien Janzing’s novel <i>De meester</i> / <i>Charlotte Brontë's Secret Love</i>). </div><div><br /></div><div>Due to the lack of time, the lecturer explained that Emily Brontë and her work would not be dealt with in detail, which I personally found very regrettable and disappointing as Emily in my view is the greatest poet ever and <i>Wuthering Heights</i> is a real masterpiece. But I may be biased! </div><div><br /></div><div>On the other hand, Anne Brontë and her two novels (<i>Agnes Grey</i> and <i>The Tenant of Wildfell Hall</i>) were extensively dealt with on the second Monday afternoon (first half). Michielsens clearly is a fan of Anne’s work. I was glad that Anne also received some credit, for she has been in the shadow of her siblings for far too long. Anne was the only one of the Brontës who was able to hold on to her job as governess (unlike her sisters who hated the work). Special (though brief) attention was also given to their brother Branwell and to the curate William Weightman, because both these men had an influence on Anne’s novels and her poetry. Anne was definitely ahead of her time in dealing with questions regarding domestic violence, feminism, independence of women, the role of women in society, etc. </div><div><br /></div><div>The second half of the session was dedicated to the Rossetti family with special attention to the poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894). </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlbLAcUi7P5j-qR8ye3cX8YBJ0CgSIEKQBzaJbgsahKGyc7ve8UAAl0JfC9clk4dT0-JiN79athT8hh7cNYUFWh-bKLnEXFjCnIpVuZt2meb5Fbk20iOVdPzjtXq6K3gVZsTMAEAtS3PVn6q5wCRYseim9RGTqLggoR69NGzdk8vO4RHMBC32o4Jn/s1182/Christina_Rossetti.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1182" data-original-width="940" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlbLAcUi7P5j-qR8ye3cX8YBJ0CgSIEKQBzaJbgsahKGyc7ve8UAAl0JfC9clk4dT0-JiN79athT8hh7cNYUFWh-bKLnEXFjCnIpVuZt2meb5Fbk20iOVdPzjtXq6K3gVZsTMAEAtS3PVn6q5wCRYseim9RGTqLggoR69NGzdk8vO4RHMBC32o4Jn/s320/Christina_Rossetti.jpeg" width="254" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Christina Rossetti</td></tr></tbody></table><div><br /></div><div>Christina was placed among the four best female poets of the Victorian era (the others being Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Emily Brontë and Emily Dickinson). She wrote many religious poems, some love sonnets and some children’s poetry. Her family was well known in the cultural and art world of the time. Her brothers were involved in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She posed for portraits by her brother Dante Gabriel many times. She was ill most of her life, but this did not stop her from writing poems and becoming very successful during her lifetime. </div><div><br /></div><div>She was a recluse (she lived with her mother), although she kept a wide circle of friends and correspondents. She had three suitors and offers of marriage, but she declined them all for religious reasons. But she wrote some beautiful love sonnets. Her religion was very important to her throughout her life, and ”death and loss” as a theme was central in many of her poems. But some of her work can also be seen as a critical comment on gender roles in the Victorian era, which was also very unconventional. </div><div><br /></div><div>The third Monday afternoon was dedicated entirely to George Eliot (1819-1880). Her real name was Mary Ann Evans. She was a journalist, essayist, editor and translator in her “first” career, publishing a lot of non-fiction work. When she started writing fiction (her “second” career), she took on a male pseudonym, not because she was afraid that her work would not be treated correctly (her being a woman), but because she did not want her novels to be associated with the “chick lit” books or “pulp literature” of the time (“silly novels by lady novelists,” as she called them). She wanted to be taken seriously. </div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXFBSUOh4HDpuVE6sv1ah4wUryKSKVMEn7LPwHSJlAwfULuJttT6f6aOund2TTzvjcO16cm3GYekM6OK-Wd2gLnRbkRj3U4Aygq1phHYqGMpeFte8rM7eY-N0XFzDefZi6GCqeUNYdPJn9Tc_aRV_Z2n-JaRphF0Uw-VT1q0k_ppGVPdftH0Rgg_K/s291/george_eliot.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="291" data-original-width="241" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIXFBSUOh4HDpuVE6sv1ah4wUryKSKVMEn7LPwHSJlAwfULuJttT6f6aOund2TTzvjcO16cm3GYekM6OK-Wd2gLnRbkRj3U4Aygq1phHYqGMpeFte8rM7eY-N0XFzDefZi6GCqeUNYdPJn9Tc_aRV_Z2n-JaRphF0Uw-VT1q0k_ppGVPdftH0Rgg_K/s1600/george_eliot.jpeg" width="241" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Eliot</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Virginia Woolf formulated it as follows: “It may have been not only with a view of obtaining impartial criticism that George Eliot (and also the Brontës) obtained male pseudonyms, but in order to free their own consciousness as they wrote from the tyranny of what was expected from their sex.” </div><div><br /></div><div>George Eliot met George Henry Lewes (a fellow journalist, philosopher and critic) in 1851 and they fell in love. Lewes was a married man, but he had an “open” marriage. Lewes and Eliot decided to live together as husband and wife, but they never got married officially. Her living with a man out of wedlock was very unconventional in Victorian times and not accepted by Victorian society. Her own family broke all contact with her. </div><div><br /></div><div>Lewes was the love of her life. He became her manager and agent, protector and proof-reader. Lewes died in 1878, and in 1880 Eliot married a much younger man (John Cross), a decision that was welcomed by some (her brother) and not understood by others. She died in December of the year. </div><div><br /></div><div>George Eliot was an intellectual, though not coming from an intellectual family environment. As Virginia Woolf described it in May 1921 (Daily Herald): “George Eliot was the granddaughter of a carpenter. She made herself, by sheer determination, one of the most learned women – or men – of her time.” Between 1859 and 1876, she wrote a number of novels (of which <i>Middlemarch</i> is probably the best known one) and became very successful in her own right. </div><div><br /></div><div>To conclude: The Brontës, Christina Rossetti, George Eliot (and probably many more such as Elizabeth Gaskell) were all female writers living and working under the strict corset of Victorian times, but in their own way they were all breaking with Victorian conventions and became very successful. </div><div><br /></div><div>In a letter addressed to Charlotte Brontë (on 12th March 1837 – 10 years before Jane Eyre) Robert Southey wrote: “Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life, and it ought not to be. The more she is engaged in her proper duties, the less leisure will she have for it even as an accomplishment and a recreation.” Haven’t all these “un”victorian female writers proven him wrong! </div><div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed these lectures and the different approach taken on these female writers. I’m glad I was able to attend and I learned a thing or two along the way. <a href="https://www.amarant.be/activiteit/onvictoriaanse-schrijfsters-2/">Amarant</a> is an organisation that provides a wide range of cultural activities. I look forward to other similar lectures on their future programme.</div><div><br /></div><div>
<i>-- Marina Saegerman</i>
</div></div></div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617127303581824313.post-24398128717532137982022-10-19T23:57:00.037+02:002022-10-20T14:17:43.987+02:00Death 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 <i>Shirley</i> and <i>Villette</i>. <div> </div><div>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. </div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoseIFwTPL5EYk0VI4L7hG5dmhKHOOJinifIAV36gf0Cg0eh1VCyNUaWjX94q15ADQIptZ8eL-d5wk2my6CzUiXcbpH5V7HWbmXLvWBZOEGgIMYtRjafU2zh846c4APlL2rAUcfqZmu1BNve_8hQZYDHQdvNlyJo0GxyirhZDTJT2q3lMs84KlDvD/s1555/Haworth%20cemetery.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1248" data-original-width="1555" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaoseIFwTPL5EYk0VI4L7hG5dmhKHOOJinifIAV36gf0Cg0eh1VCyNUaWjX94q15ADQIptZ8eL-d5wk2my6CzUiXcbpH5V7HWbmXLvWBZOEGgIMYtRjafU2zh846c4APlL2rAUcfqZmu1BNve_8hQZYDHQdvNlyJo0GxyirhZDTJT2q3lMs84KlDvD/s320/Haworth%20cemetery.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span>“They are tricky, unstable and confused,” Dr. Marr said. “And just like the gravesite and our experience of mourning. they are challenging and unsettling to experience.” </div><div><br /></div><div>He started by describing the dual nature of burial itself. On the one hand, the grave is a site of commemoration, a literal monument to the person interred within. But at the same time, the act of burial is also an act of concealment, he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Charlotte used her two late novels to engage with some of these contradictions surrounding death, Dr. Marr said. The books can be seen as sounding boards to rationalize and comprehend death and what follows it. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dr. Marr used two works by William Wordsworth – whom we know the Brontës read extensively – to help elucidate this duality of the grave: his <i>Essay upon Epitaphs</i> and the poem <i>We Are Seven</i>. Both works illuminate burial as a “liminal state” – as a gateway to the next life. These works argue that, while the grave represents an ending and separation, it simultaneously signifies memorial, connection and continuity, he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>This dual aspect of death and burial as commemoration and concealment comes through in both <i>Shirley</i> and <i>Villette</i>, as well as themes of repression and revelation, he said.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJiXukLSEQwz4yQQ3w-8TauIUkzKf1NnMU6C9azYVmQjBJnu6AvB2lO6UIFl7vvjTvDqJcJEsXR4WKnr8uaeIBgk_qs17QxE4LK8alwvIybLCaV2iGUe6vRs6-eazHQiDvzXyorrEkjGNlGJol4-Q7kCRQGJfzGV2BGWPKHxNwRhe781Y7IDKkZTp/s1227/Shirley%20first%20cover.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1227" data-original-width="720" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtJiXukLSEQwz4yQQ3w-8TauIUkzKf1NnMU6C9azYVmQjBJnu6AvB2lO6UIFl7vvjTvDqJcJEsXR4WKnr8uaeIBgk_qs17QxE4LK8alwvIybLCaV2iGUe6vRs6-eazHQiDvzXyorrEkjGNlGJol4-Q7kCRQGJfzGV2BGWPKHxNwRhe781Y7IDKkZTp/w188-h297/Shirley%20first%20cover.jpeg" width="188" /></a></div><div>Charlotte’s writing of <i>Shirley</i> (1849) was interrupted by the deaths of her siblings and the author used the writing process as a “tonic” to help her process her grief, Dr. Marr said. As Charlotte was suffering under her grief at losing all her siblings, finishing the novel provided her with an “alternative reality,” where the author could decide who lived and who died. And Charlotte writes her sisters into the novel, “a sort of epitaph” to the lost sisters, he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>Dr. Marr keyed in on the famous Chapter 24 – The Valley of the Shadow of Death, with its portents of doom and reference in its first paragraph to a grave opening up and an “unthought-of calamity – a new Lazarus.” But he also discussed the “magic mirror” that the narrator uses to show Mr. Yorke the future – with the death of his daughter, Jessy – where Charlotte tries to break down not only the boundaries between life and death, but the walls separating the author from her characters, too. </div><div><br /></div><div>"We really feel that this is an author who is suffering under her own grief and trying to take control over the unknown aspects of life," he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>
Another example of contradictions regarding the grave is in Chapter 6, with Caroline Helstone longing to hold conversations with the dead and break down the barriers between life and afterlife. But later, in Chapter 13, Caroline very much desires for the grave to remain shut, when she is thinking about the old graves under the out-kitchens. </div><div><br /></div><div>
<i>Shirley</i> ends on a decided lack of clarity, with Charlotte refusing to “offer directions” toward the story’s moral and denying us any help in understanding what we’ve encountered, he said. “It feels like Charlotte already is preparing the ground for the closed-off approach” that we would see later in <i>Villette</i>, a novel “largely defined by its obfuscations,” he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>
Although not much happens in terms of plot in <i>Villette</i> (1853), the novel is a “rich mental tapestry of a young woman undergoing love, loss and bereavement and coming to terms with her sense of self,” Dr. Marr said. “And as part of this process, constantly exploring the tensions between what is revealed and what is hidden.”</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrMGFxEzQEyrF1F2wlkBPh29_8f0ZiQmkd1IEqFDH2vjgJdfihIZKePS10D4vxjW9KeozNMMVhXim9vcbAlZTUTuZw0Y3I5oBAiwPVmqZ_wKngwztABCoBH-o9p6uOrMRMUSQA3Lx5IYbMg2Z1kVj4iAmZ29u7S0pGMETEKhGHGWhh0vfTs8NJdmT/s1245/Villette%20cover.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1245" data-original-width="745" height="315" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrMGFxEzQEyrF1F2wlkBPh29_8f0ZiQmkd1IEqFDH2vjgJdfihIZKePS10D4vxjW9KeozNMMVhXim9vcbAlZTUTuZw0Y3I5oBAiwPVmqZ_wKngwztABCoBH-o9p6uOrMRMUSQA3Lx5IYbMg2Z1kVj4iAmZ29u7S0pGMETEKhGHGWhh0vfTs8NJdmT/w191-h315/Villette%20cover.jpeg" width="191" /></a></div><div>
One of the times that we see this most keenly demonstrated is when Lucy buries the letters that she had written to John Bretton. “I meant also to bury a grief,” she says. The act of burial symbolizes Lucy’s repression as she hides her anguish and enshrouds a failed relationship. But it is also an act of memorial. Lucy is “meticulous in her interment” – putting the letters in a sealed jar and setting a stone on top, Dr. Marr said.</div><div><br /></div><div>
Later she finds her foot resting on “the stone sealing the small sepulchre” of the letters – “physically connecting her to the buried letters and her buried griefs,” Dr. Marr said. As Lucy imagines “the tomb unquiet” and “disturbed earth,” Charlotte is showing us the very real dangers of such repressive thinking. By burying the letters, Lucy had seemed to want to close the door on that chapter of her life; but the letters come back to haunt her. </div><div><br /></div><div>
“Through the act of burying the letters, what she has really achieved is the firm cementing of them in her mind,” he said.</div><div><br /></div><div>
The ghost of the nun works in a similar way to personify the dangers of burial and repression. </div><div><br /></div><div>
“Bury things at our peril,” Dr. Marr said. If we try to repress things too deeply, they will only come back to “haunt us in a more terrifying form.”</div><div><br /></div><div>
Even non-morbid moments assume this kind of tension and paradox. When Lucy goes to the museum to see the Cleopatra painting and feels a simultaneous moment of repulsion and enrapture; and when she watches Vashti and calls the performance “a marvelous sight, a mighty revelation” but at the same time “a spectacle low, horrible, immoral.”</div><div><br /></div><div>
At the end of the novel, we are back in the “realm of repression,” Dr. Marr said. “Here pause; pause at once. There is enough said,” Lucy says. Though she offers a glimpse of hope for a “rescue from peril” and the “fruition of return,” the most likely return would be along the lines of the letters and the nun – “a ghostly revenant haunting instead of a joyous return of the hero,” he said. </div><div><br /></div><div>
In a final bit of ambiguity, Dr. Marr said that Lucy’s hopeful suggestion of “a happy succeeding life” may not refer to their lives on earth, but life after death.
</div><div><br /></div><div>
In both of her late novels, Charlotte uses narrative contradictions to explore the inherent tensions in the processes of death, bereavement and interment. The result is two books that are truly defined by the haunting presence of death.</div>JHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07372812927731088161noreply@blogger.com0