My Discovery of the Brontë Sisters' Universe

The Brontë Sisters' works are part of universal literature and everybody has heard about them at some time. A long time ago when I was younger I discovered at school the finest pieces of the Brontës and other English writers such as Dickens or Thackeray and I became interested in them. The first book I read of the Brontë Sisters was Wuthering Heights. I loved it immensely due to the accurate descriptions of the landscape and the passions related. This one was the only Brontë novel I read before arriving in Brussels five years ago. At that time I had found by chance an article about Emily and Charlotte Brontë's Brussels experience and how that influences their novels, even their lives in the case of Charlotte Brontë. The article I refer to ("A Foreign Affair" by Derek Blyth") was published in the Brussels English-speaking magazine “The Bulletin”.

By reading that article I was really impressed by the fact that Emily and Charlotte lived in Brussels for a couple of years so as to learn French in a Belgian boarding school. As a result of her Brussels experience Charlotte wrote a magnificent novel titled “Villette”. I can assert that it stoked up the fires for my initiation to the Brontës' universe and motivated me to read “Villette” and to look for articles and other publications related to them. I was fascinated to learn about their tragic lives and how their personal experiences shaped these wonderful masterpieces of universal literature, despite the fact that they were women writers and at that time writing was only allowed to men. For instance I didn’t know that they were obliged to hide their names for fear that they would be criticised by Victorian society. I was amazed to find out that their pseudonyms Currer, Acton and Ellis Bell corresponded to their names' first letters. As I have said “Villette” was my initiation in finding out about the Brontës on my own until I got in touch with the Brussels Brontë Group. And how did it happen? Once again I have to refer to an article which I was handed. The article in question is about readers clubs in Brussels. I was impressed of the existence of a group which focuses on English 19th century literature, particularly the Brontës, and I made up my mind to write to them to get more information about their activities and the likelihood of partaking in them. I was accepted and I have written this small article for the group as a contribution and a commitment to involving myself in its activities. We aim to keep the Brontë heritage alive and spread it.

Óscar Rodríguez

Cathy and Heathcliff in Brussels

On Saturday 18 October, exactly a year after organising its first talk, the Brussels Brontë Group once again brought the Brontës to a Brussels audience. The talk hosted by us last year was on the theme of Charlotte's anguished letters to M. Heger. A journalist in a Brussels magazine announcing that event, getting a little carried away himself, invited people to "close their eyes and let themselves be swept along by this torrent of passion". This year we again invited our audience to be swept along by a torrent of passion, but with their eyes open not closed, gazing at a screen on which they could watch Heathcliffs and Cathies from various film versions (the 1939 Olivier one, the 1970 one with Timothy Dalton and the 1991 version with Ralph Fiennes) chasing each other over the moors.

The film clips were shown to illustrate a talk by Patsy Stoneman called What everyone knows about Wuthering Heights: the novel and its film adaptations. She pointed out that many people are not quite sure whether they've read the novel or not, as it permeates our consciousness. Her comparison of scenes in the films with the corresponding passages in the novel revealed how often we, the readers, supply in our imaginations scenes (such as those between the lovers on the moors) not actually described in the novel.

Patsy Stoneman's talk, which was received enthusiastically, was the first in our new venue in a university in central Brussels, Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis. We have for some time been looking for a suitable venue and were delighted when some of the English lecturers at this university who support our events offered us the use of a room which is ideal for our purposes. The staff bent over backwards to make us welcome and help with all the practical aspects of the organisation, and staff and students from the English language department, who had prepared for the talk beforehand, attended the event. In all over 80 people were present.

After the talk we wound up with some music before partaking of the refreshments offered by the university. The music was supplied by a Dutch member of our group, Veronica Metz, who is the lead singer of Anois (www.anois.nl), a Celtic band which is recording an album of Emily Brontë's poems that she has set to music. With recorded accompaniment, she sang four songs to haunting melodies a little reminiscent of Enya's. Another member, Marina Saegerman, had prepared a display of her calligraphy versions of Emily's poems.

We are looking forward to our next event to be held in the same venue, a Brontë weekend in April when Stevie Davies will be talking to us, also about Emily Brontë. Having hitherto concentrated more on Charlotte because of the influence of Brussels on her we are devoting this year to Emily, who of course also spent time in this city although there is less evidence of it in her work!

Addition to our website

A whole new webpage has been added to the website of the Brussels Brontë Group. On our Picture Gallery page, you will discover a new album, called Old Prints & Lithographs. It consists of several pages, showing wonderful images of Brussels and the surrounding area of the 1830’s and 1840’s. Some you may never have seen before.

If you have not yet seen all of our other pages, don’t forget to have a look; it has really interesting information on other historical themes, such as Brussels in the mid 19th Century and information on Charlotte and Emily Brontë, the Heger family and the Brussels novels; all with wonderful illustrations. Have a pleasurable exploration!

The 'Grand Bassin' in the park.

EMILY BRONTË: DEVOIRS DE BRUXELLES

A new publication, solely devoted to the devoirs Emily wrote during her time in Brussels, is being released this month in France.

DEVOIRS DE BRUXELLES

Emily Brontë

Commentaries by Augustin Trapenard

Date : 10/09/2008

Publisher: Editions Mille et Une NuitsCollection : La Petite Collection

ISBN: 9782755500677

Format (105 x 150)

Pages : 64
Price : €2,50 (available at Amazon.fr)

Résumé.
Ces neuf textes écrits sous la tutelle du professeur belge Constantin Héger ont été rédigés en français par E. Brontë lors d'un séjour dans un pensionnat de Bruxelles en 1842. Avec leurs fautes et leurs maladresses, ils mettent en lumière l'enseignement de la langue, de la rhétorique et de la littérature aux jeunes filles de bonne famille dans l'Europe du XIXe siècle.

En 1842, Emily Brontë (1818-1848) quitte l'Angleterre avec sa soeur Charlotte pour parfaire son éducation dans un pensionnat de jeunes filles à Bruxelles. Durant neuf mois, elle reçoit l'enseignement d'un professeur charismatique, Constantin Héger, qui lui apprend à écrire le français.Neuf des devoirs d'Emily ont été retrouvés. Truffés de fautes et de maladresses, ce sont les rédactions d'une étudiante de vingt-trois ans, qui résite tant bien que mal à l'autorité et à la rigueur de la langue française.Inédits en France, ces textes suggèrent déjà tout le talent de l'auteur des Hauts de Hurle-Vent, son unique roman.

Les premières lignes
Emily J. Brontë

Mai 15th 1842

Le chat.

Je puis dire avec sincérité, que j'aime les chats ; aussi je sais rendre des très bonnes raisons, pourquoi ceux qui les haïssent, ont tort.Un chat est un animal qui a plus des sentiments humains que presque tout autre être. Nous ne pouvons soutenir une comparaison avec le chien, il est infiniment trop bon : (mais) mais le chat, encore qu'il diffère en quelques points physiques, est extrêmement semblable à nous en dispositionIl peut être des gens, en vérité, qui diraient que cette ressemblance ne lui approche qu'aux hommes les plus méchants ; qu'elle est bornée à son excès d'hypocrisie, de cruauté, et d'ingratitude ; vices détestables dans notre race et également odieux en celle des chats.Sans disputer les limites que ces individus mettent à notre affinité, je réponds, que si l'hypocrisie, de cruauté et l'ingratitude sont exclusivement la propriété des méchants, cette classe renferme tout le monde ; notre éducation développe une de ces qualités en grande perfection, les autres fleurissent sans soins, et loin de les condamner, nous regardons tous les trois, avec beaucoup de complaisance. Un chat, pour son intérêt propre cache quelquefois sa misanthropie sous une apparence de douceur très aimable ; au lieu d'ar­racher ce qu'il désire de la main de son maître il s'approche d'un air caressant, frotte sa jolie petite tête contre lui, et avance une patte dont la touche est douce comme le (che) duvet. Lorsqu'il est venu à bout, il reprend son caractère de Timon, et cette finesse est nommée l'hypocrisie en lui, en nous mêmes, nous lui donnons un autre nom, c'est la politesse et celui qui ne l'employait pas pour déguiser ses vrais sentiments serait bientôt chassé de société.

Bekende Buitenlanders in Brussel: de zusjes Brontë

While I surfed on the internet, which I don’t do that often and therefore notice things rather late, I stumbled across a small radio fragment from Radio Vlaanderen Internationaal. Roel Jacobs, who was one of our speakers during our conference last April, is talking about the Brontës in Brussels, who feature in a program about foreigners in Brussels: “Bekende Buitenlanders in Brussel: de zusjes Brontë”. One can listen to this fragment and read more about it by clicking on this link: http://www.rvi.be/rvi_master/specials/rvi_specials_bbb_brontes/index.shtml

Scroll down the page till you read Roel Jacobs over het verblijf van de Brontë-zusjes in Brussels and click on it; a new window will open and you need to click on “naar de radiospeler” and the radiofragment will start after it has been connected to the medialink.
It takes only 4 minutes or so, and I’m afraid it’s only in Dutch.