Brussels Brontë Blog

Jane Eyre on the Brussels Stage, 1855.

2012-01-22T18:54:00.005Z

The film Jane Eyre is currently being shown at all the major cinemas in Brussels, and is receiving enthusiastic reviews in the Belgian press (e.g. Le Soir, 11 January 2012). Perhaps it is an opportune moment to point out that Jane Eyre had its first representation in Brussels as far back as 1855, the year of Charlotte's Brontë's death. On 29 November 1855, the drama Jane Eyre was premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville, on the Rue de l'Evêque, 23 (near the present day Place De Brouckère). It was a play in five acts, co-written by the Paris-born Alphonse Royer (1803-1875) and the young Brussels writer Victor Lefèvre (1822-1904).

Dramas inspired by Jane Eyre had already been performed before this date, notably in England and in Vienna, where in 1853 a version written by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer entitled Die Weise von Lowood (The Orphan of Lowood) was first performed. However, the Royer/Lefèvre production was the first version of any Brontë work to reach the Brussels stage. The text of their work was published in Brussels by Parys in 1855, but it has proved impossible to find a copy in Belgium. Apparently there are copies held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, and Utrecht University Library, which we hope to check out in the near future.

As with the 2011 film directed by Cary Fukunaga, the 1855 theatreproduction received very positive reviews in the contemporary press. The anonymous theatre critic writing in Méphistophélès (02 December 1855) finds but a few "petits défauts" in the piece, and praises the elegant and flowing quality of the dialogue. He is especially pleased by the performance of the two main actors, Mademoiselle Magnan playing Jane, and Monsieur Quélus as Rochester, declaring " ils ont triomphé sur toute la ligne".

Meanwhile Eugène Van Bemmel in the Revue Trimestrielle ( Volume 9, 1856) states that it is a long time since he has witnessed the public so enthralled by a drama. Interestingly, he observes that there is no need to explain the subject matter of the play, "which is known to most of our readers ". It's not certain of course, to what extent Van Bemmel's readers knew that the author of Jane Eyrehad lived in their city, often feeling lonely and unhappy, a mere twelve years or so before.

The drama was so successful that in December 1855 it moved to the larger Théâtre des Galeries St.Hubert, for a further series of performances. This theatre, built in the 1840's, had a capacity of about 850 places, and has survived to the present day. It is located but a few hundred metres away from where the Heger-Parent pensionnat once stood. Heger and his wife were very fond of theatre, and who knows, perhaps they may have attended the show based on the work of their ex-pupil. What an experience this would have been for Constantin, to behold on stage the character of Rochester, in part modelled on himselfl!

Despite the acclaim it received in 1855, Royer and Lefèvre's Jane Eyre doesn't seem to have been presented again on the Brussels stage. If the original text of the work could be located, perhaps a new production could be envisaged some time.

The Brussels production in 1855, though little known about, had at least one major influence on the history of world literature. At the same time as the play was being performed in Brussels, the legendary French author Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) was putting the final touches to his own drama based on Charlotte's novel. However, when Dumas got news that Jane Eyre was already being played on the Brussels stage, he promptly abandoned his own version. The text of Dumas' work went missing soon after, and has never been recovered. Unless it turns up some day, we're unlikely to ever know how the great Dumas chose to interpret Charlotte Brontë's novel.

Brian Bracken.

More Adventures in NYS. Two Frederika Macdonald letters in Syracuse

2011-12-18T12:17:00.006Z

Since my last article I have experienced more adventures, but hardly related to the subject of this blog. I have done quite some travelling, and have even been in two other states, for a conference about the Dutch at the Delaware. In that area Swedish settlers also tried to create a New Sweden. In the summer I went to the southeastern end of this state, the eastern end of Long Island, to visit Sue Lonoff, and had the pleasure of swimming there in the ocean. In October I was at the northwestern end of the state, the fantastic Niagara Falls.

I went there with a friend from Syracuse, situated halfway between Albany (the train stops at places like Amsterdam and Rome) and the Falls, where I was staying for a few days. This trip also allowed me to see two letters written by Frederika Macdonald, in 1913, to Marion Spielmann, which I knew were held in the collection of Syracuse University Library. Thus, on Friday morning 14th I was at its Special Collections Dept.; having announced my visit the box with the letters stood ready for me.

Frederika Macdonald wanted to publish Charlotte’s ‘love letters’ to M. Heger in her forthcoming book, The Secret of Charlotte Brontë, about her adventures at the Pensionnat. But she was under pressure from Clement Shorter, who claimed the copyright of the letters, as well as every Brontë manuscript, even those as yet undiscovered. In the background the notorious duo Wise and Symington may have played a role. Frederika being a woman, whose views on the letters differed to those of the chauvinistic Shorter, also didn't help. She turned to Spielmann for support.

The first letter is written from “The Limes – Newport – Isle of Wight 3 Dec 1913”. Macdonald refers to an earlier letter she wrote to Spielmann on 21 November, following the advice of the Principal Librarian of the British Museum, to whom Charlotte’s letters had been given some months earlier that year. She wonders if that letter had arrived, "…because I enclosed a letter from Mlle. Heger to me which I value extremely; & which I asked you to return to me - As I judged you to be a friend of the Heger family, I sent you this letter to convince you that I had their confidence & was myself entirely devoted to the rectification of false judgements passed upon both Mr & Mme Heger by un-critical devotees of Charlotte who have accepted Villette too literally - Mlle Heger's letter to me proved that I was recognized by her as a trustworthy witness; & for this reason only I sent it to you, with a stamped & addressed envelope, so that no trouble nor delay might occur in its being returned. Please let me know about this & if the letter is in your hands.”

By Sunday 7^th she had received a “kind letter” from Spielmann, who wrote that he had not received her 21 November letter. She writes back to him on the same day. “I am afraid there is no use in my writing to the General Post Office,” she sighed. “I wish it had been anyone else's letters[to go missing]- let us say Mr. Clement Shorters! What a trouble he is to me at the present moment - you will see by the letters I'm enclosing from these dreadfully nervous publishers of mine, who you will see, are not satisfied with the Times and the Principle Librarian of the British Museum - & want me to do what I am convinced would be a mistake - that is to say recognize Mr Clement Shorter's claim [to copyright of all Charlotte's writings] -which if he meant to assert it should surely have been made against the publication in the Times? It appears to me clear that the Times gave the Letters by publication - to the public? & Dr. Heger gave them to the British Museum - for the use especially of historical & literary critics? I have the consent of both these authorities to the use of these letters as I am employing them by long quotations...Now will you be very kind & if I am right in my view of the case - write me a short note in this respect that I can send to these nervous publishers…”

It is not clear how the Library acquired the Macdonald letters. In 1970 the University established a new library, and these letters were found in the old collection. It is well possible, I was told, that they were acquired in the 50s or 60s by a director who was an avid collector. Two old catalog cards, typewritten, accompany the letters. As these are not cards of the old library these may well have been made by the book and manuscript dealer who sold the letters. It’s also likely to have been an English dealer. I remember such cards from a long time ago, when I had ordered books from England. Spielmann, at this time, was actually staying in Brussels, in the Carlton Hotel.

It is strange that the letters got separated from Spielmann’s large collection of Brontë related papers which are kept at the Parsonage Museum. I saw these papers in 1993, but my research priority then was the Pensionnat and the Quartier Isabelle. I remember however a number of holiday cards from Louise Heger, and of course the one letter in which Louise wrote to Spielmann that Frederika was ‘a dangerous machine to set in motion’, something which one should bear in mind when reading these two letters. It would be very interesting to have another look at these Spielmann Papers to see if they shed further light on matters addressed in the Syracuse letters.

The cards, aforementioned, do state that Frederika Macdonald died in 1923, something which in all of my twenty years of research I had never been able to find. It’s not conclusive evidence, but there’s also little reason to distrust it. In this respect too, these letters are an interesting contribution to our knowledge of the historiography of the Brontës and Brussels.

Macdonald did get her book published, with the letters, in the next year, 1914. In it she acknowledges Shorter's kind permission in letting her use the letters, without referring to all the trouble he had caused her.

Eric Ruijssenaars; with thanks to Brian Bracken for the transcriptions.

Brontë Christmas lunch and entertainment

2011-12-15T06:51:00.015Z

This year 40 of us assembled in the same venue as last year for our now traditional Christmas lunch and entertainment. There was a great atmosphere and we had a varied programme of performances organised by Jones Hayden, who also devised the quiz.

Graham Andrews kicked off with a rendering of “The Wild Rover”. Another Irish item was “A Piece of a Play”, written and read by Pat Weldon, based on Flann O'Brien's writings on “The Brother”. Alex Reis read an amusing spoof biography of the Brontë family, especially commissioned for our event, written by Derek Roberts (Brussels humourist well-known in musical expat circles and author of the song “Belgian commune blues). As always we had a raffle, with prizes including DVDs of Brontë TV adaptations, books, and framed calligraphy work by Marina Sagerman, who also designed the Christmas card distributed to each attendant. After Jones Hayden’s taxing quiz, the proceedings concluded with carol singing led by José Miguel Arranz and Beth Blount.

Photos:
Graham Andrews (in the foreground, Margaret Malone and J-C Samuel) (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Alex Reis (photo by Paula Cagli)
Pat Weldon (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Yanakieva Tzveta drawing the raffle tickets, with Helen MacEwan and Jones Hayden (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Jones Hayden (photo by Paula Cagli)
José Miguel and Beth leading carols (photo by Paul Cagli)
Helen Dicker, Sharon Rowles, Myriam Campinaire and Jan Kelley (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Joana Betson, Michael and Connie Dunhill (photo by Marina Saegerman)
Paul Gretton and Córa de Paor (photo by Pual Cagli)
Valeria Schirru (on right) (photo by Marina Saegerman)

Exhibition and Lecture at Museum M, in Leuven

2011-11-07T16:37:00.010Z

On October 27, 2011 several members of the Brussels Brontë Group went to Leuven to an exhibition of paintings and drawings by two Belgian women artists, Isala van Driest (1842-1916) and Louse Heger (1839-1933), and in the evening to a lecture by Professor Sue Lonoff of Harvard University on Louise Heger and Charlotte Brontë.

The exhibition was called ‘Isala & Louise, Two Women Two Stories’. Remarkably their surnames were not part of the title, probably to stress the invisibility of women in the professions at the time, for its theme was how these two gifted women overcame prejudice and forged a way into what were conventionally regarded as male preserves – Isala van Driest as a medical doctor, and Louise Heger as an artist specializing in landscape painting and drawing.

Louise Heger was, of course, the daughter of Constantin Heger, Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s teacher at the Pensionnat in Brussels in 1842 and Charlotte’s alone in 1843. Her work is known to have been extensive, yet there were few examples of it on display. What we saw was very worthwhile and made one wish to see more. The catalogue tells us that on March 19, 1903 Louise Heger received a Knighthood in the Order of Leopold (Ridder in de Leopoldsorde) for her oeuvre. So though neglected and all but forgotten after her death, she did receive recognition in her lifetime. Even work that was exhibited at the time is hard to find, but occasionally turns up in auctions and sales, and there is ongoing research to track down the lost paintings. Louise Heger is again coming into her own as a distinguished and professional artist.

Also of interest to Brontë enthusiasts was the oil painting of the Heger family, father, mother and 6 children, which is so often reproduced in Brontë literature in black and white. It is very colourful and large (123x86cm) and was executed in 1846 by Ange Francois. (see picture below).

The exhibition was a link to the lecture by Professor Lonoff whom we had already heard speak in Brussels last year about the devoirs that Charlotte and Emily Brontë wrote for M Heger which she edited and translated into English. The lecture opened with her tribute to the work of Eric Ruyssenaars and Brian Bracken, without whom, she said, her lecture could not have been given. These two archivists and historians are members of the Brussels Brontë Group. Eric is spending a year on a research grant in the United States and Brian was present in the hall.

The speaker then drew some similarities and distinctions between the two families, the Brontës and the Hegers. The most striking and shocking is of course the fact that Patrick Brontë survived into a ripe of old age, having lost the entire family before any of them had lived to be anything like old. Whereas most of the Hegers achieved a normal life-span. And Louise lived to be 93.

Sue Lonoff said that Louise always claimed she could remember Charlotte at the Pensionnat in 1842/3 (she was born on July 14, 1839). Although it seems improbable, it is possible as she was nearly 4½ when Charlotte finally left Brussels. Charlotte herself is known to have been fond of little Louise and portrayed her in Villette as Georgette.

Of crucial interest was the role Louise played many years later when her parents were long dead, namely what was to become of the letters Charlotte wrote to her teacher M Heger when she had left Brussels for the last time. Louise knew that at least some of them had been kept, having first been torn up and subsequently pieced together, perhaps by Mme. Heger. The actual facts are not really known. But Louise did know that her mother wanted them to be preserved and had therefore bequeathed them to her. Even during Mme Heger’s lifetime Charlotte Brontë had become a very famous author and Mme wanted to scotch any insinuation that her relationship with her husband had been anything other than a schoolgirl’s crush. So it was Louise who initiated the quest to preserve the four letters for posterity – on the one hand to exonerate her father altogether and on the other, as part of British literary heritage. She discussed the case with her brother Paul who knew nothing about the existence of the letters. They decided to consult an eminent English art-critic, Marion Spielmann, and at his suggestion donated the letters to the British Museum (they are now in the British Library) in 1913. Later on they were published in The London Times -- and caused a sensation.

In his writings on the subject Spielmann seems to play down Louise’s role in the preservation of the letters, possibly, as Sue Lonoff implied, because he had a tendency to disregard the female in any but a conventional role; on the other hand, Louise herself may have been too modest a person (we might say under-assertive) to claim her true position. More might come to light as research is done on the life and work of Marion Spielmann.

I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition and the lecture and was glad to see and greet so many people from our group, particularly as many had had to travel to Leuven in the evening after work.

Maureen Peeck

Selina Busch talks about Jane Eyre in local film theatre.

2011-11-02T20:29:00.010Z

Last week, on 25^th and 26^th October, I gave my first ever talk on the Brontës in my home town of Tiel, in the Netherlands.

The latest film adaptation of Jane Eyre was going to be released in our local film theatre, the Agnietenhof. I thought this could be a wonderful opportunity to tell the people of Tiel about a subject I not only hold very dear to my heart, but up till this point, had only shared with fellow enthusiasts either in England or Brussels. I was curious to know if the name Brontë would attract people to come to this specially organized introduction to this film.

Both evenings, there were around 35 people present to listen to Charlotte's and the Brontës' story.

I had prepared for several weeks to produce a concise, informative and comprehensive story that would hopefully captivate and interest the ‘Brontë-novice’ audience. I wanted to give them an inside view of the creator of this undying love story, Charlotte Brontë, concluding with showing the many interpretations and adaptations of Jane Eyre. My aim was to give them an understanding of Jane Eyre’s background story and a greater enjoyment of the film.

The half-hour introduction was accompanied by a colourful Powerpoint presentation, with many images and clips from the Brontës’ life and Jane Eyre adaptations. It was quite powerful to see familiar images and clips on a big cinema screen and with that wonderful surround sound. I had chosen a few clips from 'The Brontës of Haworth', that brilliant series from the '70's; and at the end I compared three versions of the same scene, where Jane and Rochester first meet (and his horse falls), from 1944, 1983 and 2006.

All in all: two very successful evenings. Comments from the public were very positive and some approached me enthusiastically; the talk had actually made an impression. I now hope they have taken on my suggestion of getting to know the real story of Jane Eyre by reading the book, or learning more about the life of the Brontës.

The people of the theatre too have been very friendly in giving me this opportunity and the technicians were very helpful.

If your local film house or cinema is showing the new Jane Eyre very soon, perhaps this might be your chance to let your fellow town’s people know of the Brontës.

Selina Busch

Jane Eyre in context

2011-10-25T10:16:00.004Z

On 15 October the Brussels Bronte Group heard a talk from Dr Sandie Byrne of the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. Rather than taking one theme for her presentation, Dr Byrne gave her audience of students and Bronte fans an overview of the context in which Jane Eyre was written.

This began with a reminder of the historical background to Charlotte Bronte’s most famous novel. Chartism, Catholic emancipation, and the Irish Famine were just some of the issues in the newspapers of Charlotte’s day. In addition, Dr Byrne told listeners that the 1840s – the decade in which Jane Eyre was published – are known as ‘the hungry 40s’, and follow the beginning of economic depression in the mid-1830s. The Napoleonic wars meanwhile had left Britain with a shortage of men.

This meant that questions about governance, equality and the role of women were all in the air whilst Charlotte wrote.

Dr Byrne then moved to the seemingly more familiar ground, for a Bronte group audience, of the literary context of Jane Eyre.

She started however with some surprising facts: a list of ‘best sellers’ in the years surrounding publication of Jane Eyre offered very few familiar titles. In 1846, for instance, Disraeli’s Sybil was one of the most popular reads. Even authors who are still widely read today did not get most of their attention for the novels we now associate with them: Dickens in 1845 found success with The Cricket on the Hearth, in 1846 with The Battle of Life, and in 1848 with The Haunted Man.

A tour of the authors we now associate more easily with Charlotte also offered new insights. Most memorably, Dr Byrne showed how the structure of Jane Eyre mirrors that of Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. According to this model, Lowood is Bunyan’s low point of life, and Thornfield a true thorny field of trials. “It is hard to overestimate the importance of the Pilgrims Progress to 19th century homes”, explained the speaker.

Jane Eyre is not, as many have claimed, a feminist novel, added Dr Byrne. Rather it is an individualist novel, created in an age when the romantic idea of ‘self’ was being formed. This linked to the “romantic eye”, seen also in Wordsworth and Byron, with the self the centre of all things.

She added that Jane, whilst one of the most remarkable heroines created in literature, is not the only strong minded and passionate woman character to be found. Examples dating back to the 18th century were cited, with Harriet Martineau’s novel Deerbrook (1839) and Mary Davys' The Fugitive (1705) given as just two places to look.

Dr Sandie Byrne was formerly Fellow and Tutor in English at Balliol College, Oxford, and now teaches and designs courses for the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education. She is the author of a number of books and articles on nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature, including publications on Austen’s Masnfield Park and Bernard Shaw’s Plays.

Emily Waterfield

Photos: the audience listens to speaker Sandie Byrne putting Jane Eyre in context; students of Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis and Brontë Society members with Sandie Byrne (on right). The second photo was taken by Paula Cagli.

The 2011 Brontë Society Conference

2011-09-08T06:52:00.008Z

The biennial Brontë Society Conference was held from August 26 to August 28 at Homerton College Conference Centre, Cambridge. The theme was ‘The Brontës and the Bible: Influences both Literary and Religious’ – an appropriate subject as this year marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James Bible.

The venue was very attractive with wonderful flower beds bordering the huge lawns. We were staying in halls of residence on the campus. There were about a hundred delegates and the Brussels Brontë Group was represented by Helen MacEwan, Marcia Zaaijer, Brigitte Merle and myself.

As always many of the speakers were very eminent and established Brontë scholars: Christine Alexander, Patsy Stoneman, Marianne Thormählen and Tom Winnifrith (unfortunately Brian Wilks was unable to be present but his paper was read by someone else). In addition there were, among others, a heartening number of up and coming younger Brontë scholars who made valuable contributions which bodes well for the long term future of Brontë studies.

The theme of the conference offered a lot of scope, for of course the Brontë family were steeped in the Bible. Yet in spite of all the work that has already been done in this field, there are still aspects to be brought to light. So it was quite rewarding to listen to people who were actually, in some cases, theologians themselves who looked at the Brontë works primarily from the biblical viewpoint and manner of exegesis. It made us realise all the more how their work is permeated by biblical allusion, not just the odd phrase but the whole structure more often than not is centred round their religious beliefs (orthodox or unorthodox). For instance, Patsy Stoneman’s paper showed how closely Charlotte Brontë’s sentence structure echoes that of the bible. Her stylistic insights were triggered by the linguist David Chrystal’s recent study: Begat: The King James Bible. Another speaker, Emma Miller, dealt with the more figurative aspects, namely biblical and devotional colour symbolism as it related to colour symbolism in the Brontë novels.

Of particular interest to me was Leonora Obed’s paper on Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights in which she compared Emily’s notion of nature to ancient Celtic myth where the natural world has its own soul, a kind of super -- naturalness or immanence within it. This, presumably, is the place which the lovers Heathcliff and Catherine will eventually wish to inhabit. To describe it Leonara Obed used the notion of ‘inscape’ developed by the later poet and Jesuit priest Gerard Manley Hopkins. I thought this an excellent and original insight.

In addition to the scholarly talks, on two evenings we were entertained on a lighter note. On Friday, Donald Burrows, renowned expert on George Friedrich Handel, talked to us about the organ in Haworth church, for which Patrick Brontë had raised the funds, and the supposed performances there of Handel’s Messiah of which no tangible trace remains. So Donald Burrows had to hazard guesses as to how it had probably sounded. He did this by means of playing the piano and recordings of very old versions of excerpts from the Messiah. It was a really informative and amusing evening.

On Saturday there was the conference dinner in the sumptuous Great Hall of Homerton College and a great occasion it was. The after-dinner speaker was Patrick Wildgust, curator of Shandy Hall in North Yorkshire. This is a museum dedicated to the author Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) who lived in the house in the 1760’s, and wrote most of his novel The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy there. The speech turned out to be a sermon on how (not) to deliver a sermon, with extracts from various sermons and pseudo sermons ranging over some 350 years, including ones by Laurence Sterne, Patrick Brontë, James Joyce and Richmal Crompton (Just William)!

The conference ended after lunch on Sunday. It had been an intensive, worthwhile and memorable experience, thanks to the indefatigable Sarah Fermi and her dedicated team who organised it. I now look forward to savouring the talks on paper when they appear as a special publication of the journal Brontë Studies.

Maureen Peeck

Photos:
Homerton College, Cambridge
Brontë Society stalwarts Stephen Whitehead and Tom Winnifrith
Sarah Pearson and Marilyn Nickelsburg

The Literary World in 1853

2011-08-22T10:43:00.019Z

The Literary World was a New York based weekly magazine published between 1847 and 1853. Recently I had a little bit of time to look at its year 1853. I presumed they would have a review of Villette, probably in March. This indeed proved to be the case. On the 19th of that month they had quite a lengthy review, though much of it was quotation from the novel. “We must do ourselves the pleasure of quoting the capital description of Miss Snowe’s first introduction to the school room”. It also gives the “description of Rachel’s acting … equal in intensity to the great actress’s best efforts”, and it quotes the last page of the book, “a most admirable example of concise, powerful writing.”

It certainly is a positive review. Here are the opening lines:
“There is a freshness about the books of Currer Bell which we find in no other writer. She seems to cast herself loose from all novel writing precedents, and constructs from beginning to end, after her own fashion. Her independence is shown in the choice of a heroine. She takes a plain looking woman, with no graces of manner or speech, unpropped by rank or fortune. The heroine tells her own story. At the outset we dislike her; she takes no pains to ingratiate herself, but, on the contrary, turns the rough side of her character to us. As we read on, we are, in spite of ourselves, interested in her adventures.”

Like The Athenæum in England this magazine also realized immediately that the novel is set in a fictionalized Brussels. In London, it describes, Lucy “takes passage for a port in Labassecour, and journeys thence to Villette – a happy name for the snug little capital, the miniature Paris, Brussels.”

“Caroline No”
On 15 October the magazine ran an article about ‘Anonymous works’, which attempted to reveal a number of writers’ pseudonyms. The ninth book was “”Jane Eyre,” 1848, by Caroline Bronte (who has since sent out “Shirley,” and “Vilette [sic],” though of conceded talent, producing less sensation, under the pseudonym of Currer Bell; the only survivor of three sisters; one other of whom is also known to the reading world.”

The article also has Mrs “Gaskill”. The magazine earlier in the year had a very positive review of her Cranford.

Advertisements
The magazine does have one advertisement for the American Villette, published less than two months after the English edition, by Harper & Brothers. Apart from that there was only one Agnes Grey ad – “By the author of “Jane Eyre,” “Shirley,” etc”. This book was published by T.B. Peterson’s.

In November it was reported that much of the publishing house of Harper and Brothers had been destroyed by fire.Other authors
Thackeray (who, in 1853, was in the US) and Dickens (who in that year published Bleak House; January e.g. has a few articles about spontaneous combustion) often feature in the magazine. There are two articles about Rachel, apart from the Villette review. Unfortunately The Literary World stopped at the end of the year, suddenly it seems.

My main topic of research here, this year, is a man named Abraham Staets, who came to New Netherland in 1642, so it was nice to find a literary reference related to my research. The magazinehad several articles about New Netherland, including a curious little article about Dutch Van - names in a story written by the American author J. Fenimore Cooper. After a lengthy list of these names the writer adds that there's also a Van Staets in it, but that as far as he knows this name was never written preceded by Van.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Eric in New York State (2)

2011-07-14T11:47:00.011+01:00

Eric Ruijssenaars sends his second bulletin of news from the US where he is spending a year doing research into Dutch settlers at the New Netherland Institute in Albany. He is taking the opportunity to do some Brontë research as well.

A century ago, in March 1911, fire broke out in the Capitol building in Albany, the capital of New York State. It burned for four days. The state’s Archives, Library and Museum were housed in the building, and there was enormous damage to their collections. Because of the intense heat shelves broke down, which is why relatively few Dutch seventeenth century documents were lost. The English documents fell on top of them, as they were all near the ground. A great many of the English documents were lost.

The first picture is from a nice plan of Brussels, dated ‘around 1850’, with illustrations of buildings, from the NY State Archives. The upper part on the left was destroyed by that 1911 fire. It was an interesting find, being so close to 1842-3, and how Charlotte and Emily would have seen the city.

A few weeks ago I was in New York City again. I think it’s a wonderful city. On Thursday I went to the Holland Society of New York, and its fine library, for the research for the New Netherland Institute. On Friday my friend Margaret and I went to the New York public Library, to see the BBC’s Radio Times of 1970. Some years ago I found that at the very end of May 1970 a Villette television series started. Unfortunately this TV series is ‘lost’. I had much hoped to see a picture of this series’ Pensionnat in an article about the series. Would it look in any way like the real scenery?

The Radio Times only gave a (colour) picture of the actress as Lucy Snowe, and the few articles about it were also mainly about the actress. No picture of the Pensionnat. It was interesting to see that on Friday May 29th BBC Radio 4 broadcast a play about Emily (“Whom the Gods loved: Another in the series of portraits of some brilliantly gifted people who died young”). And on May 21st , also on Radio 4, Story Time, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall started, with the first of 10 instalments.

That Saturday I gave a talk to Brontë Society members in this part of the US, or rather a walk, a virtual walk, through the old Quartier Isabelle. In the afternoon Mary Meeks gave a very interesting lecture about Villette and the Bible and it ended with an excerpt from a new theatrical performance about the Bronte sisters. All of it based on their own words, used in the novels and the letters. Unfortunately there was only a small audience, including Sue Lonoff, and Margaret (a great Villette lover) and her husband Steven (now reading it for the first time). But it was a very nice Bronte day indeed, and good to meet the Brontë people here in the NYS and New Jersey region. All thanks to Joy Weiner, who organized the event.

I very much enjoy being in the US. A few days ago I had the pleasure of experiencing the Fourth of July here. I was in the tiny village of Old Chatham again, and saw a cute patriotic parade, after which the Star Spangled Banner was sung, and the Declaration of Independence was read aloud. It was a very pleasant day.

On the day before, a rainy Sunday, we went to the beautiful Catskill Mountains. It was a very Dutch area and is immortalized in Washington Irving’s Rip van Winkle story, the afterword to which contains a reference to the Kaaterskill Falls. After coming back home, having seen these Falls,having twice crossed the Hudson River via the Rip van Winkle bridge, I read the story for the first time.With a picture of these literary Falls I say goodbye for now from New York State.

PHOTOS:
Plan of Brussels circa 1850
TV adaptation of Villette in Radio Times (May 1970)
Eric taking US Brontë Society members on a virtual walk in the Isabelle quarter
The Kaaterskill Falls

Eric Ruijssenaars

Brontë weekend in Haworth

2011-06-14T07:10:00.017+01:00

Return to Haworth I

After the outstanding AGM of 2010 (a first for me), I felt happily excited when the bus dropped me off in Haworth in the afternoon of 3 June.

Less focused on lectures this time, we had nevertheless a highly enjoyable weekend full of variety again and also extremely amusing in different ways: a great evening of light entertainment provided by Haworth’s Gilbert and Sullivan group (among others a funny and very special version of “Cinderella”), but above anything else the Brontë spoof Withering Looks by Britain’s most famous literary lunatics Maggie Fox and Sue Riding – extremely inventive and utterly hilarious!

We also had lots of fun around the usual dinner at the “Old White Lion” on Sunday evening - pitting our Brontë brains against everyone else while trying to find the correct answers to Judith Bland’s 60 questions out of the Brontë books and lives.

But the real highlight for me was our walk on Sunday morning to Ponden Hall, often cited as the model for the Lintons’ home Thrushcross Grange– although none of the sisters left evidence of making such a link themselves. In part this opinion is due to its location, on the way up to the moors, in part to the fact that there were so few larger houses in this area.

Actually, Ponden Hall corresponds in some measure to the description of Wuthering Heights given by Emily and seems thus far more identifiable with Heathcliff’s home - being less grand and more humble than Thrushcross Grange as described in the novel. The date plaque above the main entrance, by the way, identifies the rebuilt house as dating from 1801 - the date that begins the story in Wuthering Heights.

Emily Brontë’s association with the Heaton family at Ponden is well documented: one of the Heatons served as a churchwarden to Patrick and it is known that she used the library which was reputedly the finest in West Yorkshire. Branwell Brontë was also a frequent visitor to Ponden where he attended pre-hunting gatherings.

As soon as I entered the large hall - realising that this was Wuthering Heights as I had imagined it – I had a kind of vision, i.e. Heathcliff standing by the fireplace when Mr Lockwood came in and asked for shelter from the snow-storm outside … And a second one in the master bedroom overlooking the valley beyond, where a tiny single-paned window in the east gable - underneath which a box bed, as in Wuthering Heights, was once standing but has sadly disappeared - is said to be the one where Cathy’s ghost knocked at the glass. I closed my eyes one second and could nearly hear her voice pleading: “Let me in, let me in”….

I didn’t take photos – unfortunately for those who read these lines, but not for me because for me the best souvenirs are those that you keep in your heart. And this I will – forever !

Now that I am back home again I feel like Emily when she was away from Haworth – nostalgic and missing the Moors already, their stillness, their grandeur and beauty and I can’t wait to go back to them!

Renate Hurtmanns

Return to Haworth II

There are many delights to sample over the annual Brontë Society weekend in Haworth apart from the hearty Yorkshire fare in its pubs.

There is the opportunity to meet other members. They come from all over the world but the Society’s heart is in Haworth and the Parsonage Museum. Members include local people with a stock of anecdotes from their years in one of Britain’s oldest literary societies as well as encyclopaedic knowledge of every place in Yorkshire ever visited by a Brontë or used in one of their novels (over the weekend we had a private viewing of Ponden Hall, supposedly the model for Wuthering Heights, and a visit to Gawthorpe Hall whose owner introduced Charlotte Brontë to Mrs Gaskell). Some of these Yorkshire members even have links to families who were associated with the Brontës. Thus they form a living link stretching right back to the Brontës themselves.

There are the local researchers like Keighley archivist Ian Dewhirst who spoke about the grimness of working-class life in Haworth in the 1840s with wit and passion, conveying to us the immediacy with which the period can be experienced through the mis-spelt letters of farmers and mill workers of the time. Again, a local enthusiast acting as a living link between us and the past.

There is traditional entertainment such as that provided by the Haworth light opera group, which included one of the monologues performed in 1930s music halls by the comedian Stanley Holloway, recited in a broad Lancashire accent challenging for members from outside the British Isles!

There are the traditional, time-honoured rites of the Brontë Society, such as the annual service for its members in the church where Patrick Brontë preached for over 40 years and the cream tea always partaken of outdoors unless it’s raining too hard.

But the Society isn’t just about the past and tradition. The Museum runs an arts programme with talks and exhibitions by contemporary writers and artists. This year we listened to novelist Sally Vickers (Miss Garnet’s Angel) talking about her work and how the Brontës have influenced it. At the prize-giving for the Society’s literary competition, the winners included many young writers. The winner of the poetry section has just published her first book of poems.

And from this year the Society has a new President. The writer Bonnie Greer is from Chicago, although she has lived in Britain for decades. This was her first AGM and she was delighted to be invited to lead the Society, mingled affably with members and gave us a stirring speech about the need to work to preserve literary societies and museums for future generations.

Helen MacEwan

Photos:
Ponden Hall
Withering Looks
Gawthorpe Hall
Bonnie Greer, the new President of the Brontë Society

Eric in New York

2011-05-26T20:01:00.016+01:00

Eric Ruijssenaars, who’s done so much research on the Brontës in Brussels, is spending a year in the USA doing research of a different kind (though he hopes to find time for Brontë investigations too). He has sent this account of his first month there.

On Tuesday April 19th I left the Low Countries to go to the United States. For a year I will be doing research at the New Netherland Institute in Albany, the capital of New York State. It is therefore here that the archives of NYS are housed and thus also the papers of the periodwhen the Dutch ‘owned’ quite a large part of what is now the US (1609-1664, 1673-4). Even after the latter year places like Albany remained overwhelmingly Dutch-speaking for a long time, and up to this day one finds many Dutch names, of places and persons.

It is a great adventure for me of course, and what makes it even better is that I have the opportunity to do Brussels Brontë research here.Many Brontë manuscripts have ended up here in a number of collections all over the country. I hope to find things about the Brontës and their stay in Brussels. It is known many Americans visited the Pensionnat Heger when it was still there, and that Villette was much more popular here than in England.

On Saturday April 23th I had the great pleasure to meet Sue Lonoff again in Manhattan,.after meeting her half a year ago in Brussels where she gave a splendid lecture. It has just been confirmed that she will come to Belgium again in October. In Leuven (Louvain) she will give a talk about the Heger family, at the occasion of the Louise Heger exhibition in the Museum.

In New York I spent five days. It’s a great city. Had the great pleasure to see four paintings of Johannes Vermeer, my favourite painter, at the Metropolitan Museum, as well as a marvellous collection of Egyptian antiquities and a golden drum given to Ringo Starr in 1964. Earlier I had already visited the place where John Lennon was shot, and close by, Strawberry Fields in the quite wonderful and huge Central Park. I hope to revisit NY regularly, there’s much I haven’t yet seen, nor have I yet been able to do BB research at the New York Public Library.

After spending several days in New York my friends took me to their second house in Old Chatham, which is pretty close to Albany. The house was the village’s Parsonage and still bears that name.

At present Jane Eyre is a big hit in the cinemas in the US. The people I spoke with who saw the movie were all enthusiastic about it. The picture is from a cinema in Albany.

On June 18th I will be giving a lecture in New York to the Brontë Society members of this part of the US. I’m going to do a guided virtual walk through the Quartier Isabelle. It seems like I’m going to do several more lectures this year about my New Netherland research. But there may be more Brontë lectures as well.

In the summer I hope to visit Syracuse (also in NYS), where they have some correspondence between Frederika Macdonald and Marion Spielmann, two of the great early BB historians. The weekend of 6-8 Maysaw the annual Tulip festival in Albany, a sort of Dutch feast, as you can see on the picture. Photos: Eric Ruijssenaars with Sue Lonoff; The Parsonage; Jane Eyre at an Albany cinema; Dutch Settlers Society in Albany

Eric Ruijssenaars

Report on annual weekend 1-3 April

2011-04-14T07:48:00.029+01:00

Brussels and UK Brontë Society members with speaker Valerie Sanders

This April in Belgium the Brussels Brontë Group organised its fifth annual Brontë weekend. As always, the three-day programme was scheduled for the month of Charlotte’s birth.

Members of the Brussels Shakespeare Society started events on April Fools’ Day. Deborah Griffith, Ignace de Volder, Stephen Sadler and Nicole Freund gave dramatic readings of exchanges between Cathy and Heathcliff and Jane and Rochester, selected by their sometime-director and fellow Brussels resident Tracie Ryan. The Brontë Group audience hopes there will be opportunities for further collaboration between the two literary societies in the future.

The following day, Saturday 2 April, two academic lectures formed the centrepiece of the weekend’s events. The first of these, by Professor Valerie Sanders, looked at Fatherhood and the Brontës.

Professor Sanders opened with an examination of the Brontë sisters’ father. Towards the end of his life, Patrick Brontë started to analyse his influence on the children he had outlived. Had he been a “calm, sedate, concentric” man, said Patrick in 1857, “I should not in all probability have had such children as mine have been.”

Patrick himself has been the subject of much study and speculation since his famous daughters’ deaths. The father as a type, Professor Sanders pointed out, is however generally a vague figure in Victorian novels. But in the Brontë novels the father is a more pervasive presence than the mother.

Professor Sanders went on to look at the different ways in which the three sisters portray fathers. For Charlotte, fathers from Mr Rochester to Mr Yorke tend to be stern, older men. With the notable exception of Shirley’s terrifying father, they are usually rational men. Emily’s father figures in Wuthering Heights meanwhile are young and flawed, whilst the daughters’ feelings for them – “I care for nothing in comparison with papa... I love him better than myself” (Cathy Linton) – are morelike those of a wife. Anne’s Agnes Grey portrays a succession of bad fathers, until Mr Weston emerges as the ideal pastor/husband/father.

Professor Sanders is Professor of English of the University of Hull and author of The Tragi-Comedy of Victorian Fatherhood. She was visiting Brussels and its Brontë connections for the first time.

Her presentation was followed by Professor Philip Riley, with his talk Not just a pretty face: physiognomy, phrenology and the novels of the Brontë sisters.

He gave his audience an overview of physiognomy and phrenology, which he described as primitive precursors of modern psychology. Physiognomy is referred to in every Brontë novel. There are seven references to this pseudoscience of judging character through facial appearance in Jane Eyre alone. The less widely known practice of phrenology – a belief that the size and shape of the skull give a clear indication of personality type –also occurs. Rochester, for instance, pushes back his hair and is seen to have “a solid enough mass of intellectual organs, but an abrupt deficiency where the suave sign of benevolence should have arisen.”

Professor Riley explained how seriously these twin pseudo-sciences were taken in the 19th century. Servants were rejected by potential employers, and Darwin was almost refused passage on the Beagle, because something was thought to be wrong with their faces.

To tell her sisters they were “wrong, even morally wrong, to make their heroes beautiful” and give her first major novel an ugly hero and heroine, Charlotte was upsetting firmly established social beliefs in a link between physical beauty and moral goodness.

Professor Riley is Emeritus Professor of sociolinguistics at the University of Nancy and the editor of books including Language, Culture and Identity. He spoke at the 2009 Brussels Brontë weekend on The Brontë sisters' "strong language".

On Saturday night after the talks about 20 members met in one of the taverns on Brussels’ Grand Place, where they heard songs performed by some of the group. Two guided walks around remaining sites of Brontë interest ran in parallel on Sunday, to cater for ever growing interest from members. These were led separately by MyriamCampinaire and Jones Hayden and were followed by lunch and the informal AGM.

Report by Emily Waterfield
Photo: Ioan Danubiu

Photos of annual weekend

2011-04-14T07:30:00.051+01:00

Deborah Griffith, Ignace de Volder, Nicole Freund and Stephen Sadler of the Brussels Shakespeare Society reading passages from Brontë novels

Valerie Sanders talking about fathers in the Brontës’ novels

Philip Riley explaining physiognomy and phrenology

By the Brontë Society plaque outside Bozar

By the unofficial plaque commemorating the Brontës’ stay in the Isabelle quarter
Photos by Helen MacEwan and Ioan Danubiu

Review of Dudley Green's biography of Patrick Brontë

2011-03-06T08:20:00.009Z

One of the most fascinating things about the Brontës is the myths and legends surrounding them and whether there is any basis at all for some of them. Patrick Brontë appears in Mrs Gaskell’s biography of Charlotte as a remote, eccentric and forbidding figure. Many biographies of the children end with their deaths as though Patrick was just a faint figure in the background. Mrs. Gaskell’s picture of him was taken from anecdotes from the nurse who was so incompetent in nursing Mrs Brontë in her last illness that Patrick dismissed her and nursed his wife at night himself.

Dudley Green’s book, which is very well documented, gives a very different picture. Patrick was a good family man and very concerned as to how his children would manage when he was dead. He gave them lessons every day after breakfast. As a lover of music himself he took them to performances of the Haworth Philarmonic Orchestra. He bought a piano for them and other instruments and paid for lessons for them, although money was always tight. It is obvious that he discussed politics and affairs of the country with them and they all shared in the hopes and disappointments of their outcomes. When Branwell was drinking so heavily his father insisted on sharing his bedroom with him so he would not harm himself in the night, although Patrick had a full load of clerical duties to carry out in the daytime. Escorting Charlotte and Emily to Brussels, he reassured himself that his daughters would be in good hands, studying a few phrases in French on the way.

Although his writings were not of the highest literary merit, he was the first of the family to have published works (poems and a story). He wrote many tracts and was a tireless writer of letters to newspapers and organizations to support good causes. So the children were exposed to an atmosphere of the written word, both reading and writing, from early days.

For many reasons Haworth was a difficult parish. It was a daughter parish to Bradford and also had a separate Board of Trustees who did not always agree with the Bradford Vicar. Patrick was one of the few Tories in Haworth, a great believer in the established (Church of England) church among a majority of Dissenters. In Haworth he was a founder member, as was Branwell, of the Haworth Temperance Society and was so concerned when the doctor advised him to take a little wine for his digestion that he asked to have it in writing. He was a great believer in education and fought hard to raise money for, first of all a Sunday School and later a day school. He raised money for the poor when there was little work. He raised a subscription to replace the three bells of the church by six new ones so the bell ringers could take part in competitions. He preached once or twice every Sunday until he became too ill in his 82nd year. Even when he was blind he would be led to the pulpit to give his sermon which was said to be easily understood by the simplest and least educated member and to be delivered extempore.

Although a strong Tory he was sympathetic to many Whig ideas. He supported Roman Catholic Emancipation, was against the death penalty for minor crimes, like stealing a loaf of bread, against the workhouse system where families were separated, a man from his wife and parents from their children, and against rotten boroughs where the few voters were bribed to vote for particular members of Parliament.

He was a tenacious campaigner. Because of dirty water the mortality rate in Haworth equalled that of some of the worst districts in the country. He campaigned for 14 years to get clean water for the poor. The rich had their own good sources and were not willing to pay a water rate for others. The reason why he insisted his children wore only silk and wool was because these were less combustible than other materials and as minister he had had to take the funeral service for so many children who had been burned to death.

He always wanted to be intellectually stimulated and joined first the Keighley Mechanics’ Institute and later the Haworth branch. He not only attended lectures but also gave them. The children sometimes accompanied him. When Charlotte died the Haworth branch paid tribute to ‘the Institute’s most distinguished member and patroness,’ Currer Bell’. She must have become an active member.

The chapter on how Mrs. Gaskell went about writing the biography reveals how much she falsified the family situation, particularly with regard to Patrick’s character. Under the circumstances, he responded with great restraint.

This biography of Patrick is the first for forty years and for me it was special because it was about Patrick as a person in his own right and not just as a background to the girls. It is very easy to read and I do recommend it strongly.

Sheila Richardson

Anne Brontë comes to Brussels at last

2011-02-28T19:27:00.015Z

Maureen Peeck O'Toole addressing the Brussels group

Even though Anne Brontë didn't venture to Belgium with her more famous sisters, the Brussels Brontë Group let the youngest Brontë peek out from under her siblings' shadow at least for an afternoon. The group on Feb. 12, 2011, enjoyed an entertaining talk by Maureen Peeck O'Toole on Anne's second novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, followed by a spirited discussion.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Acton Bell was published in June 1848, just six months after Anne's first novel -- Agnes Grey. Unlike Agnes, which was packaged with Wuthering Heights, Tenant was published as a three-volume novel by itself. Anne was to die less than a year later, in May 1849 at the age of 29.

Maureen explained how Anne was an early champion of women's rights and Tenant has been praised (though not at the time of publication) for its 'innovative and radical expression of feminist values.' Helen's struggle to free herself from her marriage to the profligate Huntingdon goes against the 19th-century womanly ideal of the 'angel in the house,' which projected women's role as selfless and submissive wife and mother. Maureen also noted Helen's belief in 'universal salvation' (or 'universalism') -- an unorthodox view at the time that everyone will eventually find salvation. While Maureen contrasted the romanticism of Charlotte's and Emily's books with the social realism of Anne's works, she called Anne 'just as radical as her sisters.'

When it was first published, Tenant was described as 'coarse' along with the works of Charlotte and Emily. Maureen suggested that Tenant may have more connection with Emily's novel than many people realize and may be the first 'intertextual response' to Wuthering Heights. She listed numerous parallels between the two novels, starting with the initials W.H. in the principal residences and titles. In addition, both books use framing -- a tale within a tale -- and a retrospective time frame. They both include violence and drunkenness as well as a tenant arriving at an old house.

One bit of unexpected violence in Tenant is Gilbert Markham's attack on Frederick Lawrence. 'As a kind of Heathcliff, he seems to think his feelings justify his behavior,' Maureen said. She called this assault 'a flaw in the novel' and said it contributes to her conclusion that Markham 'is very unconvincing as a spouse for Helen.' This view of the Gilbert-Helen match was vigorously disputed from the back row.

Another issue that inspired animated discussion was the framing of Helen's diary in Markham's letters. Early criticism found this structure off-putting, but today's critics find it a very effective literary device, Maureen said. The diary is a kind of testimony -- an abused woman telling her own story. The diary gains in intensity by being embedded in the more-mundane letters, she said. The diary also figures in the plot since Helen's first escape attempt is foiled because her husband reads it; later it has a positive impact when Markham is allowed to see it. Another audience member suggested that Anne framed the diary in Markham's letters because those strong views needed to be filtered through a male narrator -- that society at that time wouldn't accept such strong feminist views straight from a woman.

Tenant may be an effort to rewrite Wuthering Heights from a Christian point of view, Maureen said. Helen is driven by feelings of religious duty to try to redeem Huntingdon, but her spiritual pride and dogmatic approach lead to a power struggle between husband and wife. Helen knew Huntingdon's low 'organ of veneration' indicated a lack of natural religion, but while she might have held the spiritual high ground, Huntingdon (and society) took it for granted that he was her superior in every other way. This proved disastrous for both and one of Anne's points in the novel is that the practice of separating girls and boys into separate spheres from childhood was damaging to both, Maureen said.

Charlotte's criticism of Tenant also inspired lively debate. Charlotte called Anne's subject matter 'a mistake' and said the book 'hardly seems to me desirable to preserve.' Maureen said Charlotte's comments probably stem from a desire to preserve Anne's memory and reputation after her death, after the book had been criticized in early reviews.

Luckily for us today, Tenant was preserved and has taken its place beside her sisters' novels, though not quite out of their shadow. Maureen's summation: 'Anne was indeed a novelist in her own right -- a wonderful stylist.'

Jones

Brontës in Brussels: Jolien Janzing talks about the novel she’s writing on Charlotte and Emily’s stay in the city

2011-01-14T20:31:00.007Z

The flow of fictional biographies about the Brontës appearing on the market is never-ceasing; in the last year or two we have had Syrie James’ The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Brontë and Jude Morgan’s The Taste of Sorrow, to name but two of many. What is unusual about Jolien Janzing’s new novel is that it will concentrate on Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s stay in Brussels and will be written by a writer who lives in Belgium; she is Dutch by birth but was brought up in the Ghent area, where she still lives.

Jolien’s first novel, Grammar of an Obsession, was well received. She knew that she wanted her second to be a historical novel about a real person, but searched for some time for a subject before hitting on the Brontës when she discovered that they had lived in Brussels. She had not realised this despite having read Villette as a teenager, and she knows that the Brontës' link with Brussels will be new for many of her readers too.

Her Dutch publisher liked the idea of a novel set in Brussels, a city that appeals to readers in the Netherlands. In it Jolien will explore the history, everyday life, and politics of the city and how all these might have influenced the Brontës. And the other reason why it is the perfect subject for her is that she has loved and admired the Brontës since her mother introduced her to Jane Eyre when she was 12.

Like so many girls before her, Jolien at once identified with Jane, who at the start of the book is about the same age as Jolien when she first read it. She felt the same emotions as Jane, in imagination grew up with her. Her sense of identification with Charlotte Brontë has continued in adulthood. Although, as can be seen from a glance at her photo, in physical appearance she has little in common with Charlotte and her “plain”, physically “insignificant” and “invisible” heroines, she claims that as a Dutch person growing up in Belgium she shared Charlotte’s sense of being an outsider. She also shares her drive and ambition, the wish to prove herself through writing. She says that one reason she feels this need to prove herself as a writer is that Dutch and Flemish women writers have to work hard to be taken as seriously as male authors and carry off few of the literary prizes.

Inevitably, the subject of Charlotte’s attitude to the Flemish comes up in the course of our conversation. Although Charlotte’s prejudices don’t diminish Jolien’s admiration of her as a person and writer, she addresses these attitudes in her novel. She points out that, living with the French-speaking Hegers, Charlotte would have had little real contact with the Flemish speakers and that although Dutch was the language spoken by the majority of the city’s inhabitants, French was the language of the upper and middle classes, of the upwardly mobile.

Apart from her interest in the Brontës – she feels closest to Charlotte but finds Emily fascinating – Jolien is naturally interested in exploring the character of Constantin Heger too. Her own experience as the daughter of a Catholic father and Protestant mother, brought up as a Protestant in a Catholic country (at school she was given religious instruction apart from the rest of her classmates, rather as Charlotte and Emily were excused from religious observances at the Pensionnat) gives her insights into differences between the two religions that may explain some aspects of Heger’s personality and behaviour. In Jolien’s view, the flirtatious element in Heger’s teaching style, while never overstepping certain limits, reflected a more relaxed attitude typical of a Catholic culture that would have been novel to Charlotte, reared in a Protestantism that was stricter about such matters.

One element not found before in a novel about the Brontës is a sub-plot Jolien is introducing about King Leopold I’s young mistress, Arcadie Claret, by whom he had two children. Arcadie was the mistress of a married man; Charlotte had intense feelings about a married man. Arcadie appeared to be a woman who had everything while Charlotte was deeply unsatisfied with her own life. We will have to wait for Jolien’s novel to find out all the parallels and contrasts she draws between the two.

The novel is being part funded by a scholarship from the Flemish Fund for Literature (Vlaams Fonds voor de Letteren), and is likely to be published in 2011 / early 2012.

Helen MacEwan

Brontë Christmas lunch and entertainment 2010

2010-12-15T10:42:00.034Z

45 members gathered for the group's Christmas lunch on Saturday 11 December, seven of whom had travelled from the Netherlands to join us, with journeys of over three hours each way in some cases. We were lucky with the weather, since the lunch fell between two cold spells, just over the heavy snow that had been making for difficult travelling conditions and with more snow threatened soon.

There was plenty of good cheer, good conversation, and excellent entertainment from several of our talented members who had volunteered to amuse us over our desserts and coffee.

Until today we had known Franklin as the creator of visionary drawings inspired by the Brontës. He now acquainted us with another of his talents by singing 1960s and 70s songs for us (no Brontë link here, but very enjoyable!), accompanying himself on the guitar. Valerie Sculfor, Sally Batten and Sherry Vosburgh sang carols and songs from musicals.

Franklin and his guitar, and singers Valerie, Sally and Sherry

We had first-rate literary entertainment, too, and this was all Brontë-related. Sheila Fordham, who has been known to write poems for group occasions in the past, often drafted on the train journey in to work, didn’t let us down this time and read us a prose poem, a humorous reflection on the life of Branwell Brontë.

Sheila entertains us with her tribute to Branwell

In similarly satirical and light-hearted vein we got fun out of the whole Brontë family (or rather the popular stereotypes of them) in the sketch Christmas Dinner at Haworth Parsonage which appeared in Punch magazine in the 1930s. Richard Fletcher played an irascible Patrick Brontë, Sally Batten an embittered Charlotte brooding about Brussels (whereas Patrick is more interested in the Brussels sprouts), Sheila Fordham a lachrymose Anne and Valerie Sculfor a formidable Emily squabbling with a Branwell somewhat the worse for drink (Liviu Danubiu) over the authorship of a well-known poem.

Tracie Ryan, who directs and acts in the Brussels Shakespeare Society, also took us into the Parsonage with her performance of a Victoria Wood sketch, The guide in Haworth Parsonage.

Valerie, Sally, Sheila, Richard and Liviu performing the sketch Christmas Dinner at Haworth Parsonage

Tracie performing her Victoria Wood sketch

Eric Ruijssenaars, taking leave of us for a year, told us about the scholarship he has been granted by the New Netherland Institute in Albany, US, to do a research project involving 17th C Dutch colonial archives. While in the US Eric will also make contact with the Brontë Society there and talk to its New York section and will also address the annual meeting of all the American sections of the Society. The subject of his talk will of course be Brussels Brontë research and our group!

We gave Eric a going-away present prepared by Selina Busch and ended with a raffle with gifts also prepared by Selina. In her role as Father Christmas, Selina came from the Netherlands bearing Christmas cards as well as gifts for everyone present.

Eric telling us about his scholarship to do research in the US and receiving his going-away present from Selina and Helen

If Branwell Brontë, that lover of good cheer, had been present at our revels surely he would have enjoyed himself and forgiven some good-humoured fun at his expense. I think even his more retiring sisters, had they been flies on the wall, would have been pleased to see so many of us gathered in Brussels to celebrate Christmas in their honour.

Helen MacEwan

Thanks to Peter Cavanagh for the photos

Jane Eyre in Luxembourg

2010-12-05T11:12:00.012Z

On Friday 3 December I made the three-hour train journey from Brussels across the snow-covered Ardennes to see June Lowery’s stage adaptation of Jane Eyre performed by the Berliner Grundtheater, an English-language theatre company which performs frequently in Luxembourg. The play was being premiered there with a mainly Luxembourg-based cast.

A more romantic setting for this most romantic of stories is hard to imagine: the arts centre in the magnificently renovated Abbaye de Neumunuster down in the picturesque Grund quarter. At this time of year the quarter was particularly beautiful, the snow sparkling with the Christmas lights.

June Lowery has been involved in drama since her university days when she helped her future husband with the lights for a student production of Hamlet he was directing. They set up the Berliner Grundtheater 20 years ago.

She re-discovered Jane Eyre through reading Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight novels with her daughter. She wrote the script in 5 months - somehow combining the work with her roles as a manager at the European Commission and mother of two children- after she and her husband, Tony Kingston, met their Jane (Jacqueline Milnes).

The play was directed by Tony and produced by June who also took the role of Mrs Fairfax.

It is an ambitious staging, every essential scene of the novel packed into the two-and-a-half hours, with a huge cast and a striking set design, stairs up to a higher level being used to different effect for Gateshead Manor, Lowood School and Thornfield Hall where of course they lead up to the attic!

As usual in English-language productions in Luxembourg and Brussels, the cast was multinational, with a Danish Rochester, for example. The cast’s multilingualism came in useful: Adèle spoke in impeccable French as did Jane when required (Jacqueline Milne is Irish but was brought up in Luxembourg).

Charlotte Brontë’s interest in foreign languages was one aspect of the novel that attracted June. Jane loves French, learns German, even learns Hindustani. This made the play particularly suited to the babel of tongues that is Luxembourg. In preparing the show, June met fans who had read the novel for the first time in French, Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Slovakian….

Two other aspects of the novel seemed to June timely and modern: the treatment of sexual passion, and of religion. Charlotte Brontë acknowledges the force of sexual passion and frankly analyses Jane’s dilemma when torn between love and principle. As for religion, while the framework of the novel is Christian – Rochester must be punished and repent before he can be united with Jane – the emphasis is on tolerance and forgiveness. Brontë has no time for the strict and narrow-minded religion of Brocklehurst and St John Rivers.

The Brussels Brontë Group has several members in Luxembourg, who have been known to spend hours on trains in order to attend our events. I hope there will be lots more “trans-Ardennes” exchanges!

Helen MacEwan

Mrs. Chadwick online and other research news

2010-11-18T20:24:00.015Z

Published in 1914, Mrs. Chadwick's In the footsteps of the Brontës is one of the most interesting early biographies of the family. The book, which has some very valuable information about 'Brussels' has now become available online.

http://www.archive.org/texts/flipbook/flippy.php?id=infootstepsofbro00chadrich

Little is known about the author, Esther Alice Chadwick. She seems to have been born in 1882. In 1910 she published a biography of Mrs Gaskell. Both books she signed, confusingly, as Mrs. Ellis H Chadwick. In 1917 her article about A gift from M. le Professeur Constantin Heger to Charlotte Brontë was published in 'The Nineteenth Century'. The last reference to her that can be found is a book named Haworth Parsonage, the home of the Brontës, from 1928. It's not known when she died.

The book has some very interesting photographs and other illustrations, for instance of the Rue d'Isabelle and M. and Mme. Heger's grave. There's also a nice but too speculative chapter about a third visit to Brussels by Charlotte (beginning on page 400) in 1850.

Research

With regard to the Jenkinses, and in particular the question about where exactly they lived, a giant breakthrough has been achieved by Brian Bracken. Below you can read his article about it. Brian, if I may say so, is a great addition to the Brussels Brontë Group's Research Dept. With the aid of Renate Hurtmanns, who previously did vital cemetery research, we will continue to bring you interesting resarch news.

There's also more to come on the website, the beginning of an A to Z of places and persons, in which among other things a longer version of Brian's article can be read. In the near future we also hope to make available online some old articles ourselves, like Mrs. Chadwick's A gift.

Eric Ruijssenaars

The Jenkinses’ house in Ixelles

2010-11-18T19:50:00.011Z

Brian Bracken reports on an important discovery concerning the location of the house of the Rev. Evan Jenkins, the British chaplain in Brussels whose home was so often visited by the Brontë sisters.

The Jenkins family played an important role in the Brontë Brussels story, introducing Emily and Charlotte to the Hegers and their Pensionnat, yet the only concrete address we've ever had for the family's home in Ixelles is from W. Gérin's famous biography of Charlotte Brontë, wherein she cites the address as Chaussée d'Ixelles, 304. This lies near the Place Flagey end of the Chaussée. It would have proved a long enough walk for the Brontës, coming from downtown Brussels on their Sunday visits to the Jenkinses. However, our new research has shown that the address provided by Gérin is incorrect.The Brontë biographer repeats an erroneous address listed in the 1840 Indicateur Belge, used by her as a source book. If one looks at other Indicateurs, or address books, for Brussels in the period 1838-1848, the Jenkins address is clearly given as Ch.d'Ixelles, 388. The Ixelles Commune's Population Census for 1846 confirms this address.

However the Chaussée d'Ixelles we know today ends at number 359. So where was number 388? This has a simple explanation - the houses of Ixelles underwent a major numbering change between the years 1846 and 1850. Chaussée d'Ixelles 388, in the new numbering system became Chaussée d'Ixelles, 138. The death certificate of the Rev. Evan Jenkins, issued by the Ixelles Commune, confirms this. He died at this address, on 23 September 1849.

Where was number 138 located exactly on the Chaussée? Reading the 1846 and 1856 Census Registers for Ixelles, it's clear that the house bearing this number lay between the Rue de la Paix and the Rue de la Tulipe, on the left hand side as one goes from the Porte de Namur to Place Fernand Cocq. It was located about eight or nine houses before the corner of Rue de la Tulipe. The Ixelles cadastral maps of 1836 and 1866 also show this position. On their Sunday afternoon visits here, the Brontë sisters, accompanied by the Rev. Jenkins' sons, John and Edward, would have walked up from the Place Royale in half an hour at the most.

We must note, however, that the Ch. d'Ixelles,138 of the 1840s is not the 138 we see today. There were further minor house number changes on the Chaussée over the last 160 years, with the result that the house would have stood somewhere between the present day 144 and 148, still on the same section of the Chaussée d'Ixelles, between the Rues de la Paix and de la Tulipe. It's impossible to be more precise for the moment. The street has seen a lot of new constuction over the years, and old houses have been swallowed up by new blocks of flats. Numbers 144 and 146 today are neoclassical houses of 19th century origin, with transformations, and it's possible either one of the two is the Jenkins house.

In any case, even if no further information can be attained, it's certain that the Jenkins family's home, whose whereabouts has long since been a puzzle, was located on this part of the Chaussée d'Ixelles. Our research also offers one of those mysterious coincidences sometimes found in Brontë studies - the house we have been patiently seeking, and which Charlotte and Emily often visited many years ago, may in fact be the house now occupied by a shoe shop called … Pronti !

Brian Bracken

Brontës in Brittany

2010-11-14T16:36:00.004Z

Brussels Brontë Group member Johan Hellinx explains how he came to write an article in the Breton language about the Brontës’ stay in Brussels.

For a British expat it might sound very strange, but for a Fleming like myself it’s not unusual to speak two or three languages besides our mother tongue, Dutch. I learned French, German and English at school and quickly discovered why I needed to know what we call “our languages” in Belgium: when we travel 100 kilometers, we are already in another language area or … in another country ! So if we want to broaden our horizons, we have to learn languages, unlike some other Europeans …

When I trained to become a French teacher – oh yes, I learned the language of the “enemy” ! – I also studied Italian. At that time, I also laid the foundations of another hobby of mine, Celtic languages and cultures. During the lectures on medieval French literature, our professor told us about the “matière de Bretagne”, the medieval French literary works inspired by the ancient Celtic legends, Tristan and Yseut, Marie de France, Chrétien de Troyes, King Arthur … It all came back years later when I decided to study Breton. It took me some time – Breton is a very strange language after all and I didn’t get younger either – but after ten years I can confirm I speak it quite fluently. That’s how I recently started writing articles for the Breton literary review ABER. When I eventually became acquainted with the Brussels Brontë Group, I formed the project of writing an article about the stay of the two Brontë sisters in Brussels – for a Breton public. I read out my article at a literary conference on women writers in Quimper in the départment of Finistère, Brittany.

Johan Hellinx

Memorable day of talks with Sue Lonoff and Brian Wilks.... and two surprise visitors

2010-10-30T12:59:00.043Z

Brontë Society members with the British Ambassador to Belgium, Jonathan Brenton (on the right), speakers Sue Lonoff and Brian Wilks, and Heger descendant François Fierens (fourth from right)

The Brontës in Brussels and Ireland
Emily Waterfield

On Saturday 23 October the four-year-old Brussels Bronte Group proved that nothing can stop it from offering outstanding literary events. Speakers from London and Paris struggled through strikes on the Eurostar and on pretty much everything in France, around 100 audience members braved miserable Belgian weather, and the British Ambassador arrived at the lecture hall on crutches.

The Group's founder Helen MacEwan opened the talks by welcoming François Fierens, a direct descendant of Charlotte’s beloved professor Constantin Heger. Monsieur Heger spotted the merit of the sisters’ work quickly enough to save many of their essays and his great-great-great-grandson was able to bring four of these with him to the Group event.

Helen then gave the floor to Jonathan Brenton, the new British Ambassador to Belgium. A Uganda-born Doctor of English literature, Mr Brenton said culture, literature and immigration were as important to building relations between countries as anything on the EU policy agenda. He had therefore been immensely pleased to learn of the existence of a group set up in honour of two women whose work was enriched by their time outside the UK.

Jonathan Brenton introducing the day’s events, and listening to Sue Lonoff’s talk

The next speaker returned to the topic raised by the presence of François Fierens. Sue Lonoff, editor of Charlotte and Emily Brontë: The Belgian Essays, gave a talk on Two Contrasting Brussels Experiences.

There are obvious differences between the two women’s experiences in Brussels, said Ms Lonoff. Charlotte was intrigued by the city, fell in love and after a brief return to Haworth came back to Brussels as a teacher at the Pensionnat Heger. Back in England, she based the plot for two of her four novels on events in Brussels, whilst elements of the other two were apparently inspired by her time in the city. Emily on the other hand left as soon as she had chance and never seems to refer to time spent away from Yorkshire in her work.

Sue Lonoff argued that essays written by the two authors whilst pupils at the Pensionnat provide a less obvious illustration of their different attitudes and experiences in Brussels. This is particularly true, she said, of the five ‘twin’ essays, given at the same time and on the same subject.

In the twin essays Caterpillar (Charlotte) and Butterfly (Emily) it seems M. Heger has asked the sisters to write about an insect’s metamorphosis and to draw a moral lesson from their description. For Charlotte the caterpillar is like man, he eats and crawls through a miserable existence, the chrysalis is the tomb, and the butterfly resurrection. Charlotte’s French is good but the parable conventional.

Emily meanwhile rages imperfectly but unnervingly that “All creation is equally mad” [La création entière est également insensée],before squashing the caterpillar she finds eating a plant. A last-minute butterfly flies past to make her wonder if there might be something other than her dark thoughts, but the reader is left with her impression that “Every being must be the tireless instrument of death to others, or itself must cease to live”.

In her talk, Sue Lonoff compared Charlotte and Emily’s experience in Brussels and approaches to the essay topics set by M. Heger

Sue Lonoff with students of Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis where the talks were held

Brian Wilks, a former vice-president of the Brontë Society, also turned to a less widely studied aspect of the Bronte’s lives: their father’s youth in Ireland. Mr Wilks is the author of The Brontës of Haworth and biographical works on Jane Austen, amongst others. He said the idea that the years before Patrick Bronte went to Cambridge aged 25 were irrelevant to the Bronte’s development was a serious error.

Patrick was 12 at the time of the French Revolution, 13 when the Rights of Man was published and 21 during the bloody 1798 Rebellion. As well as witnessing the brutality for which the Rebellion has become infamous, the fact that Patrick’s brother was a United Irishman will have made life extremely dangerous for the whole family.

Small wonder then, said Brian Wilks, that Patrick always defended the underdog in his position as clergyman, or that he took advantage of the freedom of the press in his adopted land to write copiously, or that violence and rebellion are always a theme in the novels of the three sisters. The father’s history was the background to the daughters’ lives.

Brian Wilks, always a dramatic speaker, had chosen a dramatic topic for his talk to us: the turbulent historical background in the Ireland of Patrick Brontë’s youth

Meeting with Heger descendant François Fierens
Helen MacEwan

One reason why this weekend was such a special occasion was that Group members finally got to meet M. François Fierens, a direct descendant of Constantin Heger.

This is his first contact with our group but not with the Brontë Society. He met members when they visited Brussels in 1993 and again in 2003. He is a member of the Society himself, though he has never been to Haworth – something for him, and us, to think about for the future?

On the eve of the talks, I and other Brontë Society members had dinner with M. and Mme Fierens, Brian and Sue Wilks and Sue Lonoff, who had last met M. Fierens almost 20 years ago when working on her edition of the “Belgian Essays” and had pleasant memories of his hospitality to her when she spent a couple of days in his house copying the devoirs still in the possession of the Heger family.

He is the great-great-great-grandson of Constantin Heger. Over dinner he wrote out the family tree for us:

Constantin Heger
׀
Paul Heger
׀
Martha Heger m. Victor Pechère
׀
Paul Pechère
׀
Claire Pechère m. Jacques Fierens
׀
Francois Fierens

He told us that when he used to stay with his grandparents as a boy he would sleep in a room his grandfather had made into a “family temple”, full of photos and other mementos of Constantin and Paul Heger, so he grew up knowing about Constantin and the Brontës – who are viewed by the family as a fairly minor episode in Constantin’s long and full life!

The account in the Brontë Society Transactions of the unveiling of the BS plaque in Brussels in 1980 mentions that members were invited to lunch afterwards at the house of his grandparents, M. and Mme Pechère.

In Coreen Turner’s account of the 2003 Brontë Society excursion to Brussels, she says: “Sadly, we did not know beforehand that M. Fierens wore a watch and chain, or one of us would surely have worked a watch guard for him…” I asked him to confirm whether, like M. Paul, he does indeed wear a watch and chain. He promptly produced one from his waistcoat pocket and explained that he took to wearing it when his wristwatch was snatched by a pickpocket in South America!

The next morning, as Emily has related, he came to hear Sue Lonoff give her talk on the Belgian Essays and this time produced something still more remarkable: the (bound) manuscripts of the four devoirs in his possession! A magical and memorable moment for those of us who were there to witness it.

Group members enjoying a drink with Brian and Sue Wilks, Sue Lonoff and M. and Mme Fierens

Sue Lonoff, Myriam Campinaire and Eric Ruijssenaars

Bringing people together
Helen MacEwan

Many members have said how much they enjoyed the day of talks on 23 October and I think it will go down in our annals as a special occasion. In fact what was to be a day-long event turned into a weekend, starting with a dinner for some of us on Friday to meet the Heger descendant François Fierens and finishing on Sunday with a mystery tour of lesser-known Brontë places by Eric Ruijssenaars (I won’t go into details - if I do it won’t be a mystery tour next time!).

What a privilege it was to have two scholars of the calibre of Sue Lonoff and Brian Wilks with us on the same day. Few people know more about Charlotte and Emily Brontë’s stay in Brussels than Sue Lonoff, who translated and edited their devoirs. As for Brian Wilks, his enthusiasm on a wide range of topics makes him fascinating company, but one theme he always returns to is the origin of the Brontë family’s genius (for which one of his favourite images is “the Crucible”). Hence his interest in Patrick Brontë’s Irish origins. Before he gave this talk someone asked him “Who on earth is interested in a talk on Emily Brontë’s dad?” The reason is obvious both to him and us: because we are fascinated by the mystery of where the Brontë children’s genius came from. No-one can fully explain genius, but knowing something about where their father came from must throw some light on the family as a whole.

As well as the usual multinational gathering of the members who live in Brussels, with just about every European country represented (many Irish members this time, drawn by the talk on Patrick Brontë) we were joined by members travelling from the Netherlands and, for the first time, from Luxembourg, as well as by stalwarts Mirka and Jiri, joining us once again from Prague.

In addition to having two such excellent speakers in our midst, with opportunities over the weekend to meet them socially, the talks were made special by the presence of François Fierens and the British ambassador, Jonathan Brenton.

And apart from all these riches, the talks, like all our events, gave members a further opportunity to get to know more of their fellow members. In his introductory talk, Jonathan Brenton spoke of the role of literature in bringing people together, and this is surely the most important function of a literary association like ours. Reading is necessarily something we do alone, albeit in close communion with the author and his creations. But a group like ours brings us together to share this reading experience, and the discussions generated by our aggregate knowledge and insights, combined of course with the knowledge and insights of the speaker, can be truly exciting and rewarding.

“Every time I go I meet new and fascinating people. And how well everyone seems to get on with everyone else.” (Comment by a member)

“It's still a mystery to me, what makes Brontë people so kind and interesting. There must be a connection with the universal power of Charlotte and Emily.” (Comment by a member)

Members meet up in one of the bars in Grand Place on the evening after the talks

With thanks to Liviu (Ioan Danubiu) for many of the photos

Mad about the Brontës: Dutch journalist Jolien Janzing visits Haworth to research her novel about the Brontës in Brussels

2010-10-16T15:41:00.013Z

This is a translation of an article by Jolien Janzing originally published in Dutch in the Belgian newspaper De Standaard Der Letteren on 13 August 2010 about a trip to Haworth to research a novel she is writing about the Brontës in Brussels. While there, Jolien met various people in the village including the director of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, the parish priest and a guide who does Brontë walks.

Jolien Janzing established her reputation through widely-discussed articles published in Belgian and Dutch magazines. Her first work, Grammatica van een obsessie, received excellent reviews.

In a recent article in the Belgian magazine Feeling, Jolien identifies with Jane Eyre because she too felt like something of an outsider as a child, being Dutch but growing up in Belgium. She recognizes in herself the belief in true love that Jane Eyre had. And she says that Charlotte Brontë inspired her to become a writer herself.

MAD ABOUT THE BRONTËS

There are some classics which simply never lose their charm. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë, for example, or Wuthering Heights by her sister, Emily, which are still being published in no less than 26 languages. And it’s not just the Brontë sisters’ books which continue to sell like cookbooks; the Brontë Parsonage Museum in their native town of Haworth continues to welcome a steady stream of visitors. If anyone should doubt, the Brontës are still alive and kicking!

It’s Monday morning and while the sun is shining in Flanders the barren landscape of the Pennine Hills in West Yorkshire is cold and windy with menacing clouds as wet and oppressive as a bad cough and night sweats. But why am I here actually? In fact I’m working on a novel which looks at the two years Charlotte and Emily Brontë spent in Brussels learning French, So clearly there’s more research to be done back home than here in England, but when I find myself a bit later going up the steep Main Street leading to their father’s parsonage it all becomes clear again. Main Street has hardly changed since Charlotte lived here, even the cobblestones are hundreds of years old, and I can see her walking in front of me, a delicate young woman with a narrow back and slightly hunched shoulders wearing an ill-fitting overcoat. She’s hurrying home, occasionally nodding to a regular churchgoer.

CEMETERY

I’m somewhat obsessed by the Brontës and want to see where they lived. My diary is full of appointments with people who know about every aspect of the village and every detail of the family’s history. For my part I quickly read everything Charlotte, Emily and Anne ever wrote, from the poems about their imaginary worlds of Angria and Gondal to their best-selling novels originally published under male pseudonyms. It’s not only their books which fascinate me, but also their private lives. The sisters grew up in Haworth, which at the time was an overcrowded, bustling little town, with their father being an Anglican parson at the head of the parish church. The Brontë girls’ mother had died at a young age and an aunt helped raise them. The four oldest girls, Maria, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Emily, were sent away to a new boarding school, the Clergy Daughters' School at Cowan Bridge, but this turned out to be a wretched institution. While there, Maria and Elizabeth contracted a deadly infection and Charlotte endured a number of traumatic experiences which she purged from her system by writing Jane Eyre. Mr Brontë was left with three daughters and a son, Branwell, whom he spoiled horribly and who died at a young age due to a penchant for alcohol and opium. His daughters fared better and became well-known novelists, but they all died prematurely.

At the top of Main Street is the Black Bull pub where Branwell went to drink his ale and whiskey. There is a path on the right which leads to the church and directly behind it is the parsonage. I stand in the front garden and look up at the facade, thinking that the parsonage is certainly not what you would call a humble abode. And even if I imagine away the new wing, the house exudes a certain social status. I turn around and between the low garden wall and the church I see part of the cemetery. Here and there I see a standing tombstone, but most of them have been laid flat on the ground as if the living wanted to prevent the dead from crawling out of their graves, just like Cathy. Time has stood still here and the atmosphere is hazy and somewhat ominous.

INFLUX

It takes a bit of time before I can actually go into the parsonage because there are quite a few visitors there today: Scottish teenagers, Italian students, a bunch of Japanese and a group of Americans. At the threshold I stop for a moment and think about how many times Charlotte walked over it and that this is where Emily whistled to her dog, Keeper. I had expected to feel a lump in my throat when getting so close to the Brontës, but that didn’t happen after all.

From Mr Brontë's study I walk to the dining room with the table where the sisters sat when writing their novels. Andrew McCarthy, the museum’s director, is waiting for me in the kitchen and invites me into his office. There, I ask him if there are always so many visitors.

“Oh yes!” he proudly answers. “Last year we had 73,000 people come to the museum. Our visitors come from Japan, the US and Europe, and of course also from England.” I ask him if he sees more visitors when a television network airs a series based on the Brontës or their books.

“In those cases the influx of visitors is so impressive that we are sometimes afraid that the walls of the parsonage are going to give in” he replies. “Thankfully, it hasn’t ever been as bad again as what we saw in 1973, when the series The Brontës of Haworth was shown on British television. During that year, we welcomed in excess of 250,000 visitors.” Andrew’s bookcase contains a number of recent books on the Brontës, and from this I can see that I’m clearly not the only writer inspired by the reverend’s family. “The legend is still kept alive,” says Andrew. “There’s always a good film version of Jane Eyre in the pipeline, and that invariably accounts for a good deal of publicity. On the other hand, it has to be said that Brontë films are never blockbusters, and that the book is always better than the movie.”

HEATHCLIFF’S BEDROOM

On my way out I go through the museum shop and see an Italian student buy a brand-new edition of Wuthering Heights. With the novel carefully tucked inside her jacket – this is Yorkshire and it’s raining again – she walks out of the shop. The woman at the cash register winks at me and says “That girl has caught the Wuthering Heights bug. Some fans are so enthralled by the novels that they completely forget that Heathcliff, Jane Eyre and Agnes Grey never really existed. They often mix up the Brontë sisters with the characters in their novels. Just yesterday a visitor to the parsonage asked where Heathcliff’s bedroom was.”

Outside I open my umbrella and walk towards the church, but on my way there I stop for a moment at the low building where Patrick Brontë taught Sunday school. Through the dirty windows I see quite a few spider webs, but some desks for the pupils are still there. Charlotte Brontë taught catechism here when she was only 16. Emily didn’t like teaching, because she didn’t really like children. When she worked as a teacher for a few months at a girl’s boarding school when she was twenty, she told her pupils that she cared more about the dog than any one of them. She was a bit strange, that Emily, and possibly slightly autistic.

“Ms Janzing?”

Someone taps me on the shoulder and for a split second I feel like a character in a novel when something dramatic is about to take place. Unfortunately, there is no seductive Mr Rochester standing in front of me but instead a sprightly vicar.

His name is Peter Mayo-Smith and we have an appointment. He takes my arm and leads me into his church. Once upon a time, Patrick Brontë stood here at the pulpit and through his inspired sermons brought together his community.

“He was an exceptional man, Patrick Brontë!” We are sitting in a pew and Peter pulls on his fuzzy beard with a satisfied look. “He was tuned into nature long before there was any environmental movement. The cemetery was over capacity and thousands of corpses were rotting just below the surface of the ground, so Patrick had trees planted to speed up their decomposition. He was also democratically minded and spent time promoting education. The textile barons in Haworth brought orphans up from London to work in the factories next to the river, and Patrick opened a school in the evening to teach them to read and write.”

Peter’s eyes are sparkling and it’s easy to see that Brontë is his role model. He springs up and at the front of the church shows me the family grave where Maria Brontë, her children Maria, Elizabeth, Branwell, Emily and Charlotte, and also Patrick Brontë, were laid to rest. Anne is buried in the coastal town of Scarborough where she was staying while trying to recover from tuberculosis.

LETTERS

Behind me I hear a repressed sob and see a blonde woman in her forties crying. Her daughter puts her arm around her shoulders. We start talking and she tells me “Charlotte, Emily and Anne weren’t beautiful or glamorous, they weren’t models or actresses. No, no, they were ordinary women just like my daughter and I, but we also have a right to be loved.” I suddenly feel a need for fresh air and quickly say goodbye.

Johnnie Briggs, my new guide, is waiting for me at the church portal. He takes me to the cemetery in the pouring rain and tells me about the high rates of child mortality during the 19th century. He has an umbrella with him, but he doesn’t open it. There’s a drop of rain hanging from his nose and his coat is completely soaked, but this doesn’t seem to bother him.

We walk down Main Street and go into Hatchard & Daughters, a second-hand book shop. While looking around I see a book I’ve been trying to find for months: the compendium of Charlotte Brontë’s letters. Mary Hatchard wraps my book in a piece of brown paper. “It’s the personal life stories of the Brontës which continue to fascinate people”, she replies to my question about the secret of their popularity. “The novels are great, but their personal history is even better. It’s a tragedy and people just love tragedies, especially when they happen in the past because then they can watch from a safe distance. Look at Byron and Shelley! Byron, the pale hero who lived off tea and biscuits and died of malaria in Greece, and then Shelley, who was killed in a shipwreck. Their stories will stay with us for centuries. And there are also the scandals: there’s nothing quite like a good scandal to keep a literary figure in the spotlight! Byron slept with his half-sister and Branwell Brontë had an affair with a rich married woman 17 years older than him.”

VERA LYNN

I ask her what kind of people come in to her shop to buy Brontë novels. “Teenage girls all want a copy of Wuthering Heights. They think they’re Cathy and dream about passion and romance. They’re also the ones who are crazy about the dream-like poems and drawings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Jane Eyre is mostly popular with women over 40, who remember the book from when they were young and want to read it again.”

Nostalgia is very big in Mary’s shop. On the shelves there are books about World War II and I can also see a Vera Lynn CD. “The UK is losing itself in nostalgia,” sighs Mary. “World War II is still popular, but nobody asks for books on Vietnam or Afghanistan, because we only want to think about misery if it’s associated with victory.”

Mary is from London and lived several years in Amsterdam, but Haworth and its stories have captured her heart. She lives together with her husband and two daughters in an isolated cottage somewhere in the hills, and this makes her a bona-fide Brontaholic.

EMPTY

The following day the rainclouds have given way to a more sympathetic blue sky. Emily was in the habit of taking walks on the moor in the rain and during storms, but I’ve decided to wait for more clement weather. Johnnie recommends that I go to the waterfalls, which was a regular walk for the Brontës. I don’t bring a dog along with me, but I can imagine how Emily’s dog, Keeper, a tough bulldog, must have chased the sheep around.

The sounds of Haworth subside behind me and for the first time since I arrived I feel a certain degree of proximity. No trees grow on these hills and there is nothing except sheep, heather, sometimes in bloom, marram grass and low walls made of stones stacked up on one another so that the wind can whistle when blowing through the cracks. It is an empty landscape and my head is empty as well; there is room for a new story. When I reach the waterfall I go to sit on the rock where Emily liked to sit, with her big feet dangling above the splashing water. I open up the book with Charlotte’s letters. At the end of January, not long after she had returned from Brussels, she wrote to a friend “It seems to me that Haworth is a lonely, quiet place hidden far from the rest of the world.”

Jolien Janzing

Glorious weather for our last guided walk of 2010

2010-10-12T19:56:00.017Z

The group at the top of Mont des Arts

In Parc de Bruxelles

In front of the "unofficial" Brontë plaque

Since last Sunday we have a new Brontë walk guide, as Jones Hayden has volunteered to lead some of our walks. For some time now they have been led by Myriam Campinaire who’s been doing it brilliantly. In the past, walks have also been led by Eric Ruijssenaars and Derek Blyth, and it is to them we owe a lot of the research and material we draw on.

The sun shone and everyone looked happy for Jones's debut guiding on Sunday 10 October. We gathered at 10 a.m. on 10/10/10; it must have been an auspicious moment, for conditions were particularly favourable for that morning’s walk. Not only did the sun shine, but the guide didn’t have to contend with the usual noise of trams and buses on the cobbles of Place Royale, since it was closed for traffic for the Brussels marathon!

Jones, an American journalist who’s lived in Brussels for 10 years, enjoyed preparing his walk commentary and, like our first volunteer guide Myriam, has increased his knowledge about the history of the city - as well as about the Brontës - in the process.

Although the area covered by the walk is a compact one focusing on places near the site of the Pensionnat Heger, there is no shortage of things to be said about the area and its buildings, the Pensionnat and the Hegers, the Brontë sisters’ stay there, the Brontës in general, Villette, The Professor… the difficulty is packing it all into two hours.

As always, a multinational group had gathered to listen. Today our 19 participants were Belgian, British (two from Yorkshire!), Irish, American, Polish, Bulgarian, Russian and French.

After the walk we adjourned, as usual, to one of the museum cafés on Place Royale to continue talking about the Brontës and much else beside.

We’re lucky to have two such able and enthusiastic guides as Myriam and Jones. Each has developed his/her own version of the basic walk commentary, so with Jones there was new information to glean for those who had been on a previous walk.

This was the last walk of 2010. We’ll start up again once warmer days return, probably not until our April weekend (1-3 April). Join Myriam or Jones next year to learn about the Brontës and Brussels!

Helen MacEwan

Literary weekend in London 18-19 September

2010-10-07T16:05:00.039Z

The group in the National Portrait Gallery with Tim Moreton

Near Temple Bar in Paternoster Square, on the walk led by Margaret McCarthy

A new initiative for the Brussels Brontë Group

This was a first for the Group. We’ve had weekends of events in Brussels, and groups of us have attended the Haworth weekend, but this was the first weekend excursion organised by us. There were 23 of us in the group. The first day of our Literary Weekend in London was dedicated to the Brontës, and the second to Dickens’s London, Dickens being the obvious writer to explore for a group of 19th century literature enthusiasts on a trip to London.

Day 1: Brontë Day
Overview by Helen MacEwan

Most of us travelled on the Eurostar arriving around 9 a.m. on Saturday. At 11 a.m. we had a rendezvous with Tim Moreton, Collections Manager in the National Portrait Gallery, who took us to Branwell Brontë’s “Pillar Portrait” of his three sisters and talked to us about it for an hour. He also showed us something we weren't expecting to see (see reports below!) We went on to lunch with members of the Brontë Society’s London Branch in the Strand Palace Hotel on the site of the spot where Charlotte Brontë and her publisher George Smith, posing as a Mr and Miss Fraser, consulted a phrenologist.

Margaret McCarthy then took us on a walk retracing the footsteps of Charlotte and her sisters’ visits to London – Paternoster Square by St Paul’s where they stayed in the Chapter Coffee House, St Stephen Walbrook where Charlotte and Anne worshipped, Cornhill where they went to George Smith’s offices on their visit to introduce themselves to him. By the site of London Bridge Wharf where Charlotte got a waterman to row her to the Ostend packet when returning for her second year in Brussels, Margaret’s husband Jerry told us about the Thames watermen in her time.

The National Portrait Gallery
Patricia De Gray

In the National Portrait Gallery just off Trafalgar Square there is a room devoted to early19th century literary figures. In the midst of large, stylised portraits of Dickens, Tennyson and Browning there are two smaller, more modest portraits of the Bronte sisters and it was here that the Brussels Bronte Society started their weekend trip to London on Saturday 18th of September 2010.

Most of the group had journeyed to London early that morning and it was fitting that this was the first stop of the group since it gave us time to reflect and think about the sisters and their tragic life. Tim Moreton, the gallery's collection manager, gave us a very interesting talk on the background of these two portraits: the first known as the Pillar Portrait depicts the three sisters modestly dressed and looking pensively at the artist, while the second is a profile portrait of Emily which was probably part of a larger ensemble piece known as the 'Gun Group Portrait'.

The artist of both portraits was their brother Branwell. One can see quite clearly that he was not a professional or particularly gifted artist, particularly when compared with the rest of the professional portraits in the room. Another stark contrast is the condition of the portraits. These portraits were taken to Ireland by Arthur Nicholls, Charlotte's husband, after the death of Patrick Branwell, folded and placed on top of a cupboard in a suitcase. The colours have faded and the crease folds are very evident. After the death of Arthur Nicholls the paintings were sold to the National Portrait Gallery by his widow.

Tim Moreton told us that the Gallery had made a conscious decision not to restore these paintings since it is felt that their condition is a part of their story and journey. He also discussed at length the famous 'pillar' which is at the center of the first portrait. One can see clearly that originally another figure (probably male) had been painted in but than painted over. Was this Branwell himself or someone else, one can only speculate.

Elizabeth Gaskell describes the 'Pillar Portrait' in great detail in her biography The life of Charlotte Bronte. She writes "I have seen an oil painting of his, done I know not when….It was group of his sisters, life size; three-quarters' length; not much better than sign-painting, as to manipulation; but the likenesses were, I should think, admirable. I could only judge of the fidelity with which the other two were depicted, from the striking resemblance which Charlotte, upholding the great frame of canvas, and consequently standing right behind it, bore to her own representation, though it must have been ten years and more since the portraits were taken. The picture was divided, almost in the middle, by a great pillar. On the side of the column which was lighted by the sun, stood Charlotte, in the womanly dress of that day of jigot sleeves and large collars. On the deeply shadowed side, was Emily, and Anne's gentle face resting on her shoulder. Emily's countenance struck me as full of power; Charlotte's of solicitude; Anne's of tenderness. The two younger seemed hardly to have attained their full growth, though Emily was taller than Charlotte; they had cropped hair, and a more girlish dress. I remember looking on those two sad, earnest, shadowed faces, and wondering whether I could trace the mysterious expression which is said to foretell an early death. I had some fond superstitious hope that the column divided their fates from hers, who stood apart in the canvas, as in life she survived…. They were good likenesses, however badly executed."

Tim than lead us to an adjoining room where there was a temporary showing of two official portraits of Charlotte Bronte and Elizabeth Gaskell by George Richmond commissioned by their publisher George Smith. This portrait of Charlotte is more stylised and formal, depicting a more worldly woman though still shy and apprehensive.

The entire group was mesmerised by the portraits we had seen and the informative talk by Tim. I am sure that the National Portrait Gallery and these portraits have become a 'must revisit' on all future visits to London for the whole group. I will definitely be returning again and again.

The Richmond portrait

Quietly extraordinary
Peter Workman

I have always marvelled at the fact that three sisters born into English provincial obscurity whose combined output of novels and poems would barely fill half a library bookshelf should nonetheless have taken the literary milieu of their day by storm and should to this day continue to fascinate and enrapture readers throughout the English-speaking world – and beyond.

To attribute all of that to their 'genius' is a commonplace and a cliché (and in any case, 'genius' is an impossibly elusive, intangible quality which we can at best intuit; trying to pin it down is a futile exercise). My preference would be to describe the Brontë sisters as 'quietly extraordinary': three young women who did quite remarkable things is a most modest, unassuming fashion.

Two aspects of their 'extraordinariness' became apparent to me in the course of the Brussels Brontë Group's recent weekend visit to London (which was, incidentally, my first contact with that group and, indeed, with the Brontë Society as a whole). Our first port of call was the National Portrait Gallery, where we viewed the famous 'Pillar Portrait' in which the three sisters appear seated in the presence of a subsequently blanked-out figure looming over them (presumed to be their brother Branwell, who painted the picture). To be perfectly frank, I find this painting rather amateurish in both conception and execution; the sisters look like Victorian 'young maiden' stereotypes and they are about as distinguishable from one another as are Russian dolls. However, awaiting us in an adjacent room of the gallery was an artwork of a very different calibre: namely, the rarely-displayed chalk portrait of Charlotte Brontë by George Richmond. Even allowing for the artist's alleged tendency to flatter his sitters by 'improving' their looks, I was struck at first sight by Charlotte's extraordinary (that word again) beauty and grace and, above all, by the remarkable sense of her presence and her strength of character which the portrait exudes. Whereas the sisters in the 'Pillar Portrait' resemble cardboard cut-outs, the solo portrait of Charlotte radiates the humanity of its subject; it is truly 'lovely', in the literal sense of the word ('inspiring love', 'worthy of being loved').

Charlotte's strength of character was brought home to me again at the very end of our guided tour of 'Brontë London': we were taken to the place on the north bank of the Thames at which Charlotte would have boarded a river boat – the first stage of her journey across the English Channel to Ostend and thence to Brussels. Our guide portrayed a highly atmospheric scene of Charlotte arriving at the water's edge in the cold and dark, negotiating her passage with the boatmen and being conveyed downstream along a sometimes treacherous tidal river, only to be grossly overcharged for the privilege by her unscrupulous ferryman.

Not until the latter part of the twentieth century did international travel become straightforward and routine. In the nineteenth century it still constituted an epic undertaking, fraught with hazard and of uncertain outcome. A young woman who was prepared to embark upon such a journey unaccompanied must have been possessed of a character whose strength can only be described as ... extraordinary.

Much more could be written about our literary weekend in London – but I shall leave that to other, more competent hands. I shall conclude by thanking Helen MacEwan for going to such extraordinary (I can't get away from that word) lengths to organise such a worthwhile event and for bringing me back into contact with three lasses who could justifiably be described as 'the Pride of Yorkshire'.

In front of the Dickens House Museum with Anthony Burton of the Dickens Fellowship

Day 2: Dickens Day
Helen MacEwan

The second day of our stay was devoted to Dickens, and our reading group had been reading Oliver Twist in preparation for it. At the Dickens House Museum we were met by Anthony Burton of the Dickens Fellowship, who used to be a curator in the Victoria and Albert Museum and is active on the museum committee.

Anthony guided us on a marathon walk that explored the theme of Dickens’s London. We had asked for the walk to start at the Dickens Museum, our first port of call on Sunday, and finish at The George Inn in Southwark, where we wanted to have lunch – the only surviving example in London of the galleried coaching inns common in Dickens’s time.

Anthony rose to the challenge and devised a walk to fit our requirements. Leading us at a brisk pace and imparting an impressive amount of information all along the way, he got us to the George at 1.30 pm in time for our roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

His walk took in many aspects of the city Dickens depicted, for example the Inns of Court where some of his characters lived and worked and where he himself was miserable for a time as a solicitor’s clerk. They are all still standing, unlike the Inns of Chancery that were associated with them, only some of which have survived. We did see the striking half-timbered Staple Inn, but the site of Furnival’s Inn where Dickens lived while writing his first novel Pickwick Papers is now occupied by the splendid Victorian neo-Gothic Prudential Assurance Company building. We went in and looked at a bust of Dickens in this building. He would probably not have approved, since his will specifically forbade monuments to him – one of the many pieces of information we gleaned from Anthony’s commentary.

In fact it’s a miracle that any of the buildings Dickens knew survived the developers and the Blitz of the second world war. Where the Victorian sites have disappeared, Anthony used old paintings or engravings and readings from the novels to give us the feel of the places Dickens knew: for example the filthy Fleet river, now underground, that used to run under where the Holborn viaduct now rises, through the slum area where Fagin operated. To build up the grim picture Anthony told us of the prisons where rather a lot of Dickens’s characters ended up – Newgate on the site of the Old Bailey, where Fagin was hanged; the Marshalsea, home to Little Dorrit, which stood in Southwark.

Why a Dickens Day for a Brontë Society group? Well, why not. Dickens was a contemporary of the Brontës and his London was the one Charlotte visited. She herself was interested in its institutions and visited Newgate as well as the hospital for the insane, Bedlam. In our reading group we explore a range of 19th century writers whose works put those of the Brontës in context. And fostering links with other literary societies whose members share our interest in the 19th century can only be a good thing.

We arrive at The George Inn

Overall impression of the weekend
Marina Saegerman

I have been to the National Portrait Gallery on many occasions before and knew the portraits of the Brontës to be seen there. I was very excited however at seeing (for the very first time) the original Richmond portrait of Charlotte and Mrs Gaskell. This was a real bonus for our visit to the National Portrait Gallery. And on top of that we had a very passionate guide who could tell us so many interesting facts about the portraits (how they came into the possession of the NPG, how restoration work had been done, etc…).

The whole weekend was just great and exciting (both walks, lunches, company, theatre visit including my surprise conversation with Bud, the American calligrapher who happened to sit just next to us in the theatre (life really is full of surprises!!!!, …) but if I have to pick out one particular thing – the Richmond portrait is it!

A hundred years ago: the Pensionnat demolished

2010-10-03T05:24:00.008Z

It is now, in the first weeks of autumn, exactly 100 years ago that the Pensionnat building was torn down. A sad anniversary.

At the beginning of September the final decision had been made, and published in newspapers. The illustration here is from the Chronique des Travaux Publics (4 September 1910): "The pick-axe of the demolisher will soon bring down what is left of the old Quartier Isabelle".

At this time the Pensionnat had become an 'ordinary' school, an 'école communale', as it was named in this note.

Much of the quarter had already been torn down in the previous year. It seems likely that this demolition work will have started at the end of September, and will have taken several weeks. It is not entirely clear but it very much seems that by 1 November the Pensionnat was no more. It will never be forgotten though.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Meeting of Dutch members of the Brussels Brontë Group in Rotterdam

2010-09-29T17:41:00.010Z

Guido and Nelleke van Rijn, Jenny Hofman, Maureen Peeck-O'Toole and Marcia Zaaijer meet in the Trompenburg Gardens, Kralingen, Rotterdam

On Saturday 25th of September the Dutch Branch of the Brussels Brontë Group met in Rotterdam. From one of our earlier meetings we learned that we not only share our love for the Brontë-sisters, but that we also like to dwell between plants, shrubs and trees. So we met in the Trompenburg Gardens and Arboretum in Kralingen, since 1895 a part of Rotterdam.

The history of these gardens started in 1825 as part of a house in the country. Most of these country houses disappeared in the 19th and 20th centuries because of the ever-increasing need for houses for the common people of Rotterdam, but Trompenburg survived and its garden became a real park. For the greater part of its history Trompenburg belonged to the Van Hoey Smith family, but since 1958 it is a foundation and the park is open to the public. No ‘allée defendue’ here as in the Pensionnat, though there are beautiful hidden places, where in summertime you can sit quietly and read a book.

In one of the newly required parts of the arboretum there is a tea-house, a good place to renew our acquaintance and talk Brontë. In the afternoon we were lucky that during our walk it was dry and sunny, so we could really enjoy this greenest part of Rotterdam.

Our next chapter was Hoofdtuk II (Chapter Two), a grand café and restaurant decorated with books and serving good food and a nice environment to talk Brontë again.

We hope to continue meeting and talking Brontë in future gatherings in the Netherlands and we look forward to see you all in October in Brussels.

Marcia Zaaijer
Photographs by Eric Ruijssenaars

Visitors from Northern Irish Brontë Country

2010-09-12T14:53:00.022Z

Northern Irish visitors with Helen MacEwan in Grand Place; in front of the "unofficial" Brontë plaque in rue Terarken with guide Myriam Campinaire and other Brussels enthusiasts; having a drink after the walk

Six members of the Northern Irish branch of the Brontë Society, led by Robert Logan and Margaret Livingston, visited Brussels over the weekend of 11-12 September and met members of our group on a guided walk arranged to coincide with their visit. During it they had a taste of Brussels weather as it poured with rain for the first hour, but it cleared up enough to take a photo on the cobblestones of rue Terarken, where we took them to get a feel of Brussels in the 1840s.

The Irish visitors had interesting stories of the activities organised by their own branch, including a 10-day trip to Sicily where they were invited by an Italian envoy to Ireland keen to promote his region and specifically the Bronte town and area in Sicily which is believed to be the inspiration for the surname. For those not familiar with the story, Nelson was made Duke of Bronte by the King of Sicily in return for military services. Since Nelson was a hero of Patrick Brontë, who was born Patrick Brunty or Prunty in County Down, Northern Ireland, when Patrick went to England to study and registered at Cambridge University he decided to change his name to the grander-sounding Brontë. That at any rate is one theory as to why he changed the spelling.

The manor house on the Bronte estate is now used as a conference centre. But as far as I know no Brontë literary conference has ever been held there. An idea for the future?!

(Another idea: a visit of Brussels members to Sicily, following in the footsteps of the Northern Irish branch?)

Patrick was one of 10 children and there are numerous Brontës today in Northern Ireland. One of the Irish visitors, a teacher, told us that at one point she had an Emily Brontë and an Anne Brontë in her class – curiously, though, the original pronounciation of “Prunty” has been retained!

It would certainly be interesting to visit the beautiful Brontë Country in Northern Ireland. The Brontë Society has organised trips there in the past and we hope there will be another one in the not too distant future. In the meantime we can dream about a visit to Sicily!

Helen MacEwan

Interpreters switch off their mikes to listen to Eng Lit gems read by Brussels Brontë Group members

2010-08-16T18:17:00.005Z

On August 3 two stalwarts of the Brussels Brontë Group, Richard Fletcher and Sherry Vosburgh, took part in an English intensive course for Commission interpreters at the Borschette Centre. They strutted their stuff as readers of literary extracts in a Powerpoint presentation by interpreter and trainer Rosalind Perkins on Historical and Literary Links between Britain and Belgium.

The audience of interpreters, who work from their respective mother tongues into English, came mostly from the new EU countries. The course, organised by Kate Davies and Rosalind Perkins, was designed to improve their colleagues' language skills and their knowledge of the culture and history of Britain and other English-speaking countries.

Participants were welcomed by the music of Henry Purcell, one of several British composers who featured during the week. Rosalind Perkins emphasized the historical and literary links between Britain and Belgium, from the time of the wool trade to Waterloo, from Queen Victoria and her Uncle Leopold to the First World War, prominently featuring the Brontë sisters and their stay at the Pensionnat Heger.

Interpreter Richard Fletcher and retired translator Sherry Vosburgh read excerpts from Charlotte Brontë, Mrs Gaskell, Byron, Thackeray and several War poets. A walk followed in the steps of the Brontës, led by the knowledgeable and animated guide, Myriam Campinaire. The readers and guide all received little Belgian souvenirs of an enjoyable and educational cultural event - a first for the Brussels Brontë Group. What next, I wonder?

Sherry Vosburgh with contributions by Rosalind Perkins

The cobblestones of rue Terarken

2010-07-30T19:37:00.019+01:00

Rue Terarken/ Terarkenstraat beside the Palais des Beaux-Arts, off rue Ravenstein, is practically the only surviving stretch of the narrow cobbled streets of the Quartier Isabelle where the Brontës lived in the 1840s. It is very close to the site of Rue Isabelle and the Pensionnat Heger. Most of the Quartier Isabelle disappeared under re-development in the early 20th century.

It was a shock to read, in Selina Busch's report about the Brussels Group events in April, that the original cobblestones of the Rue Terarken had been replaced. They were the ones Charlotte and Emily had walked upon! However much had changed in the Quartier Isabelle, at least they had survived. Until last August, 2009.

If only I could retrieve one of them, I thought, so I wrote to the Palais des Beaux-Arts (BOZAR). As always they were very helpful. They referred me to a lady working at the Brussels Transport Infrastructure Department (Beliris), Priscille Bernard. And she very kindly replied she had managed to save three of the stones! She explained there had been two kinds of stone. These three are probably the kind you can see on the right-hand side of the photograph of the street before it was re-paved.

Rue Terarken before re-paving

Some weeks ago I went to Brussels to collect them. For me it was quite exciting. To have a cobblestone, like having the Brontë stamp mentioned earlier this year on this blog, would be wonderful for my Brussels Brontë collection. As always, the first thing I did after arriving was to go to Rue Terarken. It was a rather warm sunny day, and it felt great to be in Brussels again, after quite some time.

Rue Terarken as it is now

That morning I had my appointment with Priscille Bernard, who you can see in the picture handing over to me the three cobblestones, in the office at the Rue du Gouvernement Provisoire. I would like here to thank Beliris and her very much! They have been incredibly helpful (with what perhaps could be regarded as a bit of a weird request)

Priscille Bernard

The cobblestones were smaller, or less deep, than I had expected. But when I looked at other roadworks I saw the stones were of the same size. They weigh about 2½ kg each. It is almost beyond imagination that they may well have the footsteps of the Brontë sisters on them. As well as the footsteps of a number of readers of this article.

The two other have ended up or will end up in Kerksken and Tiel.

Marina Saegerman tells me that someone from BOZAR explained that the stones had been replaced because they have to support the weight of the heavy trucks delivering goods for BOZAR in Terarkenstraat.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Annual Brontë weekend in Haworth: a novice's experience

2010-06-14T20:37:00.016+01:00

Haworth moors

Patty Simou (on the left) with other members of the Brussels group (Maureen Peeck, Renate Hurtmanns, Helen MacEwan, Gunilla Westman and Eva Stönner) chatting to UK Brontë Society members in Haworth

This was my first time in Haworth. Already an avid fan of the Brontë literature, I was looking forward to finally walking in the place where the three sisters lived and wrote. The Brontë Society had prepared an excellent programme to highlight all that which makes the Brontës eternally interesting - their style that has inspired so many other authors of their time, but also continues to inspire authors of the present.

The choice of lectures combined all the domains the sisters engaged in, and I was pleasantly surprised that they exceeded my expectations, with all these new details to further feed my interest in them. The programme was also accentuated by the restoration of the Brontë piano, and the pleasure of an evening of music "out of this world". The notion of such an old instrument, that gave so much pleasure to the Brontës, finally being able to play music transcending all generations into the future - what an experience! The trips organised in the area also provided an insight into the region and an appreciation for the history of people and places that have formed the world we live in.

And then, there were the moors of course... Such indescribable beauty that, despite all the travels I've made, left me speechless. That vast area of all the shades of green, the absolute silence for enjoyment and reflection... This is a sight I fully recommend to all those who have not yet travelled to Haworth.

The most important aspect of this trip, however, were the people I met: the other members of the group, who embraced me in this first journey to the history of the Brontës and of Haworth and who, with their addictive interest and knowledge of the subjects, wooed me into wanting to learn more myself! Their kindness and this exchange of information and experience brings out the best in people, and has made me immerse myself into learning more and enjoy this interaction!

A truly wonderful experience all in all, to be repeated!

Patty Simou

Annual Brontë weekend in Haworth 4-7 June

2010-06-14T10:47:00.029+01:00

Main St, Haworth

This year 7 members from Belgium and 3 from the Netherlands travelled to Haworth to attend the annual Brontë ("AGM") weekend. For some of the Brussels members it was their first visit to Haworth. The Brontë Society had prepared the usual interesting mix of events: a concert, talks, interviews with writers and with an artist, a graphologist talking about the Brontës' handwriting, a book auction, an evening of entertainment by members, guided walks and a full-day excursion.

Apart from the Brontë Society programme, for those with any spare time or energy there were other things going on in the village "on the fringes" of the AGM. Some Brussels members rode on the Worth Valley steam railway and saw the station used in the film The Railway Children. Others stayed up until 3 a.m. on Sunday to go on a ghost hunt organised by the Black Bull, Branwell Brontë's local, which of course boasts at least one haunted room and still houses Branwell's Chair. Bleary-eyed members who attended told us next day about this "psychic event" which included a séance using the chair and a visit to the churchyard in the small hours.

The weekend started on Friday afternoon with a interview with the artist Victoria Brookland about her exhibition of paintings inspired by dresses in the Brontë Parsonage Museum collection.

The evening event was a magical occasion: the opportunity to hear a concert using Emily's tall "cabinet" piano, restored thanks to a donation from an American member, the first time it has been heard since the Brontës' times. Emily was a keen player, and of course studied the piano here in Brussels as well as teaching it to young pupils at the Pensionnat Heger. The restored piano is now back in Patrick's study and as it was a fine evening we could listen either in the Parsonage (in the hall or sitting on the stairs) or in the front garden at the top of the village, adjoining the churchyard, with the moors beyond.

Concert in the Parsonage with Emily's piano

Saturday, a day of brilliant sunshine, started with an interview with the children's writer Robert Swindells about his novel Follow a Shadow, in which a teenage boy's Water Mitty-like fantasy life involves Branwell Brontë and we see the Parsonage through his eyes on a school visit to Haworth. This was followed by Lyndall Gordon, author of the biography of Charlotte Brontë A Passionate Life, speaking of the Brontës' influence on Emily Dickinson, once described as "a kind of left-over Brontë". Many parallels came to light apart from the obvious autobiographical ones (strong father figure, closeness to siblings, importance of home and homesickness when away).

In the afternoon we had an auction of books left to the Society by a member, a garden tea party and the AGM itself, and in the evening we listened to Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, talking to the American feminist literary critic Elaine Showalter, author of A Literature of their Own, which Lucasta told us she read in a single night as a student when she was supposed to be studying Milton! Elaine told us about the reactions to the Brontës of American 19th century readers who, unlike their British counterparts, did not find them shocking or "coarse". They took Jane Eyre to their hearts at once, appreciating in particular her egalitarian words to Rochester ("Equal, as we are").

Lucasta Miller and Elaine Showalter

On Sunday morning we could choose between a walk over the moors to the "Brontë falls", or around Haworth with a local historian, both in the rain! In the afternoon we were introduced to the art of graphology by Diane Simpson, who got us analysing our own handwriting and that of various famous personalities, including Lord Nelson, who signed himself "Nelson and Brontë" (Brontë being one of his titles, which is what is thought to have inspired Patrick Brunty to change his name) before moving on to the four Brontë siblings. This was followed by a service in Haworth church where Patrick preached for so many years. A church service of remembrance and celebration of the Brontë family is always held over the weekend with an address or lecture on a Brontë theme.

Brontë Falls

Patricia De Gray on the "Brontë Stone Chair"

To round off the day we had a meal in the Old White Lion with entertainment (poems, songs, readings and a comedy sketch) provided by members.

Monday was as always taken up with a full-day excursion and this year's was to places associated with Branwell and Emily Brontë's periods of employment in the Halifax area. These periods ended of course in their return to the Parsonage, driven home again by homesickness in Emily's case and in Branwell's by his losing his job as a railway clerk. We visited the lovely town of Luddenden where he stayed when working at stations on the new railway, and stopped at Law Hill House where Emily worked briefly as a teacher. We also visited places nearby that she would have known: the site of High Sunderland Hall which may have inspired Wuthering Heights, and Shibden Hall, whose unconventional owner Anne Lister had been the subject of a BBC series the previous week.

The Lord Nelson in Luddenden, frequented by Branwell Brontë when he was working as a clerk on the Leeds and Manchester Railway.

Shibden Hall

On Tuesday morning it was time to pack up and take leave of our favourite haunts in and around the village – the moor walks, bookshops, favourite pub or tea room, and of course the Parsonage Museum itself. For many this annual pilgrimage has long been a fixture in their calendar, and I'm sure that some of this year's first-time visitors will be returning too.

Eva Stönner and Gunilla Westman, two of the first-time visitors to Haworth from Brussels

Helen MacEwan

The Life of Charlotte Brontë and Villette: Angus Easson and Sandro Jung at the annual Brussels Brontë weekend

2010-05-02T07:12:00.011+01:00

Brussels member Emily Waterfield reports on the talks given by Professors Angus Easson and Sandro Jung at our 4th annual Brontë weekend in Brussels.

For a report on all the activities over the weekend see the following post by Selina Busch.

The weekend was attended by several members from the UK, including Sally McDonald who chairs the Brontë Society's membership committee.

When her Life of Charlotte Brontë was published in 1857, Elizabeth Gaskell said she would never write another biography. The celebrated social and Unitarian novelist had, in addition to the emotional challenge of writing about her recently deceased friend, faced so many complaints and threats of legal action over the Life that it had to be rewritten for republication almost immediately.

On the bicentenary of Gaskell’s birth, editor of the Oxford Classics edition of the Life, Professor Angus Easson spoke to the Brussels Brontë Group about the role of the Group’s home town in Gaskell’s research, and the problems caused by reporting on the Brussels years.

Having accepted the invitation from Patrick Brontë to write the life of his daughter Gaskell was keen to bring the same “charm of locality and sense of detail” to the Life that had already characterised her novels Mary Barton, Cranford and North & South. She quickly realised that a visit to Brussels was needed. Like Professor Easson himself, she visited the cathedral, Royal Park and Belliard steps that feature in the novel, as well as many key Villette locations since destroyed.

Gaskell’s investigations were however made more delicate by the fact that when Villette was translated into French, the fictitious city name was changed to ‘Bruxelles’. Individuals portrayed in the novel were thus left with even less to mask their identity and felt understandably wary of welcoming a second English novelist into their homes.

Undaunted, French-speaking Gaskell made contact with locals including the widow of the former English chaplain and the Brussels chief of police. Although failing to win an audience with Madame Heger (the inspiration for the almost certainly slanderous character of Madame Beck), Gaskell was able to meet with Charlotte’s beloved Monsieur Heger (Monsieur Paul).

Her careful investigations were not however enough to stop debate around the accuracy of the final book: a debate which continues today.

Speaking to the Brussels Group later the same day Professor Sandro Jung considered Villette and investigations of a different sort. His talk on ‘Curiosity in Villette’ described Lucy Snow as “an emotionally motivated detective”, using curiosity to understand the world. In contrast, Madame Beck is a “cold, spying, curious female” with no emotional attachment to what she sees.

A third “female gaze” in the novel is supplied by Miss Marchmont who, following the death of her lover, sees the world from a negatively emotional perspective. This contrasts with Lucy’s growth towards successful human relationships and reciprocated love.

These various ways in which the female sees have been neglected even by feminists in critiques of Villette, which have instead focused on the male gaze and how females are seen, said Professor Jung. His full book manuscript on ‘Brontës and Curiosity’ will be published by Associated University Presses in 2011.

Professor Easson has taught at the universities of Newcastle upon Tyne, London (The Royal Holloway College) and Salford, where he was professor of English until his retirement in 2000. He has published widely on Romantic and Victorian literature, and is currently working on supplements to the Pilgrim Edition of the Letters of Charles Dickens and a book on Gerard Manley Hopkins.

Professor Sandro Jung taught in the UK for ten years at the University of Wales Lampeter and the University of Salford. He moved to Ghent University at the beginning of 2010 to take up the University Chair in Early Modern British literature. Professor Jung sits on the editorial board of Brontë Studies. He is in the process of organizing a workshop on the poetry of the Brontës at Ghent University.

Emily Waterfield

Report on April 2010 weekend

2010-05-01T11:59:00.034Z

There are always good reasons to return to Brussels and one reason, which could also be used as the theme of this weekend, is curiosity.

Curiosity led Mrs. Gaskell to Brussels to do research for her biography on Charlotte Brontë, a story that would be unravelled during one lecture this weekend and curiosity, or observation, was a theme of another lecture on Villette.

Rue Royale

For myself, I’m always curious to see Brussels again, even though I’ve visited the city many times before. And despite some nerves and apprehension, I was looking forward to coming to the Brussels Brontë Group April weekend. I was curious too to find out what remained the same or had changed, whether I would see familiar faces again, or meet new people. It is always a journey of discoveries, however small or big.

The start of the weekend, Friday 23rd, promised to be a wonderful first discovery. Last year I met an artist on our Friday evening get-together, Franklin, who told me about his work. I was totally fascinated and curious to see the real thing and on Friday afternoon I finally got the chance to visit his studio, in the company of a small group of equally curious BBG members. In an old house in the Chaussée de Waterloo, in the suburb of Elsene, we were warmly welcomed by Franklin who showed us up to his truly artistic and atmospheric studio, which he called a ‘Temple’. All I knew was that his work was inspired by the Brontës and their works, but none of our party was prepared for what we were about to see, including myself. The studio, or exhibition space, was in itself an ‘Experience’ with special music and lighting accompanying a mood to wrap around the works. I was in awe and totally transfixed by it all, most of all the magnificent works themselves, which seemed to come from another world. It is impossible to start explaining them, which I won’t attempt here, but I’m glad that the Brontë Society has given this clearly gifted artist the chance to exhibit his unique work in Haworth next year. So keep your eyes and ears open!

Friday evening saw the official start of our weekend with what is usually a relaxed get-together to welcome old and new members, travelling long distances in some cases. For a few years now, one of the lecture rooms of the University of Saint-Louis has been put at our disposal, for which we have been and will remain truly grateful.

A lovely varied buffet was spread out on some tables, with each of us bringing a little something to share with everyone, together with drinks provided by the university.

Welcome buffet

Quickly the room started to fill with old and new faces, some of which I have got to know since I joined the group. Others I had met before in England, as it was lovely to discover a few Brontë Society members from the UK who had joined us for this weekend. It was also a privilege and joy to have Sally MacDonald joining us this weekend, who is the Chair of the Membership Committee of the Brontë Society. Yet it is always lovely to meet some new people on one of these informal occasions, and I suppose curiosity in each of us sets us off talking to others, exchanging ideas and discovering each other's interests concerning the Brontës. A small interlude of entertainment, in the form of a Brontë quiz livened things up even further and it was a shame that time flew by so quickly with the evening ending in good spirits.

Saturday has become the most official and academic day of our yearly April weekend, and this Saturday 24th April, two lectures were on our programme which I was looking forward to very much.

Students and members listening to Angus Easson

In the morning, Professor Angus Easson gave a lecture called On the Brussels trail: Elizabeth and The Life of Charlotte Brontë. In his open address, where the audience was invited to interrupt and participate, he talked about the questions and research involved for a writer establishing facts for a biography. How did Mrs. Gaskell manage to give a ‘truthful’ account of Charlotte Brontë’s life while trying to get co-operation from those still living? How did she go about gathering stories and material and visiting places and meeting people? Her detective work was one of persistence and curiosity in which she had a nose for the smallest details. I was interested to hear of her coming to Brussels and even managing to speak to M. Heger while he still lived in the pensionnat. Prof. Easson’s very interesting talk was followed by a lively debate with questions from the audience; perhaps a tad more lively then expected by many (those who were present will remember this).

Selina Busch hands Angus Easson a reproduction of one of her drawings of the Pensionnat

Isabelle Peere (our host at the university), Angus Easson, Helen MacEwan and Sally McDonald, Chair of the Brontë Society Membership Committee

We then had a break for lunch at the Comic Strip Museum restaurant.

Members having lunch in the Strip Cartoon Museum

In the afternoon we welcomed our next speaker, Dr Sandro Jung of Ghent University. This was a change in the schedule, for originally a meeting with author Jude Morgan was planned; he had to cancel and Dr Jung was luckily able to step into the breach only a few days before our weekend. Thank goodness! And we couldn’t have been more fortunate, for his lecture about Villette tied in well with Prof. Easson’s address that morning.

Sandro Jung with Helen MacEwan

His lecture, Curiosity in Villette, explored the theme of curiosity, observation, investigation and gaze in Charlotte’s novel. In his argument these ‘detective’ forms are used to project the different emotional perspectives of the main female characters in the novel. He explained that each character used this as an instrument for understanding (or even using) the world around them, all on a different kind of level.

Marina Saegerman hands Sandro Jung one of her Brontë poems worked in calligraphy

Unfortunately, as we came to the end of our afternoon, there wasn’t that much time left to get an audience feed-back, but all the interesting views and points left us with more than enough to think about. I find that no matter how often you hear new points of views in lectures you might either agree or disagree with, you’re always left with some new insight which enhances your understanding of the novel(s).

Sandro Jung after his talk

Thanks to these wonderful two speakers, this eventful and mind-boggling day will no doubt have a lasting impact on many of us; I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to miss them.

Last, but not least, we also paid special thanks to Isabelle Peere for all her efforts in making this weekend possible.

Isabelle Peere gets a present

Our two speakers kindly agreed to join a few of us when we agreed to go to the Grand Place for a well-deserved drink. As we stepped outside the university building, it appeared Brussels was bathing in warm sunshine when we walked towards the centre of the old town, meeting large crowds of tourists and shoppers that busy Saturday afternoon along the way.

A nice coincidence happened; when we were sitting in one of the old cafés in the Grand Place, we heard instruments playing outside and two giant puppets (called Jan and Jannika?) appeared. An authentic, old Brussels folkloric scene took place. This was a scene from Prof. Easson’s talk that morning when he mentioned Mrs Gaskell’s sharp observation of old Brussels history and which she later wrote in her biography.

After some farewells and goodbyes it was off to the Rue Teracken, as I always feel obliged to simply walk in that old, original street during each visit to Brussels, and say hello to the old quarter of which so little remains. I was also curious to see if the plaque at the end of that street was still up. It was…luckily! But oh dear, the street itself had lost its original stone paving. To my sadness I would no longer be able to touch and feel the old cobbles which I believed Charlotte and Emily might once have walked on. It was, I saw, paved with new cobbles and grey strips of hard stone. From the few places and streets still remaining and which belonged to the old Isabelle quarter, even the Rue Terarcken had not been spared the consequences of a make-over.

On our last day, Sunday 25th, a guided walk around Brontë places was led by Myriam Campinaire in the morning. I personally didn’t go on that, as I’ve been before, but for those who went and hadn’t been familiar with the old streets, it certainly was an eye-opener. Around noon we all met up for lunch on the roof terrace restaurant of the Museum of Musical Instruments with its fabulous views of Brussels, where we enjoyed some good food, a glass of beer or wine, and more enjoyable conversations.

Lunch in the Musical Instruments Museum restaurant

For those interested we crossed over the square to the quieter garden of the Belle Vue, where we continued our conversations and discussions in what was a well-attended meeting, chaired by Helen. Now we have become a considerably bigger group in a short space of time, it was a good idea to take stock and discuss what ideas we had for the future. There is a lot of work involved in organising events, so it was nice to get a positive feedback from those willing to offer their help.

Sadly, at the end of our meeting it was time go home and say our farewells to members and friends. It was time to take my train back to the Netherlands. I must say, I had a wonderful weekend to look back on, my curiosity rewarded, my energies replenished and lovely people I spoke to.

I will hopefully see many again in a month’s time or so, when we will have the chance to meet in Haworth, during the Brontë Society’s AGM.
See you there perhaps?!

Selina Busch

Interview with Helen MacEwan by the European Commission magazine

2010-04-29T16:55:00.005Z

The weekly staff newspaper of the European Commission (where I work as a translator) did an interview with me about the Brussels Brontë Group. Many members of the group work at the EU institutions in Brussels. The newspaper has a circulation of around 50,000.

Helen MacEwan, an English translator in DGT, talks to Commission en direct about the Brontë sisters’ connection with Brussels and the society she set up to celebrate one of the world’s most fascinating literary families.

How did the Brussels branch of the Brontë Society start?
Soon after moving to Brussels, I re-read Charlotte Brontë’s Villette and became fascinated by her two-year stay in Brussels, on which the novel is based. I started to read more about her Brussels years and the places associated with her stay here. I was already a member of the UK Brontë Society and it seemed logical to start up a branch here because of the importance of Brussels in Charlotte Brontë’s writing. The Society has members worldwide and there were already some in Belgium but no events or meetings had ever been organised here. The group has grown from a small core of about eight people who met in my sitting-room in 2006, to around 150 on our mailing list today. Our events are open to everyone, not just Brontë Society members.

What is the connection between the Brontë sisters and Brussels?
The two eldest of the three sisters, Charlotte (then 25) and Emily (23) came to Brussels in 1842 to study. The family was not well off and they had been employed as governesses but hated the work and wanted to start their own school. They needed to improve their French in order to teach it. They stayed at the Pensionnat Heger, a girl’s boarding school near Place Royale, where they taught English, as well as learning French and also German.

How much of an influence did their time in Brussels have on their work?
On Emily’s work, probably not much, although in Brussels she read some German romantic literature which may have influenced her novel Wuthering Heights. That she was motivated enough to come here at all is amazing, since she rarely left Yorkshire and was always homesick away from the family home on the moors.
But on Charlotte the influence of her time in Brussels was huge. Two of her four novels, The Professor and Villette, are based on her time here, and in Villette she portrays the man she fell in love with, her teacher Monsieur Heger. Villette is about the experience of being an expat in Brussels and when you read the novel after living here it seems much more vivid.

Why do you think that Wuthering Heights has had such an enormous influence on all aspects of culture and continues to be reinterpreted time and time again?
As well as being endlessly analysed by learned critics, it has, of course, great popular appeal and there have been countless films and other adaptations. It fascinates each generation anew. Like Romeo and Juliet, it is a love story, a tragic one with no conventional happy ending – Heathcliff and Cathy are never united in life, since she marries someone else and then dies young. It is, in fact, a very odd novel, far removed from a conventional romantic love story. Cathy dies halfway through, and for the second half Heathcliff is obsessed by the idea of being united to her after death. It fires people’s imaginations because the passions are so intense, Emily Brontë is such a dramatic and poetical story-teller, Heathcliff has become everyone’s idea of the romantic Byronic hero, and the wild moorland setting and supernatural elements make the story so haunting. The hero and heroine are larger than life, like characters in an epic, a myth or a Greek tragedy.

Do you think the Brontë sisters were ahead of their time?
Their works were certainly different from other novels of the time, and shocked contemporary readers by their outspokenness. In fact, in some ways they had more affinity with the earlier Romantic period of Byron than with the more prudish Victorian literature of their own time. In a sense, they were timeless, not defined by any period. But Charlotte was ahead of her time in depicting feisty single women like Jane Eyre who worked for a living rather than the idealised and more submissive heroines of conventional Victorian novels. The youngest of the three sisters, Anne, was also ahead of her time in writing frankly about the trials of a woman in an abusive marriage in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, going into details which were thought scandalous at the time.

In your reading group, do you read other authors too?
Yes, we read 19th century literature in general. Jane Austen is always hugely popular and we also read the other main novelists of the period – Dickens, Thomas Hardy, etc.

What kind of events do you organise?
Apart from the reading group, one of our most popular activities is our regular guided walks around places in Brussels associated with the Brontës’ stay. There is a lot to see and talk about even though the school where they stayed was demolished and the site is now occupied by the Palais des Beaux-Arts.
We also hold regular talks on all aspects of the Brontës. Once a year, we organise a Brontë weekend. In the past, we have had audiences of up to 80 people. The group is multinational and I have been pleasantly surprised by the tremendous interest in the Brontë sisters among people of all nationalities. Many of them were previously unaware of the Brontës’ Brussels connection.

Aside from your passion for literature, what other things interest you?
My other great love is history and one reason I enjoy reading the literature of previous centuries is that it is the best way of getting the feel of a period.

Where are you from, and what has your career path been until now?
I’m British. I studied French and Spanish at university and then took a post-graduate teaching qualification. After some years teaching English as a foreign language in Spain, I moved into translation, also in Spain, working as a company translator at Deloitte, among other firms, before coming to Brussels in 2004.

Interview by Emily Macintosh

Brontës on Belgian stamps

2010-03-13T17:15:00.005Z

The Belgian post office has issued an attractive set of stamps on the subject of "a literary walk through Brussels" with pictures of famous 19th century writers who stayed in the city. They are Victor Hugo, Charles Baudelaire, Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, the Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker and - Charlotte and Emily Brontë!

The Brontës are in somewhat incongruous company, since their stay in Brussels studying French at a girls' boarding school (in 1842-43) could not have been more different from the colourful and often squalid existence of the French writers who accompany them on this set of stamps.

Victor Hugo came to Brussels with his family and his mistress, who lodged nearby, as a political refugee, fleeing Paris after Napoleon III's coup d'état. Baudelaire, author of the volume of poetry Les Fleurs du Mal which had caused a scandal, came to Belgium to escape from his creditors. Verlaine and Rimbaud were reunited in Brussels after one of the many rifts in their stormy relationship but were soon quarrelling again. After a row, Verlaine shot and slightly wounded Rimbaud, who reported him to the police. As a result, Verlaine was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

The Dutch writer in the set, Dekker, who wrote under the alias of "Multatuli" (Latin "I have suffered much"), was also a controversial figure because of his novel Max Havelaar, an indictment of Dutch colonial rule based on his own experience in the Dutch East Indies, which he wrote in Brussels.

Of all these writers, Charlotte Brontë was the only one who drew significantly on her Brussels experience in her writings.

These beautiful stamps were designed by Jan De Maesschalck and cost €5.90.

Helen MacEwan

Breaking the Brontë Mould

2010-02-28T19:42:00.025Z

In the photo, Nicholas Marsh in Brussels with Isabelle Peere (lecturer at Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis which hosted his talk), Helen MacEwan and students of the university and of the British School of Brussels

On Saturday 27 February Nicholas Marsh, who is editor of Palgrave Macmillan's Analysing Texts series and has written books for the series on authors ranging from Shakespeare and Jane Austen to Virginia Woolf, came to Brussels to analyse Wuthering Heights, one of the works he has written on. He talked about its narrative frame, one of the most fascinating aspects explored in his book on the novel.

Mr Marsh has taught in further education and secondary schools and the series, which was conceived by him, is intended first and foremost for students and is based on examination of key passages in the texts in question. He is also the author of the popular How to Begin Studying English Literature.

Our members turned out in force and we were joined by a large contingent of students of Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis which hosts our events, and a group of sixth-formers from the British School of Brussels with their teachers.

Because of the disruption of the Brussels-Paris Thalys train service, Nicholas Marsh had driven from Paris, where he lives, to be with us at 11 a.m. We're very grateful to him for accepting our invitation to talk to us and for getting up early to do so! His talk was much enjoyed for he speaks as lucidly and interestingly as he writes.

After dispersing for lunch on this surprisingly pleasant sunny day given the terrible weather we've been enduring for so long, we returned to watch a documentary film on the Brontë family. Both talk and film provoked plenty of discussion.

Emily Waterfield was there and has written this report on the day:

Two events hosted by the Brussels Brontë Group on 27 February aimed in their different ways to shake up received notions about the Brontës. A biographical film gave a clear introduction to the family, from Patrick’s marriage to Maria Branwell in 1812, through the lives and deaths of his wife and six children. It steered clear of many myths and much of the romance that have grown up around the Brontë family, looking instead at the everyday and the factual. Notably, the film focused on the many houses and interiors the sisters would have known and which feature in all their works, rather than on the Yorkshire moors so famously associated with them.

The scholar Nicholas Marsh meanwhile gave a presentation on the multi-layered and often problematic structure of Wuthering Heights. Author of the ‘Analysing Texts’ study of Wuthering Heights, Mr Marsh argued that by examining its language and voices we can appreciate far more of it than through a simple understanding of the story’s events.

By analysing selective passages narrated by Lockwood and Nelly Dean, he suggested that Emily was deliberately “breaking the frame” by adopting a subversive narrative structure.

One way of understanding this would, he said, be in terms of the Marxist critic Terry Eagleton’s theory of ‘possible consciousness’, whereby no-one is capable of expressing more than the understanding imposed by the period in which they live – and furthermore according to which any effort to go beyond this leads to a breakdown of language. Seen in this light, Cathy and Heathcliff’s bond goes beyond what Emily Brontë’s time could consciously deal with.

Mr Marsh’s own way of describing the limitations imposed by the structure was to suggest seeing the main story (Cathy and Heathcliff) as a flood, and Nellie or Lockwood as a hosepipe, vainly attempting to channel the torrent.

We are made aware of this limitation from the opening pages of the book. Lockwood begins his narrative with a redundant date: 1801, apparently in an attempt to impose some factual order on the events that follow. The chapter is then dominated by vague guesswork (“Here we have the whole establishment of domestics, I suppose”) and efforts to translate the unfamiliar northern language into Lockwood’s own affected terms (“‘Wuthering’ being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in story weather”.)

Nelly is also a “guesser” whose assumptions and understanding do not match the responses of the novel’s main protagonists. When Cathy lies dead, Nelly tries to comfort Heathcliff with talk of “heaven…lamb…child…her life closed in a gentle dream.” Heathcliff in response “dashed his head against the knotted trunk and…howled…like a savage beast.”

As Mr Marsh said, “There is an insistent feeling that this is being seen through a limited point of view.”

Why then impose this strange structure on passages so powerful that they still move us today?

There was of course no suggestion that Nelly or Lockwood represent Emily’s own voice, or that she would have been incapable of adopting a more empathetic persona: the striking differences between Lockwood’s educated vocabulary, Nelly’s sentimentality and Heathcliff’s monosyllables, for instance, show her to be capable of convincingly changing voice at will.

In part, the audience were told, the narrative structure echoes the limits of other “frames” in the novel: the boundaries of Thrushcross Grange, crossed by the younger Cathy despite her father’s efforts, or the frame of the elder Cathy’s coffin, broken by Heathcliff.

In part, added Mr Marsh, Nelly and Lockwood can also be seen as Emily’s critique of early Victorian attitudes.

But above all, he said, Wuthering Heights is “a book about imposing unreasonable demands”.

This attitude helps us to understand Lockwood’s strange dream in Chapter 3 of the book, when he is subjected to 490 lengthy parts of a sermon and reacts angrily to the preacher’s assumption that his brethren will listen to more. “Seventy times seven have I plucked up my hat and been about to depart – Seventy times seven have you preposterously forced me to resume my seat. The four hundred and ninety first is too much.” The riot against him provoked by his outrage suggests he should have gone along with the unreasonable “first of the 71st.”

As the dying Cathy says to Heathcliff, “If I dare you now, will you follow?”

Emily Waterfield

In the bottom photo, Nicholas Marsh with members of the Brussels Brontë Group. From left to right: Patty Simou, Maureen Peeck, Myriam Campinaire, Nicole Verhaghen, Nicholas Marsh, Helen MacEwan, Sherry Vosburgh, Marina Saegerman, Brigitte Merle, Patricia de Gray

Brussels Brontë Group in The Times

2010-02-24T19:24:00.006Z

An article in the Times on 22 February mentions the Brussels Brontë Group's talk on Elizabeth's Gaskell's Life of Charlotte Brontë , scheduled on 24 April as part of our annual weekend of events.

The article summarises the events taking place throughout the year to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Mrs Gaskell's birth:

"It is time to move on from those corpse-strewn specials of Elizabeth Gaskell’s Cranford shown on television at Christmas. For fans of the increasingly popular Victorian novelist, the mood of 2010 is distinctly cheerier, this being the year they celebrate their heroine’s bicentenary."

Many of these events will be in Manchester, where Mrs Gaskell spent her married life and where you can see the house she lived in from 1850-1865. If you can get to Manchester this year, there are interesting exhibitions and a performance of the History Wardrobe (historywardrobe.com) on the Clothes of Cranford, showing how Gaskell used clothing to reveal character in her novels. Some of us have seen the History Wardrobe's Jane Eyre demonstration in Haworth and look forward to seeing their popular Undressing Mr Darcy some time!

After listing what is happening in Manchester, the article goes on to refer to our event here in Brussels:

"Adding an international flavour to the year, a weekend event in Brussels, being organised for April 24-25 by the Belgian branch of the Brontë Society (thebrusselsbrontegroup.org) commemorates Mrs Gaskell’s close association with Charlotte Brontë, of whom she was the first and best-known biographer. A talk by Professor Angus Easson, editor of Mrs Gaskell’s “Life of Charlotte Brontë” for the Oxford World’s Classics series, will cover the painstaking first-hand research she did in Brussels into the time Miss Brontë spent there."

Incidentally, our speaker, Angus Easson, will be coming from Manchester, where he lives and has taught for many years.

Elizabeth Gaskell travelled to Brussels to research her Brontë biography. She was one of Charlotte Brontë's best friends as well as her biographer and it's fitting that we will be remembering her in Brussels in her bicentenary year.

Helen MacEwan

You can read the whole article in The Times online at http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article7035482.ece

Jacques Rivette's Hurlevent at the Cinematek in Brussels

2010-01-27T18:32:00.007Z

At 9 pm on 26 January several Brussels Brontë Group members braved the cold to see Jacques Rivette's Hurlevent (1985) at the Cinematek (Film Museum). Renate Hurtmanns wrote the impressions below (translated into English by Sherry Vosburgh). Many thanks to Franklin for letting us know the film was showing.

This was a faithful adaptation of the first part of Wuthering Heights, set in the 1930s in Haute-Provence - which in its way is just as wild and convincing as the Yorkshire moors and an excellent background for the violent and dramatic emotions of the main characters.

Fabienne Babe was impressive as a more modern but utterly credible Catherine. Only the women kept their original names (Catherine, Isabelle and Nelly) - the male characters (except for Joseph) were given French first names.

The only minus point to my mind was Heathcliff (Roch in the film), who didn't really correspond to his gypsy image as described by Emily Bronte and as imagined by us when reading the book - either physically (blond) or by his rather wooden acting, which was not passionate enough. The pale and weak side of Edgar Linton (called Olivier in the film) was perhaps a little exaggerated by the actor playing that role.

But apart from these negative comments, we had two hours of excellent cinema which was very original compared with the other classical adaptations of Wuthering Heights. It was worth the trip late at night in the freezing Brussels cold. I think you missed something!

Renate Hurtmanns (translated by Sherry Vosburgh)

Book review: Justine Picardie's Daphne

2010-01-09T17:10:00.007Z

I recently finished reading this book, which took my interest due to the reference to Branwell Brontë. The book relates to part of the life of Daphne du Maurier, more specifically the period 1957-1960 when she was doing research for her book on Branwell Brontë The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë. Daphne became fascinated by Branwell Brontë and started a correspondence with J. A Symington.

The book is fiction but is based on a true story. It tells Daphne’s story during that period on the one hand, the story of Symington who replies to Daphne’s letters on the other hand, but also the story of a young woman in present-day London who also became fascinated by this correspondence and was trying to write a dissertation on du Maurier and the Brontës but was struggling with it.

The structure of the book seems at first strange, but once you get to know the characters involved, it becomes easy to read and as a reader you are drawn into these three different sides of the story.

I liked the book very much and I think all Brontë and du Maurier fans will also like reading it.

Marina Saegerman

Brussels Brontë Group Annual Christmas Lunch

2009-12-14T17:55:00.010Z

In the photos: members enjoy the entertainment provided by Sherry Vosburgh and Sheila Fordham, sing carols and try to answer the quiz questions! The winning team displays its prize.

On Sunday 13 December 2009 25 members of the group met for lunch at the Brussels restaurant "L'Epéron d'Or" which is an old acquaintance of our group's as we have met there several times.

The atmosphere of the restaurant, which is furnished in an old style, fits very well with the spirit of the Brontë group. The meal was delicious and tasty but on this occasion, the guests were regaled not only with the food but also with the surprise entertainment by Sheila Fordham and Sherry Vosburgh. The former delighted us with a poem written by her and inspired by the Brontës' Christmas day (see below), and the latter sang rousing Swedish and English carols. We all did our best to sing along!

Also this year, we had an entertaining quiz on the Brontës' lives and works and an invitation from Franklin, who is to have an exhibition at the Parsonage Museum in 2011, to visit his studio to view his work.

It was a delightful meeting with which to close the group activities in 2009.

Report by Oscar Rodriguez

Sheila's poem:

CHRISTMAS EVE IN HAWORTH

'Twas Christmas Eve in Haworth,
And all around was still,
Doors firm shut and curtains drawn,
No footstep on the hill.

'Twas Christmas Eve at The Parsonage,
And things were getting merry,
Tabby had baked some apple cakes,
And Branwell had been at the sherry!

And lo - but hark - what sound is this?
At the door a sudden knocking.
Answer the door young Branwell Patrick quipped,
As he was hanging up his stocking.

A couple stood upon the step,
In the eerie glow of the lamp,
The man dark haired and swarthy,
The girl a wild eyed scamp.

"Come in, come in," bade Charlotte,
"Come in and rest awhile,
What brings you out this Christmas Eve,
O'er moor and heath and stile?"

The young girl spake:
"We come from old Top Withens,
The farm up yonder high,
We love the moors, they are our home,
The heather, the rocks, the sky".

"We must be gone", the grim man said,
"We cannot tarry 'ere,
But thank ye for the apple cake
And 't foaming tankard of beer".

Said Anne:
"Pray take this shawl to keep you warm,
You'll catch your deaths if not,
You hurry back to hearth and home".
He said "Christmas Eve - what rot!"

The family saw the couple out,
They walked into the mist,
Whence they came, whither they go?
Do such people exist?

'Twas Christmas Eve in Haworth,
And all around was still,
"They do exist" affirmed Emily,
As she took up her quill.

Sheila Fordham

Brussels artist to exhibit in the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth

2009-12-05T17:57:00.004Z

Franklin first made contact with our group earlier this year when he came to one of our events and told me about his fervent interest in the Brontës, dating back to his childhood. His fascination with the whole Brontë family has led him to scour second-hand bookshops in Brussels for books about them. He has also been working for years on a series of drawings inspired by their lives and works. His drawings are fascinating for their symbolism and vision of the Brontës' imaginative, spiritual world. Like the Brontës, he works on a small scale (though not quite as small as that of their minuscule manuscripts!), with intricate detail painstakingly and patiently built up, one small drawing often taking months to complete.

For years Franklin's dream has been to exhibit his pictures in Haworth to be seen by as many Brontë enthusiasts as possible in the place that inspired them. As a result of his contact with our group, he travelled to Haworth (his first trip to the UK) to show his work to the staff at the Brontë Parsonage Museum. His mission was successful and they have agreed that he is to have an exhibition there in 2011.

Helen MacEwan

Franklin writes: For many years now and ever since I can remember I have been interested in the Brontës, individually and as a family, their spiritual world and their art work which is a fascinating one and unique in the history of art of our western world.

Throughout the years in my work as an artist I have been developing a project with a series of drawings and collages intuitively inspired by poems, letters, books, lives of the Brontës and now I am pleased to say that an exhibition of the collection will take place at the Parsonage Museum in Haworth in the year 2011.

I am grateful to Helen MacEwan of the Brussels Brontë Group for her help in liaising and to Jenna Holmes of the Brontë Parsonage Museum for her warm welcome in the Parsonage and interest in a future collaboration for this exhibition.

The drawings to be presented at the exhibition were patiently and thoroughly worked in detail for quite an amount of time. Thornfield Hall (size 42x30 cm) took 8 months to complete. The Kingdom of Gondal (25x19 cm) took 6 months, and there are more to follow and for the moment I am working on a homage to Branwell Brontë.

In the Brontës' works, the atmosphere of torment (in my interpretation), solitude and agitation and maybe a feeling of 'moor and mind confounded' flames with intensity to an almost divine state of mind while, in my opinion, struggling hard and with great effort to stay human.

This and the atmosphere of light, hard to capture in its essence, I tried very hard to bring out in these pictures. In all my art work, solitude and strong concentration on detail are vital to accomplish what the work demands.

I hope that some of you will be able to see the exhibition in Haworth in 2011. In the meantime, all Brussels Brontë Group / Brontë Society members are very welcome to come and see the pictures in my studio in Brussels.

Talk in Brussels by Dominique Jean, Brontë translator

2009-12-01T16:58:00.020Z

Moorland landscape

On November 17, several members of the Brontë Group attended a very interesting talk organized by the Midis de la Poésie at the Musées Royaux des Beaux Arts in Brussels. It was entitled Ecriture et Imaginaire chez les Brontës.

Dominique Jean, professor of English literature, translator and director of the Pléiade editions of the Brontës had come over from Paris on the occasion of the publishing of the second volume dedicated to the works of the Brontës in that prestigious collection. It contains a new translation of Jane Eyre and a translation of the Juvenilia.

After briefly introducing the Brontë family in the setting of Haworth, Dominique Jean outlined the genesis of the literary production of this exceptional family. He told a large audience how a box of wooden soldiers offered to Branwell by Mr Brontë excited the imagination of the children and triggered the creation of an increasingly elaborate set of stories that they first acted out in plays and later recorded in a series of miniature book-length manuscripts, composed for the most part by Charlotte and Branwell.

He showed how from these first writings to the universally recognized masterpieces, brother and sisters aimed to describe elements of the tangible world easy to name but difficult to paint with language: the weather, light, skies, spaces…

The lecture was illustrated by readings of extracts from the juvenilia and more conventional pieces by Annette Brodkom, a very talented reader. The lecturer showed the different strategies implemented by each of the four authors to convey his/her perception of the world with words.

What I found particularly interesting was the analysis of the texts through the critical eye of a translator. For example, even though he is a fervent admirer of Charlotte, he did not hesitate to show the sometimes over-emphatic aspects of her early style, the accumulation of adjectives, the numerous references and quotations, revealing perhaps an exacerbated sensitivity and desire to display her literary skills. M. Heger had not given her his wise advice yet…

I was also struck by one poem describing a landscape closed up by mountains and scattered with rocks, in complete contrast to the open moors of Haworth.

Therefore, a very interesting lecture that gave me food for thought and a new vision of some of the texts.

Myriam Campinaire

Guided Brontë walks in Brussels

2009-10-28T18:32:00.005Z

The bandstand in Parc de Bruxelles featured in Villette.

On Sunday 18 October a group of about 20 Brontë fans braved the freezing weather to meet up in front of the Chapelle Royale (the Protestant Church in Brussels) for a fascinating tour of some spots relating to Charlotte and Emily's stay in Brussels.

The tour was led by Myriam Campinaire of the Brussels Brontë Group who took us on an amazing walk, peppered with very interesting information on why and how the two sisters came to Brussels, what they did here, the places they visited, the people they met and what they thought of the Belgian people. She frequently quoted from their letters and read extracts from Charlotte's The Professor and Villette. Myriam also gave us a glimpse of Brussels in the early 1840's: a young country which had just come into existence after a civil war fought mainly in Brussels and which had seen the battle of Waterloo unfolding at its doorstep.

I am not going to go into details of the tour since it will spoil the little discoveries that one comes across, as expertly guided by Myriam (for all the people who will go on future walks). I just want to give you a brief overview of what we saw. As I mentioned the tour started out in front of the Chapelle Royale where Charlotte and Emily went every Sunday. From there we moved on to the Place Royale, where Myriam went through the history of the area in the early19th century. The square and surrounding areas were a focal point of Brussels life, since the Belgian nobility lived and worked here. We than went to the Park, where we heard about the history of the park, its design and construction. I was fascinated to hear that Peter the Great of Russia, Wellington and Robert Louis Stevenson had all visited the park and had a number of 'adventures' here.

Our next stop was the Rue Baron Horta, where we learned that the Fortis Bank building and the Palais des Beaux Arts ("Bozar") arts centre now stand on the area where the Pensionnat Heger used to stand. I am ashamed to say that I must have passed this road hundreds of times and never noticed the small plaque which the Bronte Society put up just to the left of the entrance of the Bozar building, which commemorates Charlotte's and Emily's stay in Brussels.

After walking through some small streets in the area we concluded our walk by visiting the Cathedral of Saint Michel and Saint Gudule, where Charlotte Bronte actually went to confession and which is described in great detail in her letters and Villette.

A small group of us ended our morning with a short visit to the Bellevue museum (situated right next to the Place Royale) where after fortifying ourselves with some warm soup and coffee, we visited the underground museum. To my amazement we found ourselves in a small underground city, which stretches all the way under the Place Royale and the Royal Palace. Here you can see and walk through some of the original roads and pavements and a small section of Rue Isabelle still remains. If we closed our eyes we could imagine Charlotte and Emily walking down the cobbled roads, chattering away, all excited to be on their 'European' adventure ……

All I can say in conclusion is that I will never look at this part of Brussels in the same way again and my name is definitely down on the list for future walks.

Patricia de Gray

Are you anybody, Miss Snowe?

2009-10-25T13:31:00.008Z

Readings from Villette. From left to right: Valerie Sculfor, Sally Batten, Maureen Peeck, Jennifer Rankin, Sherry Vosburgh, Zigurds Kronberg

The theme of our talk on Saturday 17 October in our usual venue (Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis) was Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette. People who read or re-read the novel after moving to Brussels agree that reading it here is illuminating both about Villette and Brussels. There are always some readers who find it difficult and unappealing, yet for many it is uniquely atmospheric and fascinating.

Maureen Peeck O'Toole's talk, Are you anybody, Miss Snowe?, by focusing on the narrator Lucy Snowe and her relationship with us, the reader, addressed some of the questions that arise about this novel. Many of these relate to the character of Lucy. Can we like her, or at least understand her and feel sympathetic towards her? What is her attitude to us, the reader? Why does she sometimes seem to deliberately mislead us or at least withhold things from us? The talk was intended to be useful for first-time readers of the novel while suggesting new ways of approaching it to those already acquainted with it. The discussion that followed and comments by people who attended suggest that the audience did indeed find it thought-provoking.

Maureen Peeck has lived in the Netherlands for much of her life and taught for many years at Utrecht University, but she was born Maureen O'Toole and brought up in Bradford close to the Bronte village, Haworth, which she visited as a child. Maureen is a founder member of the Brussels Bronte group and has always been one of its most active members.

Her talk was followed by readings of passages from Villette selected by her to illustrate it. We had five very competent readers, many with acting experience. Four were members of our group while the fifth had volunteered to join them in response to our appeal for a male reader to read M. Paul's part. The formula of talk plus readings worked well and several people said afterwards that the readings highlighted the points touched on by Maureen as well as being enjoyable in their own right.

We prepared for the talk by reading Villette in our reading group. There was so much interest that in addition to our meeting of regular members of the reading group, we organised an extra discussion just before Maureen's talk for all the other people eager to talk about the novel.

De Brontë Sisters, played by Toneelgroep DORST

2009-10-24T12:14:00.005Z

This report was written by one of our members, Marcia, who went to see the play about the Brontë sisters (see earlier Blog entry).

"Yesterday evening (22 October 2009) I saw the play ‘De Brontë Sisters’ by the Dutch company Toneelgroep Dorst. I was very curious about the play, because the actors are years older than any member of the Brontë family ever was except their father Patrick.
Would they be playing a “What if ….”, in this case “What if the Brontë Sisters had reached their sixties?”
No not at all. They simply played the lives of Charlotte, Emily, Anne and Branwell Brontë.
And they did that very well. I had to get accostumed to an actress of sixty kneeling on a chair hanging over the table like a child. But as the play continues and the Brontës age, one can completely forget the grey hair and older hands, so fascinating is it to see these four people play the Brontës with everything there is to it. In Haworth, at Cowan Bridge School, Branwell in London, Charlotte and Emily at the Pensionnat Héger in Brussels, Anne at the Robinsons, Charlotte and Anne in London with Mr. Smith, the publisher, and back in Haworth the hell the sisters live in during the years of Branwell’s addiction.
And we Brontë-fanatics have a disadvantage, because we see and hear everything, that is not quite right or of which we have a different view these days. Personally I think it is a pity, that their father Patrick is portrayed as an eccentric and not very child-loving father, almost like Mrs. Gaskell did one-and-a-half century ago. But somebody who has just come to see this play because Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights made good television not so long ago, has no problems at all with this and can look freely to an fascinating story told by good actors, performing beautifully dressed in sober surroundings.
So, if you understand Dutch, do not let my remarks keep you from seeing this play and enjoying the attention it brings to the Brontës!''

Marcia Zaaijer

If want to know more about the play and the actors: see www.toneelgroepdorst.nl (in Dutch).

More Brontë theatre coming your way; WOESTE HOOGTEN

2009-10-22T17:34:00.012Z

A cooperation of two theatre groups, Theater Antigone and Theater Artemis, are doing an adaptation on Wuthering Heights, and will be touring around Holland and Belgium.
They’ll play on Sunday the 8th and Monday 9th November in the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels. It is a play for youngsters from 13 years of age onwards, but everyone who is interested is very welcome.
It is however written for a Dutch audience, as are the 2 other plays featured on this Blog.

This is what their website writes: (in Dutch)

"Op het afgelegen landgoed Woeste Hoogten is het goed toeven. Cathy en haar broer Patrick hebben het goed samen. Ze worden liefdevol gekoesterd en de wereld buiten het huis is al even vredig als binnen. Tot vader verschijnt met een wild, vuil en stinkend jongetje dat hij vond op straat. Volgens Patrick is zijn vader gek geworden. Hij haat zijn nieuwe broer onmiddellijk en pest hem ongenadig. De temperamentvolle Cathy voelt zich juist aangetrokken tot de vondeling en tussen de twee bloeit een innige genegenheid op. Dat is het begin van veel ellende. Samen dollen Cathy en Heathcliff op de Woeste Hoogten en beleven ze magische avonturen op de eeuwige rotsen. In de natuur gaan ze volledig in elkaar op en ontdekken ze elkaars diepste gevoelens.

In het dal wonen Edgar en Isa, vrienden van Cathy en Patrick. Edgar heeft stijl, hij is grappig, verfijnd en rijk. Hij is dol op Cathy en zij op hem. Bij zijn aanzoek lonkt de charme van zijn wereld en een zonnige toekomst lacht haar toe. Gekwetst en verteerd door wraak neemt Heathcliff de benen. Zijn mysterieuze verdwijning verscheurt Cathy. Maar ze krabbelt overeind en begint opnieuw - met Edgar. De gevolgen zijn desastreus als Heathcliff terugkeert: sterker dan ooit, aantrekkelijk, steenrijk en bereid zijn spel hard te spelen.

Wuthering Heights, het boek van Emily Brontë, is bekend van talloze verfilmingen, bewerkingen en songteksten. Jeroen Olyslaegers schrijft in opdracht van Artemis en Theater Antigone een tekst gebaseerd op dit boek, waarin de duistere kant van de rusteloosheid naar boven komt. Zijn we rusteloos omdat we in rusteloze tijden leven? Of wordt rusteloosheid ons ingefluisterd door een demon, de Heathcliff in ieder van ons? In 2007 bewerkte Jeroen Olyslaegers voor Artemis Cervantes' Don Quichot en zijnen ijzeren wil. Deze ongetwijfeld indringende Woeste Hoogten wordt gespeeld door een groep jonge acteurs die her en der al veel indruk hebben gemaakt. "

Een coproductie van Theater Antigone en Theater Artemis
Regie Floor Huygen
Scenografie Michiel Van Cauwelaert
Tekst Jeroen Olyslaegers
Muziek Florentijn Boddendijk en Remco de Jong
Spel An Hackselmans, Fabian Jansen, Joris Smit, Alejandra Theus, Daan van Dijsseldonk en Roos Van Vlaenderen
Kostuums Marike Kamphuis

The tickets cost €8, or €6 if you are a student or a teacher.

More information can be found on http://www.antigone.be/event/165

It includes the entire play list for the theatres where they will perform.

An evening out with the Brontës.

2009-10-09T10:55:00.006Z

For those members and other Brontë lovers from Holland, there is a chance to see 2 plays about the Brontës; one musical based on Jane Eyre and one theatre play based on their lives.

These announcements are on their websites:

Muziektheater Totaal: Jane Eyre, de musical

6 en 7 november

Theater De Lieve Vrouw, Amersfoort

Muziektheater Totaal speelt Jane Eyre, een musical drama, in Theater de Lieve Vrouw te Amersfoort. Aanvang 20:30. Kaarten kosten 17,50 per stuk. Er kunnen kaarten besteld worden voor de premièrevoorstelling op vrijdag 6 november.

"In Jane Eyre staat het gelijknamige personage uit het romantische boek uit 1847 van de Engelse schrijfster Charlotte Brontë centraal. Het weesmeisje wordt gouvernante op Thornfield Hall, waar ze haar hart verpandt aan een raadselachtige graaf met een duister verleden. Voor ze kunnen trouwen, moeten Jane en Edward Rochester heel wat hindernissen overwinnen."

http://www.muziektheater-totaal.nl/

Toneelgroep Dorst speelt De Brontë Sisters.

"Geen enkele familie in de literaire wereldgeschiedenis neemt zo’n bijzondere plaats in als de familie Brontë. Emily Brontë schreef Wuthering Heights (Woeste Hoogten) – een zonderling maar ongeëvenaard meesterwerk, waarin haat, jaloezie en een vernietigende passie de boventoon voeren en is een van de meest aangrijpende liefdesgeschiedenissen aller tijden. Haar denkbeelden over leven, dood, verbeelding, vrijheid en goddelijke macht hebben een diepgang, vergelijkbaar met die van Shakespeare. Charlotte schreef Jane Eyre, evenals Woeste Hoogten veelvuldig bewerkt tot film en t.v.serie. Charlotte werd heen en weer geslingerd tussen haar sterke zedelijkheidsgevoel en haar heftige seksuele gevoelens. De jongste zuster Anne schreef Agnes Grey, was vroom en ingetogen en hun enige broer Branwell hartstochtelijk, opstandig en een opschepper; aanvankelijk een veelbelovend schrijver en kunstenaar ging hij tenonder aan drank en opium. Hun leven was kort maar is vereeuwigd door hun roem. Over deze levens en hun indrukwekkende werk gaat De Brontë Sisters. "

http://www.toneelgroepdorst.nl/
There is a list of performance dates and places.

Brontë Conference in York 2009

2009-08-12T17:50:00.022+01:00

Photo: Student delegates at the conference

Every few years the Brontë Society organises a conference on a particular aspect. The combination of this year's theme of Men in the Brontës' Lives, encompassing so many fascinating figures, with the setting of York, the capital of the Brontës' county, made it an irresistible event. We heard ten talks in two days by some of the people best qualified to tell us about the men in question. Thus we heard about the Brontës' father Patrick from his most recent biographer, and about Charlotte Brontë's husband, Arthur Nicholls, from a husband and wife team who have dedicated their retirement to researching this sometimes maligned and sidelined figure. And who better to tell us about M. Heger, Charlotte's inspirational Belgian teacher, than the translator and editor of Charlotte and Emily's "Belgian Essays"?

Like all Brontë Society events, this one was attended by a mixture of academics and the non-academic members who are in a majority and are as interested in the Brontës' lives as in their works - this fascination with their lives is surely what gives the Brontës their unique appeal for such a wide variety of people. In this conference with its emphasis on biography the Society succeeded, as it generally does, in pitching its appeal to both groups. The membership is also a rich mixture of people from the British Isles, including many from Yorkshire, and from other countries worldwide.

A lot of people travelled to the conference from Belgium and the Netherlands – a total of 11, nine of whom are members of the Brussels group. In fact after the UK, the most numerous groups of attendees were from the U.S.A. and – Belgium! The total number of conference attendees was around 140.

We were housed on the campus of York University, made attractive by its lovely lake. Between talks we enjoyed stimulating conversations with other members and made new friends. We were entertained as well as instructed, particularly by an amazing after-dinner speech by the Society's new president Gyles Brandreth, well-known writer, broadcaster, TV personality and, above all, entertainer. His anecdotes were hilarious but his underlying message was one he feels passionately about. He spoke about how the Brontës' works (which he discovered through his three elder sisters) introduced him to the world of literature, and about the importance of literature in general and the fascination of 19th century literature in particular.

At the end of the conference, some of the youngest attendees – students at school or university – were invited to give their impressions on what we had heard. Charlotte Jonné, a student at Brussels University who has written a dissertation on Charlotte Brontë's The Professor, has written the report below on the talks.

Helen MacEwan

Brontë Conference 31 July-2 August 2009: Men in the Bronte's Lives

A report by Charlotte Jonné

(Note: I have done my best to give an accurate report of the speakers' ideas. If any inaccuracies have slipped in I apologise and will correct them if pointed out.)

As I am writing this, I am sitting on my bed in the lovely York Youth Hostel pondering events past, and basically not wanting to go back home. Home, which is – granted – a few degrees warmer, but not as appealing as a conference room filled with Brontë enthusiasts. A lot has happened over the past weekend. I have listened to eminent scholars making their points (accompanied by the occasional plugging of a book), I have got to know very nice people from all over the world (including fellow country…women I should say), and I have had heated discussions about the actor to play Heathcliff / Mr. Rochester in the perfect screen adaptation. The perfect screen adaptation which of course only exists in our mind’s eye (which is, I believe a submerged reference to Shakespeare’s Hamlet – an inside joke never hurts, but I’ll stop now, I promise). What I am trying to say, in this rather roundabout way, is that there was something for everyone at last weekend’s Brontë Conference at the University of York, the topic being Men in The Brontës' Lives - Influences, Publishers, Critics and Characters.

The very first lecture was by Christine Alexander, who talked about hero-worship and Charlotte Brontë. She agreed that there is a lot of hero worship in her work, because it was fashionable at the time, and because children model their behaviour on people they admire. The Brontë circle being as closed as it was, Charlotte had to look elsewhere, and found the Duke of Wellington among her father’s heroes. However, Alexander argues, Brontë always found a way of putting her admiration into perspective.

The second lecture was given by Dudley Green, an expert on Patrick Brontë. He shed some light on the characteristics the Brontë children inherited from their father. Reverend Brontë made sure they had proper schooling and encouraged them to read, write, paint and play music. His religious influence can also be seen in the many biblical references in his children’s works. A special place in his heart was reserved for Emily, with whom he went shooting. He imprinted on Charlotte his sense of determination to succeed, which she would need when going to Belgium and when looking for a publisher. Patrick was paid a beautiful compliment on his parenting skills by M. Heger, who was impressed by the remarkable character of Charlotte and Emily.

The third lecture on Friday did not have a literary basis. Jane Sellars, an art historian, told us about the Brontë family portraits, of which there are two: Branwell's Pillar Portrait and Gun Group, which has been severely damaged. Sellars reviewed Branwell’s artistic influences and presumed intentions in painting his sisters, but also tried to look at the paintings afresh. She pointed out that the Pillar Portrait was painted when none of the sisters were famous, before the family tragedies. And yet, she argues, our modern-day perception of the portrait is distorted, because in our eyes, it has absorbed all the biographical information we now have about the Brontës.

On Saturday, Miriam Bailin gave us her views on the relationship between Charlotte Brontë and the critic George Henry Lewes. Lewes was the first person to characterise fictional realism, and that is what he wanted out of Charlotte Brontë: realism. He warned her about melodrama and was of the opinion that she should stick to her own experience. Charlotte recognised Lewes’s wisdom but did not accept it, since that was exactly what she had done in writing The Professor, a novel everyone was reluctant to publish. Brontë and Lewes had a lively correspondence, until he judged Shirley harshly, and revealed that the author was a woman. Charlotte felt wronged, since he had judged her as a woman and not as an author. Their frank interchange came to an end.

Michael O’Neill subsequently gave us a talk on Emily Brontë’s poetry and Romanticism, firmly establishing the ties between the Romantics (especially Shelley) and Emily’s poetry. He showed how Brontë reworked Romanticism, and how she responds to her predecessors.

Lucasta Miller, author of The Brontë Myth, gave us an introduction to Letitia Elizabeth Landon, an English poet and novelist, whose celebrity turned into notoriety after a series of scandals. Miller connects L.E.L.’s world with that of Charlotte Brontë. One similarity is the gossip: Charlotte Brontë was the alleged mistress of Thackeray. Unlike Landon, Brontë refused the part of the scandalous woman, and allowed no flirtation with anyone whatsoever. It is, however, interesting to ask the question: if Charlotte Brontë had lived in London, would she have been tempted?

Then Patsy Stoneman took the stage with her lecture on Rochester and Heathcliff as romantic heroes. As in earlier romantic stories, e.g. Jane Austen's, the relationship of Jane Eyre and Rochester is very Oedipal, Stoneman argues. He is an older man. He is also dark, moody, powerful, with hidden sorrows, not unlike Zamorna, Brontë’s Romantic hero. Whereas in the earlier stories it is often the heroine who changes, Jane Eyre revolves around the reformation of the hero. This has become a defining feature of modern romance writings. Rochester is gentler than many Byronic heroes and is prepared to share his life with his wife.

Heathcliff, however, is different from the traditional hero of romance and the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff is far from Oedipal, Stoneman claims. It stems from an earlier psychological phase, the mirror phase, where the child needs another person as a mirror to reflect it back to itself. This love, comparable to love between siblings, is a heritage from the Romantics, and explains the doubt as to whether there is adult sexual attraction between Heathcliff and Cathy. Heathcliff is a Romantic hero with a capital ‘R’, his story being sad and epic, while Rochester has more of the traditional romantic hero with a small ‘r’; his is a more appealing storyline.

Next, Paul Edmondson established the tie between Shakespeare and Anne Brontë’s novels. He showed that Anne has digested and reworked Shakespeare’s work. She had a copy of his work and the creases in its pages indicate what she read, where she paused, etc. The plays she alludes to most are Hamlet and Othello.

Richard Mullen subsequently analysed the relationship between William Makepeace Thackeray and Charlotte Brontë. The two of them had several meetings and an animated correspondence. Theirs was a very ambivalent relationship; Charlotte was at the same time very pleased and displeased with him. Even after Thackeray had revealed her identity in public, she continued to go to his lectures, but five years after that, she was tired of him, and he of her, and their correspondence ended. Charlotte had got too close to her idol.

On Sunday, Mr and Mrs Cochrane, two local historians, lectured on Arthur Bell Nicholls, Charlotte Brontë’s husband. Nicholls has been neglected in Brontë studies, has always stayed on the periphery, because Brontë admirers in general have had a strong antipathy towards him. The Cochranes emphasised that this does not do him justice, and that we should be grateful to him, since he gave Charlotte one of the happiest years of her life.

After which Sue Lonoff brought up M. Heger. She split her subject up into four parts. Firstly, Constantin Heger, the busy, Catholic man who lost his first wife and child. Secondly, Charlotte and Emily’s professor, an inspiring man with remarkable teaching methods. Thirdly, Heger is transformed into M. Paul Emanuel in Villette. This is a radical revision of reality: in Villette, Emanuel is a bachelor, whereas M. Heger was very much a family man. Fourthly, Heger was very responsive to Brontë fans, answering questions and giving them Charlotte’s essays as souvenirs.

Brontë Parsonage Director Andrew McCarthy introducing Sue Lonoff

The last lecture was one from Margaret Smith, who talked about George Smith and William Smith Williams and their connection with Charlotte Brontë. Smith was a very good friend, gave her advice on financial matters and was even an alleged love interest, although he wasn’t in the least attracted to Charlotte. William Smith Williams sent her books and advised her to write a three-part work (Jane Eyre) rather than another two-part work like The Professor. Charlotte dissolved their correspondence with a rather cold letter.

To conclude the conference we were asked our opinion, and our suggestions for future Brontë Conference topics. Suggestions were: “Branwell”, “The influence of the Brontës on their contemporaries”, “Brontë and Shakespeare”, “Brontë influences”. In sum, there is enough material to keep on talking for many, many years to come!

Charlotte Jonné

Meeting in Leiden of Dutch members of the Brussels Brontë group

2009-07-05T13:29:00.007+01:00

On Wednesday 24 June, members of the Dutch branch of the Brussels Bronte Group met in Leiden, and enjoyed a splendid afternoon.

Leiden has the oldest university of the Netherlands, and it is to its library that we went first. We saw some very nice old publications about the Brontes, and an 1849 Dutch translation of Jane Eyre.

The third picture is from the 29 January 1853 edition of The Athenaeum, with advertisements for Villette (“This day is published ..”) and Mrs. Gaskell’s Ruth. A few weeks later they published a lengthy review of Villette. Right at the beginning it says the novel is set in Brussels, which makes one wonder how the writer knew that for sure. Even though it was only thinly disguised, he (or she) must have had inside information.

We also saw, among other things, the first editions of the Bronte Society Transactions, dating from the end of the 19th century.

Afterwards we went to the Hortus Botanicus garden nearby, where we had a drink first, and a walk through this splendid garden later. We saw several trees which began their life in 1818, the year of Emily Brontë's birth.

Eric Ruijssenaars

Brussels Brontë brunch

2009-07-01T19:45:00.005+01:00

On Sunday 28 June a group of us rounded off the 2008-2009 Brontë year with a brunch at l'Orangerie du Parc d'Egmont. This restaurant's terrace proved to be a perfect choice for the start of what turned out to be a very hot and sunny week.

We discussed plans for activities for the coming year. An exciting new venture is that one of our members has offered to lead guided walks around Brontë places in Brussels in addition to those led by Derek Blyth, which will enable us to schedule more of these walks. Details of the first one will be sent out after the summer.

The Orangerie restaurant in a little park hidden away behind the Hilton near Avenue Louise is one of Brussels' best-kept secrets. It's near Avenue Toison d'Or where Mrs Gaskell stayed when she visited Brussels to research her Life of Charlotte Brontë.

Brontë Society weekend 2009

2009-06-13T22:02:00.027+01:00

One of the joys of the annual Brontë weekend in Haworth (always held over the first weekend of June), which this year was attended by six Brussels group members, is the encounters with the other members who converge on the village each year. They (we) are a very diverse group of people ranging from academics who have devoted their lives to researching the Brontës to local people who grew up with them, so to speak, and have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the family and of local lore. Some even have family links with Brontë connections, like the lady who has inherited a scrapbook of Ellen Nussey's containing newspaper cuttings about Ellen's beloved friend Charlotte Brontë.

Then there are the claims made by some enthusiasts. There's the lady who claims to be a descendant of an illegitimate child of Branwell Brontë. Or the one who took a photo of the Parsonage and believes that a shadowy outline in the doorway is the ghost of Charlotte.

Of course the Brontës were keen on the supernatural so it is perhaps natural that ghosts should come up sometimes in the tales that are swapped over pints and generous helpings of Yorkshire pudding in the pub after the day's events. Have you heard the story about the London taxi-driver who saw Charlotte's ghost sitting in his cab? Derek Blyth told this one to the Brussels group during his recent talk about Charlotte's letters to Monsieur Heger.

In the Old White Lion

Enjoyable as these stories are, however, few Brontë Society members claim to see ghosts or dabble in any way in the supernatural! True, most of us have our passions and enthusiasms. Such as adding to our libraries of Brontë-related books. The Brontës must be the most written-about literary family in the world and we always live in hopes of picking up first editions or rare biographies in the many second-hand bookshops in Main Street.

The Brontës have always attracted creative people. In the pub I talked to the Italian cellist Paolo Mencarelli who belongs to a chamber music called the Gondal Trio and is interested in the similarities between Emily's writings and Beethoven's music, and jazz singer Val Wiseman who's brought out an album of songs inspired by members of the Brontë family and by characters in their books.

Turning to the scheduled entertainment, one of the highlights was a concert given by Veronica Metz, who recently performed for the Brussels group, of her Celtic settings of Emily Brontë's poems.

Concert by Veronica Metz of the band Anois in the Baptist chapel in Haworth used for many of the events

Another was the panel discussion with novelists Joanne Harris (author of Chocolat), Jude Morgan, Amanda Craig, and Kate Walker who writes for Mills & Boon, on the influence of the Brontës on their work. Look out for Jude Morgan's The Taste of Sorrow, a fictionalised biography of the Brontës, which has just come out.

Interesting insights were provided during the discussion both by the writers and by members of the audience. For example, Patsy Stoneman said one gets the feeling from their novels that the Brontës somehow wanted to be women and Romantic heroes at the same time.

We also had talks by Juliet Barker, THE Brontë biographer, who started her career working in the Parsonage Museum. She refutes many of the "myths" about both Haworth and the Brontës perpetrated by Mrs Gaskell in her Life of Charlotte Brontë, and spoke to us about the motives that led Gaskell to deliberately distort some of the facts. But despite its inaccuracies, the Life is still a wonderful introduction to the Brontës. Our Brontë weekend in Brussels in 2010, the bicentenary of Mrs Gaskell's birth, will focus on her and we'll be exploring the ways in which she researched the material for her biography.

The revised edition of Juliet Barker's own Brontë biography is about to come out and she told us that some new facts have come to light, for example fresh evidence discrediting the story that Branwell went to London to study art at the Royal Academy and returned penniless having failed in the attempt and spent his money on drink.

Brontë biographer Juliet Barker addressing members

The Society's annual general meeting, which all members can attend, always takes place over the weekend, with committee members reporting on developments in the past year. Financially, the Society relies heavily on revenue from visitors to the Parsonage Museum, and this year has seen an exciting revamp of the exhibition area. Every year there is an extensive arts programme. The Museum promotes works by contemporary writers and artists inspired by the Brontës and offers a wide range of educational activities.

As always, there was a guided walk and happily the weather, which for the first part of the weekend was much more conducive to ghost stories round the fire than to walking, cleared up in time for our tramp over the Moors.

Next year's Brontë weekend in Haworth will be from Friday 4 June to Monday 7 June 2010. The main events are from Friday to Sunday, with an all-day excursion on Monday for those wishing to prolong the weekend.

Hope to see some of you there!

Helen MacEwan

Latest adaptation Wuthering Heights on Belgian TV

2009-05-21T12:04:00.003Z

For those members living in Belgium and Holland, who haven’t had the opportunity to see the latest TV adaptation of Wuthering heights, Flemish broadcaster 'één' will show the premiere of the ITV version, shown earlier this year in the UK, this Saturday evening.
The film is split into two parts, part 1 this Saturday, 23 May ,starting 21:15, part 2 next week, Saturday 30 May.
It has Dutch subtitles though.
For a review of the film, click on this link:
http://lhkiehna.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/wuthering-heights-2009/

New cemetery excursion

2009-05-17T18:28:00.015Z

At the recent Brontë weekend on 24-26 April, last year’s cemetery excursion was repeated on the afternoon of Friday 24 April. We set off in glorious weather to search once more for the gravestones of Martha Taylor and Julia Wheelwright, friends of the Brontës during their time in Brussels, who were originally buried in the Protestant cemetery which was closed down at the end of the 19th century.

We first went to the place of the former Protestant cemetery, quite often visited by Charlotte in her lonely year in Brussels, 1843. The site of the Protestant part of the cemetery is only partly occupied by a building, so one does not need that much imagination to go back in time to when the cemetery still existed, especially with the assistance of Theodor Wolfe's 1885 eyewitness account.

On the group's left side is the site of the Protestant part of the former cemetery.

Another view of the site of the Protestant cemetery

We then went to Evere cemetery to search for the gravestones of the two girls. It was amazing to see how quickly these stones we had cleared last October had become overgrown again, particularly with moss. We searched again in Lane 15, and this time also in Lane 14, but without success. It seems that in these lanes only concession-holders lie buried. What happened to those without a concession, like Martha and Julia, remains a mystery.

This time we also had a walk in another part of the very large and indeed quite beautiful cemetery, which also gave us the opportunity to see the Waterloo Monument. British soldiers who fell at Waterloo were first buried at our former cemetery. Lane 15 has one Waterloo grave, quite well kept, and still regularly honoured it seems.

The group consulting the map of Evere cemetery

Lane 15 of Evere cemetery

Eric Ruijssenaars

Poem and paintings by a Brussels member inspired by the Haworth moors

2009-05-17T17:48:00.011Z

Our member Catherine Koeckx has sent this poem in French and two watercolours inspired by the moors around Haworth, which she has visited.

Catherine writes "I've always been fascinated by the Brontës' lives and world and I feel closest to Emily as a personality. I also very much like the kind of nature she loved, harsh and wild; it inspires my poetry and paintings."

As a member of the "Cercle littéraire" of European Commission staff in Brussels, in 2006 she published a collection of poems entitled "L'Impalpable".

POEM

Solitude sauvage de la lande
Un ciel immense court vers l’infini
Dans la lumière tremblante de l’aube
Un vol d’oiseaux trouble le silence
Sur la colline ondoyante
Fouettée par un vent humide
Parmi l’herbe rare et les fougères
Se dissimule secrète et pudique
L’empreinte de celle qui foula
De son grand pas vigoureux
Cette terre noire aux bruyères éclatantes
Ces moors qu’elle chanta
Du plus profond de son âme
Son Eden de solitude et de liberté
Les Hauts de Hurlevent

Catherine Koeckx

Brussels Brontë Group lectures on 25 April 2009

2009-05-06T16:45:00.011Z

Emily Smith, who attended the talks given by Stevie Davies and Philip Riley during our recent Brontë weekend, has provided the following summary of them.

Stevie Davies: Emily Brontë and the Mother World

“Earth” is a favourite word for Emily Brontë. Not only, famously, the last word in Wuthering Heights (“...the sleepers in that quiet earth”), it occurs again and again throughout her writings. A speech given at the 2009 Brussels Brontë Weekend, by novelist and critic Stevie Davies, covered a broad and inspirational range of subjects, all centred around the idea of earth. Mother, nature, and home are all strong themes in Emily’s work, and all have earth connotations. Emily seems obsessed by the natural world around her: dismissive of God and often men, as Davies explained, she is rare amongst 19th century writers in treating even the dogs as characters in her novel.

But she is not, as Davies showed, a ‘romantic’ writer when it comes to earth and nature. Nor is she, despite the important central role given to nature in her world, much similar to a modern environmental thinker. Emily does not see a nature as something threatened with destruction by human beings. An essay written by Emily when she lived in Brussels, and quoted by Davies in her speech, states baldly that: “All creation is equally mad. Nature... exists on a principle of destruction.”

Davies compared Emily’s nature to Darwin’s (later) writings, which describe nature as an often beautiful but always destructive whole. “We forget that the birds which are idly singing around us mostly live on insects or seeds, and thus are constantly destroying life.” (On the Origin of Species).

Emily, said Davies, sees the flow of the natural world, rather than a benign universe. Her nature has more in common with Tennyson’s, “Red in tooth and claw” than with a romantic idyll. Davies showed that for Emily nature is always both beautiful and destructive, just as the mother is always associated with death. Her earth is as much tomb as birthplace.

Philip Riley: The Brontë Sisters’ ‘Strong Language”

Philip Riley, a Brussels-based academic and socio-linguist, followed Davies' speech with his own presentation explaining why the Brontës' novels were so shocking when they first appeared. He began by presenting some common words from early reviews, including “licentious”, “offensive”, “vulgar” and “improper.” Even George Eliot, referring to Rochester’s conversations with Jane Eyre, said “I wish the characters would talk a little less like the heroes and heroines of police reports.”

These reactions, mostly contained in overall favourable reviews, can, said Riley, seem hard for us to understand. And they are not entirely explained by the fact that the words "hell", "damn" and "devil" were then by convention never fully spelt out in ‘respectable’ novels. The Brontës were not just licentious because they peppered their stories with these expletives. Their use of language was considered much more broadly improper. At a time when it was becoming increasingly common to use euphemisms for a wide range of “offensive” words (alcohol for a while became “peppermint”, said Riley), the Brontës dwelt openly on subjects like drunkenness and violence. Whilst a rule of silence was commonly used as a way to control people, in factories, prisons, schools or orphanages, the Brontë authors could easily be considered too free with their language.

The problem went even further than the words used by Charlotte, Emily and Anne, said Riley, and becomes even harder to spot with a 21st century eye. We can perhaps imagine that Heathcliff’s violence, Rochester’s attempted bigamy or Arthur Huntingdon’s alcoholism were not recommended reading matter for the Victorian middle classes. We are less likely to spot that the use of Latin, or an interest in dialect or physiognomy, were considered equally improper for women. Indeed this goes some way to explaining why many critics refused to believe that the Brontës were women, even when they dropped the ambiguous pseudonyms Acton, Ellis and Currer.

Emily Smith

Brussels Brontë Group weekend 2009

2009-04-28T19:15:00.042Z

On 24-26 April the Brussels Brontë Group held a Brontë weekend of events for the third consecutive year. The programme this year was ambitious, with musical settings of Emily Brontë's poems, talks by the writer Stevie Davies and by a Brussels-based academic, Philip Riley, and the guided walk which has become a fixture at these weekends.

We have been focusing on Emily this year, starting with a talk on Wuthering Heights last October, and this weekend was no exception. It kicked off with a concert by Veronica Metz from the Celtic band Anois, who will be performing at the AGM weekend in Haworth. She sang her musical settings of Emily's poems for us, with introductory comments by Maureen Peeck.

Below: Veronica Metz of the Celtic band Anois singing her settings of Emily Brontë poems

Stevie Davies travelled all the way from Wales to talk to us about Emily Brontë and the Mother World and introduce us to some of the ideas explored in her book Emily Brontë: Heretic. Listening to Stevie is as stimulating and exciting as reading her books, and she held us spellbound. There was an interesting discussion afterwards, with thoughtful contributions from our members (of all ages and nationalities) prompting further insights from Stevie.

Below: Stevie Davies talking, and being presented by Helen MacEwan with one of Marina Saegerman's calligraphy Brontë poems

In the afternoon we enjoyed a very different kind of talk by Philip Riley, professor of sociolinguistics, onThe Brontës' strong language. Philip's lively talk was wide-ranging and fascinating, packed with information on the social as well as linguistic background to the Brontës' works. He had the idea of giving a talk on the Brontës after joining our newly-formed group shortly after he retired to Brussels.

Below: Philip Riley's talk - complete with Powerpoint presentation

Once again, our events were hosted by a Brussels university, Facultés universitaires Saint-Louis, whose staff made us extremely welcome as always. We discussed with them various ideas for joint projects the Brussels group could carry out with the university's English department.

Our member Marina Saegerman's calligraphy versions of Brontë poems were in evidence at the events, displayed in the lecture room and framed as presents for our speakers and singer.

Below: Calligraphy by Marina Saegerman

Sadly, it rained throughout our guided walk on Sunday morning, but our guide Derek Blyth gave a valiant performance despite the weather and other hazards such as the scaffolding everywhere owing to ongoing renovation and building work, including on the building now on the site of the Pensionnat Heger. The rain meant that a planned picnic in the park described in Villette had to be called off. Luckily the weather had been fine on Friday for the trip led by Eric Ruijssenaars to a Brussels cemetery to search for the graves of Martha Taylor and Julia Wheelwright.

Below: Parc de Bruxelles

After the walk a group of us rounded off the weekend by discussing plans for the future over lunch at our regular place, the well-known A La Mort Subite, named after a Belgian beer. Despite its name, this venue has in fact seen the birth of many ideas for Brontë activities in Brussels.

Helen MacEwan

A more detailed account of the talks by our two speakers will be posted shortly.

More internet Rue d’Isabelle postcards

2009-04-03T10:23:00.005Z

It can be useful to search occasionally for the Rue d’Isabelle on the internet. Last time I did I found these two old, undated, postcards of the street. The photographs are well known but to see them as a postcard is really interesting.

These postcards are presumably older than the one I wrote about recently here. That ‘Vieux-Bruxelles’ referred to something at the 1935 World Exhibition, which was portrayed as Old Brussels, but from a historical point of view it was totally uninteresting. They had created a little quarter with about eight streets. Only the names of the streets were related to the actual old Brussels.

These two postcards seem to relate to the time of the Comité d’Etudes du Vieux-Bruxelles, which was founded in 1904. Its main aim was to take photographs of the threatened parts of Brussels, such as the Isabella Quarter. This collection of some 1,500 pictures is of course extremely valuable. For example, it contains these two pictures.

This Vieux-Bruxelles, a term already used a decade earlier, was essentially a nostalgic euphemism for what had already been lost in the last decades and what was about to disappear. But this period did produce a lot of important work.
With the outbreak of the First World War the interest in Vieux-Bruxelles ended, and afterwards the term was hardly used any more.

The first photograph shows you the three remaining 17th century houses of the then important guild of crossbowmen, who laid the foundation of the Pensionnat‘s large garden.

The second photograph shows us the corner of Rue Terarken and Rue d’Isabelle. If you go just around the corner you will be in the Rue d’Isabelle. Unfortunately this will never happen. This picture I have always found fascinating. Perhaps most for what is not in it, i.e. what is just around the corner. In what remains of the Rue Terarken you are not far away from that corner.

Eric Ruijssenaars

New picture of Isabelle quarter

2009-03-20T18:43:00.002Z

Some months ago I found a new picture of the Quartier Isabelle on the Internet, on a website where old postcards are sold.

This was of course an interesting find. However, my first thought was that it does not look like the old quarter, and I can think of no place in it that looks like this. Selina Busch, who also knows the quarter pretty well, had no idea either.

There can, therefore, be no doubt that this is a postcard from the 1935 Brussels World Exhibition, at which they created a ‘Vieux Bruxelles’, with an Isabelle Street. This I found out several years ago, but subsequent research at the Royal Library showed me that this new Isabellastraat did not look in any way like the old one. The way in which the people on the pictures are dressed certainly supports this. The costumes look as if they date from the 18th century.

Still, it is a nice little discovery. The story behind it also shows the old Rue d’Isabelle was not destined to be forgotten.

Eric Ruijssenaars

New Year Meeting of Dutch members of the Brussels Group

2009-01-17T12:17:00.005Z

On Saturday January 3rd, Dutch BBG members held a very pleasant New Year meeting in Utrecht. First we were given a guided walk by Maureen Peeck, who has been living in this city for a good many years. We saw a lot of medieval remains and even some Roman ones. Absolutely fascinating! It was followed by a very good dinner at a restaurant.

Last year we had two pleasant Dutch meetings, occasioned by visits of foreign guests. We now hope that a New Year and summer meeting will become a tradition in Holland. It's something I at least have been wishing for a number of years. Now, thanks to the BBG, it has become possible.

Photo: From left to right: Marcia Zaaijer, Maureen Peeck, Beppie Feuth and Veronica Metz (who had just the day before returned from Haworth)

Eric Ruijssenaars

Charlotte and Emily Brontë at School in Brussels

2009-01-04T12:16:00.002Z

Talk given by Maureen Peeck in Brussels on April 18, 2008 to the Brussels Brontë Group, the Belgian branch of the Brontë Society, on the occasion of the Annual Brontë Weekend.
The English text used for the essays discussed is :
The Belgian Essays: Charlotte and Emily Brontë, edited and translated by Sue Lonoff, Yale University Press, 1996.

One of the best things that happened to Charlotte and Emily Brontë when they went to Brussels in 1842 was that they encountered what must have been one of the best teachers working in Brussels at that time – Monsieur Heger. Charlotte was 25 and Emily 23 years old, so they were a bit old to be going to boarding school. Nevertheless, M. Heger’s teaching methods were perfectly in tune with their stated aim in coming to Brussels which was primarily to learn French. This, with his help they did. His method was to present them with good examples of French style, be it literature, history or philosophy and have them write essays (or devoirs) in a similar style, either on the same topic or one like it. He believed that by imitating or, as he called it, “emulating” masters of the language they would learn French and also improve their own writing style. (Presumably he didn’t know that the two were extremely experienced writers already!) This system suited Charlotte down to the ground and she revelled in the opportunity she had been given to impress her teacher and show off her knowledge. Emily was a different case: she didn’t “draw well at all” with M. Heger (as Charlotte said) and didn’t want to co-operate in the venture, believing that imitation would spoil any originality that the pupil might possess. But having come to Brussels, with however much trepidation, to learn French she could hardly refuse to do her homework. And she made huge strides in French.
It becomes clear that Heger soon realised that both young women were extraordinarily gifted and he adapted to each of them in his own way, but without relinquishing his teaching methods. Thus, he would often simply correct Emily’s French but give little other comment, evidently recognising her independence of spirit, whereas he would go into enormous detail in the case of Charlotte, making suggestions and helping her improve her arguments, recognising her need to bow to his authority. So Emily was left more or less free to state her case as she wanted without too much interference from her teacher. And that teacher must sometimes have been quite surprised at what he had on his hands. Later, he even went so far as to say, in that very famous statement, that Emily “should have been a man (!) – an explorer”.
In all there are 28 surviving essays, 19 by Charlotte and 9 by Emily. This evening I just want to mention two of Emily’s essays, namely “The Cat” (“Le Chat”), dated May 15 1842 and “The Butterfly” (“Le Papillon”), dated August 11 1842. These are two of the most famous of Emily’s essays. Please note I will be quoting from the essays in the English translations.
The speaker in “The Cat” begins by stating that she really likes cats. We can guess that the example Emily was supposed to be imitating was something along the lines that cats are to be despised on the grounds that they are so utterly selfish and never have the slightest interest in being loyal or affectionate to their masters or mistresses in return for the care and affection they receive; and, moreover, they are despicable because they are prepared to kill other creatures, like mice, for pleasure. What Emily does is give the essay the twist she wants by bringing human beings into the argument – and not to their advantage, which would have been the conventional thing to do. I paraphrase: Although the cat differs is some physical points, it is extremely like us in disposition. There are those who would say that a cat’s excessive hypocrisy, cruelty and ingratitude only bears comparison with wicked humans. Well, replies the speaker, in that case this will include the whole human race. Now I quote: “Our education develops one of these qualities in great perfection, the others flourish without nurture.” So in Emily’s essay hypocrisy is the one we are taught, cruelty and ingratitude come naturally. Here ingratitude means “not appreciating, or being inclined to return kindness.” This is the dictionary definition. I quote again: “A cat, in its own interest … instead of tearing what it desires from its master’s hand, approaches with a caressing air … and advances a paw whose touch is as soft as down. When it has gained its end … it resumes its true character … and that artfulness … is called hypocrisy. In ourselves, we give it another name, politeness, and he who did not use it to hide his real feelings would soon be driven from society.” And so the essay goes on, expatiating on the cat’s and man’s cruelty and ingratitude. Not quite what M. Heger had in mind, one would have thought.
This satirical and sardonic essay with its Byronic misanthropic pose ends with a statement that cats can’t really help being what they are, and that it was all Adam’s fault in the first place for getting the animals thrown out of paradise along with himself. And possibly this speaker likes cats more than humans.
The theme here outlines in a nutshell one we often come across in Emily Brontë’s work: namely that beneath the veneer of civilization people are “all for ourselves in the end,” as Nelly Dean puts it in Wuthering Heights. In this pessimistic view of humankind everyone is to a larger or lesser degree hypocritical, cruel and ungrateful, so how then dare we accuse others of these vices?

In the second essay, “The Butterfly,” a different position is taken up, one more in keeping with a Christian world view. Again there is a dramatic situation, this time with an individual recounting an event in his or her life. It begins with the speaker again expressing a jaundiced view of the world: “All creation is equally mad, behold those flies playing above the brook; the swallows and fish diminish their number every minute. These will become in their turn the prey of some tyrant of air or water; and man for his amusement or his need will kill their murderers. Nature is an inexplicable problem; it exists on a principle of destruction. Every being must be the tireless instrument of the death of others, or itself must cease to live, yet nonetheless we celebrate the day of our birth, and we praise God for having entered such a world.” (Note here how nature and mankind are all of a piece; as in “The Cat” man is not pictured as a higher being than animals.) In this despairing mood she then crushes a caterpillar underfoot, thus preventing it from ever becoming a beautiful butterfly. Having thus shown herself to be as cruel as any other creature, and moreover having the audacity to question God’s intentions, she sees a butterfly emerging from the forest and is suddenly granted a moment of vision. An inner voice tells her: I quote “As the ugly caterpillar is the origin of the splendid butterfly, so this globe is the embryo of a new heaven and a new earth whose poorest beauty will infinitely exceed your mortal imagination. …. God is the god of justice and mercy; then surely … every suffering of our unhappy nature is only a seed of that divine harvest ….. ” So here one can say that the wickedness, and thus the suffering it entails are all part of the divine plan. In this view there will be no hell, and there will be no doomed men and women because God will have mercy on all. For Emily Brontë the most divine of virtues was that of forgiveness. In the poetry we see time and again a wicked man whom men say even God will not forgive, being saved by the love of a woman who is prepared to forgive him. And think of the wolfish Heathcliff, a man portrayed as not that different in kind from an animal or any natural force. He has no desire for the kind of heaven described in “The Butterfly,” yet he too, we are led to feel, deserves his kind of heaven. The crucial doctrine as proposed in “The Butterfly” is that of Universal Salvation. This was the view held by some of the dissenting Christian faiths with which Emily and Charlotte would have been familiar. It is not that of the Anglican faith in which the Brontës were nominally brought up. And certainly not of the Catholic Church, so one can’t help feeling that Emily was out to shock or at least provoke the Catholic M. Heger.
Emily Brontë did not suspend her own agenda just because she was abroad. She continued to write poetry – she wrote at least three poems – and, as we see, used the essays to work on her own ideas. She does not express the conventional view of nature giving us a glimpse of God’s greatness, nor the notion that human beings are superior to and separate from animals.
Imagine this woman writing such essays in a respectable Catholic pensionnat for jeunes demoiselles. The way she interpreted what Heger wanted her to do must have seemed to him to transgress what was appropriate for a woman to write about and it is perhaps for this reason that, being at a loss, he said she ought to have been a man!

Ongoing Brussels research

2008-12-19T19:29:00.018Z

Eric Ruijssenaars has written this report on recent research done by him on Brontë connections in Brussels, with the help of other members of the Brussels group.

Despite having done research on the Brontës and Brussels for almost two decades now it was only two years ago that I started to concentrate on the burial places of Martha Taylor and Julia Wheelwright, the friends of Charlotte and Emily in Brussels in 1842, who died there that year.

The girls were buried in the only Protestant cemetery in (Greater) Brussels, then in the suburb of St.-Josse-ten-Noode. Charlotte often walked to this cemetery in 1843. It features in The Professor, as the place where William Crimsworth and Frances Henri met again after their separation. Here also a number of British soldiers who died of their wounds after the battle of Waterloo lay buried. The Protestant cemetery was actually part of a larger cemetery.

This cemetery was closed in 1877, at the same as a large new cemetery at Evere was opened.

In 1885 it was visited by Theodore Wolfe, who wrote the following report.

“Our way to the Protestant cemetery, a spot sadly familiar to Miss Brontë, and the usual termination of her walks, lay past the site of the Porte de Louvain and out to the hills a mile or so beyond the old city limits. From our path we saw more than one tree surrounded farmhouse which might have been the place of M. Paul’s breakfast with his school, and at least one old-fashioned manor-house with green-tufted and terraced lawns, which might have served Miss Brontë as the model for ‘La Terrasse’, the suburban home of the Bretons … From the cemetery are beautiful vistas of farther lines of hills, of intervening valleys, of farms and villas, and of the great city lying below. Miss Brontë has well described this place: ‘Here, on pages of stone, of marble, and of brass, are written names, dates, last tributes of pomp or love, in English, French, German and Latin‘. There are stone crosses all about, and great thickets of roses and yew trees, ’cypresses that stand straight and mute, and willows that hang low and still’; and there are ‘dim garlands of everlasting flowers’.

Here ‘the Professor’ found his long sought sweetheart kneeling at a newly made grave, under these overhanging trees. And here we found the shrine of poor Charlotte Brontë’s many weary pilgrimages hither, the burial-place of her friend and schoolmate Martha Taylor, the Jessy York of Shirley, the spot where, under ‘green sod and a gray marble headstone, cold coffined, solitary, Jessy sleeps below’.

On 25 November 1887 The Times wrote: “British tombs in old cemetery of the Quartier Leopold (Rue du Noyer), Brussels - Notice having been given by the Municipality of Brussels that this cemetery is shortly to be cleared.” It went on to explain how relatives could ensure a ‘concession’ at the Evere cemetery. From the registers there we know the Taylor and Wheelwright families did not reply.

The place was visited by Herbert Wroot around 1900. In his Persons and places. Sources of the Brontë novels he writes that the cemetery “has been cut up and built upon,” and, “at the demolition of the cemetery, the bodies and the memorials of the dead were removed to the great cemetery of Evere.”

In October a group of nine Brontë Brussels Group members visited this place. The ground of the former cemetery is now partly occupied by a fairly modern apartment building, with grass lawns on either side. The Protestant part of the cemetery lay close to the Rue du Noyer, we know from a detailed plan.

Unfortunately the vistas Wolfe mentions have completely disappeared.

The site of the former cemetery, taken from Rue du Noyer

We then went on to Evere, hoping of course to find the gravestones of Martha and Julia. The question is, can they be found?

Two years ago I had an interview with Marcel Celis. As an archaeologist he has been digging in the remain of the old Isabella quarter, in the vicinity of the Place Royale. He is also the founding member of Epitaaf, which takes care of the funerary heritage of Brussels. He was able to tell me that the gravestones of the old cemetery can be found in lanes 14, 15 and 17 of the cemetery of Evere.

So there we were, armed with brushes, as on a visit earlier in the year I had seen lots of graves covered by moss. It proved to be hard work. Occasionally there’s also a layer of earth on the stones. We did most of lane 15, without success.

Unfortunately some inscriptions can no longer be read so we may never find the gravestones, but this field research will go on in 2009. In April there will be a new excursion.

It seems certain that the bodies of the girls were put in a mass grave at Evere cemetery, since their relatives did not apply for a ‘concession’ there. It also seems certain that the gravestones were transported to Evere and therefore that they could possibly be found somewhere there.

Evere cemetery (Brussels), lane 15

Since the October excursion I have been greatly assisted by Renate Hurtmanns, who paid several more visits to Evere cemetery, as you can see from her report below, with the latest on this research.

She has also helped me in transcribing letters written by Louise Heger, the daughter of Monsieur and Madame Heger. Some time ago I discovered that the Ghent Museum of Fine Arts has a large very interesting collection of letters written by her, including many she wrote to her parents, sisters and brother that give a valuable new insight into the family.

There are also some reminiscences among the papers, among them the document below. It’s the only thing about Charlotte Brontë in these papers.

One of Louise Heger's letters at Ghent Museum of Fine Arts (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent, Documentatiecentrum voor Vlaamse Kunst)

On this page she describes how one morning in 1913 she heard men selling the newspaper Le Petit Blue shouting about the ‘love affair’ of Monsieur Heger. She and her brother Paul had just given the letters Charlotte wrote to Monsieur to the British Museum, after which they were published in The Times.

In Ghent I made an exciting find, in a book about female Belgian 19th century artists: one of the paintings Charlotte describes in Villette (in the Salon chapter), La vie d’une femme. I hope to have it published, in colour, in Brontë Studies in 2009.

Furthermore, we are able to give you a picture of the house where Monsieur Heger died. Last year I reported to you on this blog it had been demolished. Earlier this year Mr. Willaert, who had seen that article, sent us this picture.

He explained that no buyer could be found for the house and that finally, after it had fallen into disrepair (as can be seen in the picture), the city of Brussels ordered its demolition because it had become a danger for passers-by.

The house where M. Heger died

So this has been another fruitful year for the research on Brussels and the Brontës. And there’s still plenty to do in the coming years.

Eric Ruijssenaars

The following reports were written by Sheila Richardson and Renate Hurtmann, who joined the cemetery excursion in October.

Report by Sheila Richardson: Martha Taylor

Martha Taylor, a friend of Charlotte Brontë died in Brussels and was buried in the Protestant cemetery there. Charlotte writes in her letters home of walking to visit her grave sometimes on a Sunday. When the graveyard was due to be built over the graves were moved to the new Brussels cemetery at Evere.

A small group from the Brussels Bronte Group visited Evere to look for Martha’s grave. This is a very pretty graveyard, like the original one described by Charlotte, with winding paths under a variety of trees and little open glades, bathed in the autumn sunlight on the day we went. As the graves were under the trees they were covered with moss, so we took brushes and cleared enough of each one to get an idea of who was buried there. Some were sad, the young children of English families buried far from home. One was for a soldier killed at Waterloo. The British Ambassador had placed a poppy wreathe there and there were slightly faded red roses in memory of some later soldiers. Unfortunately we did not find Martha’s grave. It might be that her parents were not aware that the graves were to be moved and therefore did not contribute to the cost. She may have been reburied in a common grave or an unmarked one.

One of our group had researched the internet and found a statement in “The Haworth Village” site that said that both Mary and Martha Taylor were buried at Gomersal, the Taylor’s home village in Yorkshire. We were a little doubtful about the accuracy of this. Looking further on the internet I found that The Red House where the Taylors lived and described by Charlotte Bronte as Briamains in Shirley is now a museum.
The secretary there, Helga Hughes, confirmed what we had suspected – that Martha remains buried in Brussels. The Haworth Village Site had not checked their information with her but she would now see that it was corrected. If you have come across the Haworth Site and been confused by this, I think it has now been clarified.

The description of the Red House sounds delightful. It looks very much as it would have done in Charlotte’s day, from the elegant parlour including the stained glass windows described in Shirley to the stone flagged kitchen floor. Also the 19th century garden has been carefully recreated with old fashioned roses and some forgotten plants.

The Barn has an exhibition of things that belonged to Charlotte and shows her connection with the area and the friends she developed there.

Viewing details are on the site “Venue details - Red House Museum”.

Report by Renate Hurtmann: Research on Brussels cemetery in Evere

I returned to the Evere cemetery because Eric had informed me about the existence of loose old gravestones lying against the cemetery wall somewhere, among which could possibly be those of Martha Taylor and Julia Wheelwright.

He also wanted me to go to lanes 14 and 17 and find out if there are also graves from English people who died before 1877 (the year of the closure of the Protestant cemetery). If not, this would strongly indicate that the old gravestones went only to lane 15 - where we had already started cleaning some of them on the occasion of our cemetery excursion.

I did indeed find some graves in lane 14 as well as in lane 17 of English people who died before 1877, which means that they had been transferred from the Protestant cemetery to the one in Evere.

Unfortunately - especially in lane 14 - there are lots of old gravestones in an awful state - completely sunken or covered by thick layers of earth, moss and ivy under which the inscriptions are often very difficult to decipher or have completely faded away after more than 150 years and there are also graves without any inscription at all.
On the other hand, we know now at least for sure that we shall have to look for the old graves in the three lanes and not only in lane 15 !

Below you will find details of my findings:

1. Discovery of the loose old gravestones
Following the guardian’s description, I followed the long lane on the left when you enter the cemetery by the main gate, walking alongside the cemetery wall until I came to three little houses standing behind the cemetery wall. On the cemetery wall to the right-hand side of these cottages I found the tombstones in question, (46 in total) which I checked one by one. They are all but two legible, and even on the two on which the inscriptions have faded, I could decipher the word "begraven" (buried), which means that they come from Belgian graves, as all the others. There is not one single gravestone with an English inscription or name, which means that we can definitely give up the hope that Martha's and Julia's gravestones are among them!

2. Lane 14
At the end of lane 14 I found 2 English graves with people having died before 1877 (so certainly people who were buried beforehand on the Protestant cemetery), i.e.

- Harriet Mary Anne
the beloved child of The Rev. Reginald Smith
died in Brussels in 1837

- Catherine
eldest daughter of Ben Mosley
died in Brussels on 17 March 1853

3. Lane 17
On the right hand side of lane 17, I found 2 English graves which correspond to what we are looking for:

- Charlotte Fano
died in Brussels on 25 April 1850

Underneath was written “concession à perpétuité” – an inscription which I didn’t find on the other gravestones. Would that perhaps indicate that all the graves from the Protestant cemetery in St. Josse had been transferred to Evere (and not only those with a “concession”, i.e. burial places having been paid for, as the cemetery administration had told me on the occasion of a former inquiry)?

- Name not legible
died in Brussels on 19 September 1851

There are other English graves, but the date of death was not legible!

In “Pelouse 17” (the lawn section of lane 17), I came across a British grave of 2 families, i.e. the Brain and Triest family. I couldn’t read all, but this certainly:

- George Brain died in Brussels in October 1855
- Thomas A. Brain died in Brussels in October 1859
- Richard Farmer Brain died in Brussels in August 1871
- Betsy Triest died in Brussels in August 1876

The old burial registers still available at the Evere cemetery administration – which I consulted from 1877 till 1890 – unfortunately this didn’t bring us one step further because they only consist of lists of people who died from 1877 onwards, i.e. from the time when the Evere cemetery was opened.

There is no trace whatsoever of burial lists with regard to the persons whose graves had been transferred from the Protestant cemetery to Evere. However there might still be another possible source - the city archives of St. Josse - where I shall hopefully find out more at the beginning of 2009!

Brussels Brontë Group Christmas Lunch

2008-12-07T18:30:00.006Z

On Sunday 7 December 30 members of our group met for lunch at Restaurant L'Eperon d'Or. The Brontë group has eaten here before. The last time was during our Brontë weekend in April when the chef almost single-handedly prepared an impressive Victorian banquet for about 60 people devised by the Centre de Gastronomie Historique de Bruxelles. Our Christmas lunch was a simpler affair but as always in this restaurant, delicious and very good value for money. The service is friendly and there's something Victorian about the décor, appropriate for our group!

It was a lovely way to round off the year and we'll be returning to this restaurant in 2009.

My Discovery of the Brontë Sisters' Universe

2008-11-11T17:13:00.002Z

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

2008-10-21T17:45:00.007Z

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

2008-10-05T09:42:00.003Z

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

2008-09-23T14:22:00.008Z

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

2008-09-22T19:59:00.003Z

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.

A step back in time in Broadstairs

2008-08-26T11:05:00.008+01:00

The Dickens Museum in Broadstairs

Sheila Fordham acquired some background for the books on our 19th century reading group list by sampling a historical town tour with a difference in the Kentish seaside resort of Broadstairs so loved by Dickens. The tour brings to life the Napoleonic and Victorian periods in particular.

(Books on our list for 2008-09 include David Copperfield, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights)

While on holiday in Kent at the quaint resort of Broadstairs this summer my stepmother, daughter and I were lucky enough to get a place on the popular St Peter´s Village Tour. I have tried several times before and never been successful. It was well worth the wait. I can recommend the walks to all those who enjoy history. The tour starts and ends at the village church, as is only fitting as the church was such an important part of life, and of course includes a break for tea and biscuits half-way round in true English village fashion.

The tour, which has won several tourist awards in Kent, consists of a guide who takes you round the village (St Peter´s is the next village to Broadstairs, only a few minutes' walk away but with its own unique personality) telling you interesting stories about the history of St Peter´s, while meanwhile various characters dressed in period costume appear from behind a wall or walk up to you along the road and tell you their own particular story. It is such a simple idea but really brings history to life. Some of the characters looked as if they had stepped out of one of Dickens´ novels themselves. One of them was a soldier from around the time of the Napoleonic Wars, who was checking on us to make sure there were no French spies in the party. He asked whether anyone spoke French - and as nobody else said anything, before I could stop myself I had shouted out "Oui, un peu". From that moment on I was a marked woman - he was keeping an eye on me in case I was a spy. It was strange to think that at that time the threat of an invasion by Napoleon and his army was taken very seriously.

You caught the flavour also of how much smuggling of tobacco and alcohol was going on along the coast in those days. It was a long way from London and the revenue men were not always there to check what was going on. There were many tunnels and cellars used to transport and keep smuggled goods which are probably still in existence today. Shipwrecks were good opportunities for ordinary people to get something of value and it was hinted that some wrecks were planned.

Society did try to help its less fortunate members, for example in the Workhouse, but conditions were very harsh, as they did not want to encourage people to go there unless absolutely necessary. One poor character had stolen some wine and was the worse for wear and when taken to task by the benefactors of the Workhouse, pointed at me and said that I had given her the bottle. It was very funny - I was really in the swing of things by then and would have liked to join the party of players myself.

It was a lovely warm Kentish summer afternoon, flowers were in bloom around the village, and the red sloping tiled roofs of the old houses and the old flint walls around the gardens all added to the sights and smells of the afternoon. Our guide unlocked an arched door in one of the walls into the garden beyond. It was like stepping into another world. It was so quiet and peaceful there. In the garden we were shown a row of cottages, one of which had been a school set up for poor children.

All the people who gave their time to the village tour are volunteers and are not professional actors. It is amazing because many of them had the most wonderful speaking voices and acting ability.

I can thoroughly recommend the Village Tour and would love to go on the Churchyard Tour and the War Graves Tour. I am sure there are further stories and characters to be brought to life.

http://www.villagetour.co.uk/

Sheila Fordham

Members of the Brussels group meet Italian member Maddalena De Leo in Amsterdam

2008-07-30T11:20:00.015+01:00

Sherry Vosburgh writes:

Italian Bronte Society member and leading light of the Italian Section Maddalena De Leo had the brainwave of meeting Dutch and Belgian group members during her Amsterdam holiday. We all met up at her hotel on July 8 to hear her paper on the Brontës and the Sea - an entertaining and fascinating talk. She took the opportunity to give members copies of her novel for teenagers about Charlotte Brontë, Un@mica del Passato, and also presented the Brussels group with a hand-painted Neapolitan plate to commemorate the event. We then toasted the occasion with champagne also brought from Italy, after which some of us rounded off the day with a delicious Indonesian dinner.

Also present at the meeting were Veronica Metz and other members of the Dutch Celtic Band "Anois" who are setting some of Emily Brontë's poems to music.

I had decided to stay for 3 days and accompanied Maddalena and her delightful family and companions on 2 tours of the Netherlands and we met for dinner several times. Despite the torrential rain we had a good time visiting Amsterdam's many museums. Thank you, Maddalena and Helen, for organising the little jaunt.

Helen MacEwan adds:

It was most interesting to meet Maddalena and learn more about the Italian section, which has of course been around a lot longer than our group - for about 10 years. Many of its leading lights are translators of the Brontës' works into Italian as well as academics and writers: Maddalena herself of Charlotte Brontë's Juvenilia, Franca Gollini of Muriel Spark's biography of Emily Brontë and Silvio Raffo of Brontë poems. Some of the members have of course written original works on the Brontës. Maddalena is a teacher and her novel for teenagers about Charlotte Brontë's ghost contacting a modern teenager contains much information on the Brontës.

Over the years the section has organised events in cities all over Italy. Nowadays they are often held in Milan where a large audience is guaranteed, and sometimes speakers from the UK are invited.

In the photos, the whole group; Sherry Vosburgh, Maddalena De Leo and Helen MacEwan; Maddalena with members of Anois.

Pilgrimage to Haworth - My initiation

2008-06-16T19:33:00.011+01:00

Main St, Haworth

This year eight members from Belgium and the Netherlands attended the Brontë Society AGM weekend in Haworth, Yorkshire (the Society's main annual event) on 7-8 June. This account of a first visit to Haworth was written by Sherry Vosburgh, who joined our group just a few weeks ago and made a last-minute decision to go to the June weekend. Most of the accommodation in the village had been booked months in advance but she managed to find a room, albeit right at the bottom of the steep hill up to the Brontë Museum and the venue for the events. However, she survived the experience and seems to have enjoyed it! Would any of you like to join us in Haworth for the 2009 AGM weekend (6-7 June)?

Helen somehow talked me into it - leaving from Kings Cross for a Northern adventure for five glorious days. I felt a bit of a fraud as I had only read three of the Brontës' books, and wondered if I'd be accepted into the august circle of the Brontë Society en masse.

I arrived without incident at my palatial B&B to a warm welcome. The "full monty" breakfast the next day stoked up the fires for my first visit to the Parsonage - waltzing in free as a fully paid-up member. I found the experience very moving, imagining the family living there and Emily dying on the sofa in the drawing room protesting that she was not ill... The exhibitions were fascinating - especially Charlotte's tiny dress and gloves for Emily's funeral... The letters and Gondal books were in minuscule fairy hand, impossible to read but transcribed for visitors. There was also an exhibition of fine modern photographs of the moors by Fay Godwin which put the house in context and made one realize how isolated Haworth was before the tea shoppes, pubs, curio shops and second-hand bookshops moved into Main Street.

The climb up Main Street to the Parsonage had been described to me as steep, but I hadn't realized I'd need my heavy walking shoes every day for the cobbled street that never seemed to end. Between Brontë Society events it proved too time-consuming to go back down to the B&B and up again, so I ended up drinking endless pints of bitter and tea (complete with typical Yorkshire cakes and buns) and meeting others who were engaged in exactly the same activity. I met slightly eccentric people like myself all over the village, all very friendly and united in their common interest in the Brontë family - from as far afield as the United States chapter, the Netherlands and, of course, Belgium. The Brontë crowd had a certain look about them - urbane but rather wild-eyed - which made it easy to strike up conversations with complete strangers.

The first event organized by the Society was a performance by a young professional theatre company called "Through the Window" of the earliest dramatic version of "Jane Eyre". The play had originally been performed at the theatre that became the Old Vic and had been adapted by Catherine McDonald from Patsy Stoneman's newly published edited version. Patsy was there to give an introduction and plans to come to Brussels this year. The play, skilfully filleted and using only a handful of actors, was very well received and was preceded by a cheese and wine party so that people could start getting to know each other.

The next day brought a lecture on the originality of Wuthering Heights from Professor Heather J. Glen, from Cambridge University - fascinating - followed by a service in the local church to thank the family of James Roberts, who donated the Parsonage to the Society in 1928. We all sang lustily and the church was full of Brontë Society and local people. The female rector's daughter sang the final Blessing beautifully. The AGM followed, at which plans were described for improving the modern exhibition space and to refloat the coffers. A few members seemed curious to know why there had been so many resignations from Council lately, but lips were sealed on their personal reasons for resigning. A dynamic-sounding Council was elected and the eloquent acting director of the museum shed light on its day-to-day running. The meeting had to close in time for the literary panel that followed (all events took place in the nearby Baptist Hall) in which the influence of Wuthering Heights was discussed by Toby Litt, Helen Dunmore, Sally Beauman and Stevie Davies, with Patsy Stoneman in the chair. All the writers spoke passionately about their admiration for Emily Brontë and produced a lively and fascinating discussion.

The next day, Sunday, kicked off with two walks, one long and the other shorter. Feeling cowardly, I plumped for the shorter one, which turned out to be expertly led by Hedley Hickling, the outgoing Membership Secretary, who is a geologist and really knew his stuff. We wandered in a leisurely fashion over Penistone Hill and saw in the distance Top Withins, which may have been the model for Wuthering Heights. The views over the moors were breathtaking. In the afternoon a special treat awaited us - a performance of "The Well-Dressed Governess" by the History Wardrobe in a costume-in-context presentation of handmade replica and original costume items. The lady who presented the show has made all her own costumes and gave details of the kind of dresses considered suitable for governesses at the time (who had to blend into the background and favoured blue and grey) and told us how the undergarments were worn, demonstrating enough within the bounds of decency.

On the last day there was a full-day excursion to the "Shirley" country, which I had to miss as it was fully booked. There were also two talks, one by Beryl Bainbridge on her novel- writing technique and what she owed to the Brontës and one in the old schoolroom, used by the Brontës to teach Sunday School, where a historical slide-show of Old Haworth was given by a local historian.

I spent several happy hours browsing the two second-hand bookshops as well as the wide selection of old and new books on sale at the meeting venue over the weekend. I was most impressed with the wide selection of Brontëana at the Parsonage itself but had to limit my purchases to avoid carting them up hill and down dale throughout the day. That damned hill!

I was introduced to lots of people, all charming, and by the end of the weekend I felt I was leaving a group of comrades and new friends. Doubtless we will all meet again next year at the next June AGM weekend. I can't wait for more of that lovely pub grub in good company, interspersed with cultural activities and wonderful views. A lovely break from Brussels. And much recommended.

Sherry Vosburgh