The Brontës in Brussels
About this book
A fascinating and thoroughaccount of Charlotte and Emily Brontë'sformative stay in Brusselsduring 1842-43
The Brontës' time in Belgium, five years before they became best-selling authors, is the least-known episode of their lives, but is a fascinating and important one. The book follows in the tracks of the sisters in Brussels, describing their life in the city: though the school where they came to study French has now disappeared, there is still a lot to be seen of the city the sisters knew; two of Charlotte's four novels ( Villette and The Professor ) are also based on her spell abroad, which was pivotal to her both as a writer and personally, since she fell in love with her teacher Constantin Heger. Charlotte's moving and harrowing letters to Heger—a respectable married man—are reproduced in full here and belie the common image of her as the motherly and strait-laced Brontë. Also including maps of the period, extracts from Villette reflecting real-life experiences in Brussels and translations of the sisters' little-known "Belgian essays, " what emerges is a complete portrait of a slice of literary history—as well as a haunting evocation of a time and a place that came to haunt the Brontës themselves.
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Information
Table of contents
- Front Cover
- About the Author and About this Book
- Title Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Author’s Note
- 1: Two New Arrivals at the Pensionnat de Demoiselles
- 2: What Brought the Brontës to Brussels?
- 3: The Site of the Pensionnat Heger Today
- 4: Charlotte and Emily at the Pensionnat
- 5: Monsieur Heger
- 6: Four Devoirs by Charlotte and Emily
- 7: Lucy Snowe’s Pensionnat
- 8: Extract from Villette (I): Lucy Receives a Letter from Graham Bretton and M. Paul Is Not Pleased
- 9: A Look Back at the History of the Isabelle Quarter
- 10: The Fate of the Isabelle Quarter and What You Can Still See
- 11: Around Place Royale
- 12: Extract from Villette (II): A Burial: Lucy Buries Graham’s letters
- 13: The Brontës’ Friends in Brussels
- 14: Brussels in the Brontës’ Time
- 15: Extract from Villette (III): Lucy Goes to the Park at Night
- 16: Charlotte’s Second Year in Brussels
- 17: The Confession at St Gudule’s
- 18: Leaving Brussels
- 19: After Brussels: Writing to M. Heger
- 20: Charlotte’s Letters to Constantin Heger
- 21: After Brussels: Fame
- 22: The Pensionnat Becomes a Place of Pilgrimage
- Timeline
- A Brontë Walk in Brussels
- A Very Brief History of Belgium Up to Independence
- Plot Summaries of Charlotte’s Brussels Novels Villette and The Professor
- Notes
- Select Reading List
- Index
- Adverts
- Copyright
- Contacts Page
- Some Authors