Charlotte Bronte in Belgium – an unexpected journey into a writer’s world.

Charlotte Bronte in Belgium – an unexpected journey into a writer’s world.
- a Continental experience
Charlotte Bronte came to Brussels twice - the first visit in 1842.
What seemed a simple task on the surface –  to find out how the Brussels of Bronte’s time compared with the Brussels of today – turned into a mammoth task of the study of Charlotte Bronte herself.  
To my surprise, on re-reading Villette, I discovered that «places» in Charlotte Bronte’s writing were vital parts of the story itself and not just local colour. «Places» played key roles in the dramatic development of the story.
The loneliness, depression and sickness plaguing Villette’s heroine as the reader follows Lucy Snowe in her struggle to cope with life in a Belgian girls’ school do not make for pleasant reading. The heroine’s criticism of the Belgian bourgeoisie itself, comes as a shock to the present-day reader.
Lucy Snowe’s unpleasant experiences in Brussels prompted me to try and find out how much of this novel was autobiographical and coincided with Charlotte Bronte’s own impressions of Brussels -  and  also big questions about Charlotte Bronte’s own personality.
Charlotte Bronte herself had great difficulty in coping with life in Belgium.  The hustle and bustle of a big city was too much for the timid, provincial clergyman’s daughter coming from the desolate Yorkshire moors of England.
Charlotte Bronte’s stay in Belgium must have had a profound effect on the development of her writing and thinking. It was also here that she fell in love - an impossible love for her teacher Constantin Héger, a married man.
But, intellectually, Charlotte Bronte gained a lot from her stay in Brussels. Under M. Héger’s tuition, a  whole new world of philosophical reasoning was opened up to her.
On the life of Charlotte Bronte, generally, it can be seen that she had an extremely  difficult task in trying to be an established woman writer in her times. Although she had a curiosity to learn about all aspects of society access was barred to her because she was a woman. This frustration is seen in her writing and contributes to the fascination of a study of the woman herself - a feminist before her time…...
If you are interested into delving into Charlotte Bronte’s past, here in Brussels, there are *various groups where you can find out more about Charlotte Bronte’s life and works.
Happy hunting !

Flying Kiwi
Brussels October 2017

*external link: http://www.thebrusselsbrontegroup.org/