The Brontës' successful return to Brussels

The Brontë Parsonage Blog posts a report sent by Helen MacEwan on last week's talk in Brussels - organised by the Brussels Brontë Group. The event seems to have been a success.

The first talk organised by the Brussels branch, on 18 October, attracted an audience of over 50 people. At present the group members are predominantly expatriate so we were pleased to see Belgians there as well, including a well-known writer and students from a Brussels university.
Derek Blyth, who is a journalist, took a fresh and personal approach to the subject of the Heger letters, sharing with us his fascination in them and musing on some unanswered questions, from the exact nature of Charlotte's feelings to points of practical detail (why the torn-up letters were repaired as they were). He had taken the trip to the British Library to see them for himself, and had heard from Sally Brown, keeper of rare manuscripts at the Library, a Charlotte Brontë ghost story well known in Brontë circles but less familiar to our Brussels audience. Derek confided that when exploring Brussels he is often aware of Charlotte's presence, if not her ghost. [...]
To exploit some of this Brontë enthusiasm, we have started a reading group. Brussels abounds in these, but ours is the only one to specialise in 19th century literature. Eighteen people have already signed up - too many for the room Waterstone's has kindly placed at our disposal. Fifty percent of the members are British, the others are Swedish, Belgian, Finnish, Bulgarian, Slovenian, German and Thai! A multinational group of expats in Brussels, just as Charlotte was, coming together in the city where she spent two homesick but intense and fruitful years.

More information on this reading group can be found here.

And De Papieren Man seems to echo the news of this talk as well.

BrontëBlog wishes to congratulate the Brussels Brontë Group on their success, and hopes to see many more initiatives carried out by them.

(Image Source)

Categories: Brussels, Talks