A square and a sculpture in Brussels?

More on the square in Koekelberg that could be named after the Brontës in The Brussels Times.

Brussels is attempting to bring back the spirit of the famous Brontë sisters to the city, as the municipality of Koekelberg announced that it is taking concrete steps to name a public square after the English authors next year.

Koekelberg wants to put the Brontë sisters on the Belgian map, as two of them – Charlotte and Emily – came to Brussels in 1842 to study French. This was the only time they went abroad, according to author of 'The Brontës in Brussels' Helen MacEwan.

The square would be the first in Brussels to be named after the Bröntes [sic] . While the various steps for the creation and naming of the square have taken some time – having first been announced in 2020 – the plan is to inaugurate it in 2025, the municipality announced at a public meeting last week.

The plan is to transform part of Rue des Braves into a square and call it the Place des Soeurs Brontë/Gezusters Brontëplein. In addition to discussions surrounding the square's vegetation and street furniture, there was also a proposal to display several quotes from the sisters' famous novels (such as Charlotte's 'Jane Eyre' and Emily's 'Wuthering Heights').

While the funding has not yet been confirmed, sculptor Tom Frantzen (who previously created the iconic statues of Pieter Bruegel and Jacques Brel in Brussels) might also provide a sculpture of Charlotte and Emily. (Maïthé Chini)

The Telegraph and Argus highlights some of the events that will take place during the forthcoming Bradford Literature Festival (June 28-July 7) and one of them is this one:

Brontë enthusiast, Christa Ackroyd, will be leading a historical journey by vintage coach to Thornton village. (Natasha Meek)

A contributor to IWMBuzz claims that Jane Eyre and other novels romanticise death.

Coming to core literature, if you have been a Brontë fan, I would like to mention some of her creations that have largely bothered the readers. Charlotte Brontë’s, Jane Eyre (1847), and Elizabeth Gaskell’s Ruth (1853) and North and South (1855). Arguably, these pieces romanticise death, more specifically, the deaths caused by tuberculosis. By romanticizing the disease, the characters in these novels glorify tuberculosis, portraying it as something beautiful rather than horrific. They also use it as a means to beautify the notion of God taking their loved ones prematurely.

What is felt is that the characters who succumb to tuberculosis are depicted as virtuous and beautiful individuals, and that their religious faith significantly influences their fate in succumbing to the illness. It was common in the 19th century. (Shatakshi Ganguly)