Description
Book SynopsisCharlotte Brontes years in Belgium (184243) had a huge influence both on her life and her work. It was in Brussels that she not only honed her writing skills but fell in love and lived through the experiences that inspired two of her four novels: her first, The Professor, and her last and in many ways most interesting, Villette. Her feelings about Belgium are known from her novels and letters her love for her tutor Heger, her uncomplimentary remarks about Belgians, the powerful effect on her imagination of living abroad. But what about Belgian views of Charlotte Bronte? What has her legacy been in Brussels? How have Belgian commentators responded to her portrayal of their capital city and their society? Through Belgian Eyes explores a wide range of responses from across the Channel, from the hostile to the enthusiastic. In the process, it examines what The Professor and Villette tell Belgian readers about their capital in the 1840s and provides a wealth of detail on the Brussels background to the two novels. Unlike Paris and London, Brussels has inspired few outstanding works of literature. That makes Villette, considered by many to be Charlotte Brontes masterpiece, of particular interest as a portrait of the Belgian capital a decade after the country gained independence in 1830, and just before modernisation and expansion transformed the city out of all recognition from the villette (small town) that Charlotte knew. Her view of Brussels is contrasted with those of other foreign visitors and of the Belgians themselves. The story of Charlotte Brontes Brussels legacy provides a unique perspective on her personality and writing.
Trade ReviewWhile we may know plenty about what Charlotte Bronte made of Brussels and its people, what about the other way round? What did Brussels, and indeed Belgium as a whole, make of the shy young Englishwoman who, having been rejected by one of their countrymen, unleashed a stream of invective against their country? This is the question that long-time resident and Bronte scholar Helen MacEwan attempts to answer in this fascinating and important book [She] skilfully decentres the Bronte myth and re-reads it, this time through Belgian eyes.Kathryn Hughes, Times Literary Supplement, 18 May 2018
