In February 1842, Charlotte and Emily Brontë became students at the Pensionnat Héger in Brussels. For the next nine months they worked unrelentingly, producing a series of devoirs (homework essays) in response to instructions given by their tutor, Constantin Héger. Despite writing under orders and in a foreign language, they produced some remarkable essays. Those which survive cover a range of subjects, but the recently acquired essay, `L’Amour Filial’, by Charlotte, was previously unknown and has never been published. Héger was an outstanding teacher, and although his long-term influence on Emily is difficult to assess, his lessons were fundamental to Charlotte’s emergence as a great writer. The period of study in Brussels was of great importance in Charlotte’s life and work, and two of her four novels, The Professor and Villette, draw directly on that experience.
For many years the essay has remained in a private collection, inaccessible to scholars and the general public. It was not available when Sue Lonoff published The Belgian Essays: A Critical Edition (Yale University Press, 1996). Lonoff recognised that the ‘number of devoirs on record almost certainly falls short of the number they produced’ and that these essays provide ‘a network of resources for anyone concerned with the Brontës. But to be explored, they must be accurately published, translated, and set within their multiple contexts.’ The acquisition of this essay by the Brontë Society means that this important manuscript will be placed in a public collection where it can be transcribed, fully catalogued and made accessible to all.
