Original version

BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte, Governess

The Essay: I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte

The Essay: I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte: Episode 2: Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium

I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte

Episode 2

Episode 2: Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium

Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium

BBC Radio 3 - The Essay, I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte, Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in BelgiumClose menu

Claire Harman on the two years Charlotte Bronte spent as a mature student in Belgium.

Claire Harman discusses the two years Charlotte Bronte spent as a mature student in Belgium, at a school run by Zoe and Constantin Heger, and the turbulent epistolary aftermath.

Charlotte Bronte's true identity revealed through five powerful and poigant letters

2.Biographer Claire Harman on the two years Charlotte Bronte spent as a mature student in Belgium, at a school run by Zoe and Constantin Heger, and its turbulent epistolary aftermath.

When Charlotte Bronte's passionate letters to Constantin Heger were published in 1913, they caused a sensation. Today, they are more likely to provoke a sympathetic response.

Marking the 200th anniversary of her birth, Claire Harman unfolds the story of Bronte's time in Brussels. She explores the letters she wrote to Heger after her return to Haworth and his stoney refusal to correspond with her, in spite of her pleas and her wish to write a book and dedicate it to him: "I would write a book and I would dedicate it to my literature master - to the only master I have ever had - to you Monsieur".

It's amongst the most painful incidents in Bronte's life-story, but Claire Harman goes on to discuss how Bronte eventually used the experience in The Professor, Villette, and, of course, in her masterpiece, Jane Eyre.

Producer: Beaty Rubens.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Charlotte Bronte's true identity revealed through her powerful and poignant letters

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Essay

I Am, Yours Sincerely, C Bronte

Episode 2: Claire Harman on Charlotte Bronte in Belgium

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Radio 3

About BBC Radio 3