Each of these novels had a life behind the page: a writer's circumstances, a publisher's risk, a serial run or a pseudonym. These curations go behind the work of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo and Charlotte Brontë, so each novel is read as something that was made.
Jane Austen was an English writer born in 1775, known for novels that comment on the landed gentry and often examine women's dependence on marriage for status and security. How did a rejected draft become a beloved novel, and what can its path reveal about Austen's writing? The lessons follow its movement from early draft through rejection and eventual publication.
Charlotte Brontë was an English novelist and poet, best known for Jane Eyre, published in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell after her first novel was rejected. What can we understand about how her life experiences were transformed into Jane Eyre? The lessons connect her experiences, education and imagination with the making of the novel.
Charles Dickens's life and the serial publication of A Tale of Two Cities concerns the English writer and journalist Charles Dickens, whose novels pioneered serial publication of narrative fiction, and his 1859 historical novel A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris and regarded as his best-known work of historical fiction.
Victor Hugo's life and the making of Les Misérables concern a French Romantic author's life and the creation of his 1862 novel. The lessons answer how his concern for social injustice shaped the work, and help readers understand the path from social conscience to literary creation.
Curiate turns what you are curious about into a short path — a quick lesson on an article, something to watch, and a book to go deep on. Free to browse.
