The Manuscripts' Secret History

2021•1h 44m

Documentary

This series retraces the origins and journeys of major European works of international significance, whose original manuscript has survived through the ages. Each film attempts to analyze an original manuscript as if it were a crucial clue, in hopes to reveal the secrets behind each work.

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Production

Little Big Story, Bibliothèque nationale de France

Language

Status

Returning Series

First Aired

August 22, 2021

Last Aired

August 29, 2021

Networks

ARTE

Created By

Anne-Sophie Martin

Where to Watch

Region US · Lang EN

No providers available for this region.

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Seasons & Episodes

Select a season to view episodes. Reddit links may contain spoilers.

Season

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Air date: 2021-08-22

During a summer afternoon of 1862, Lewis Caroll, takes for a ride the three daughters of Liddell, one of her is Alice. For them, he invents a tale, about a big white rabbit, who passes very close to a little girl also named Alice. She discovers a fantastic underground world...

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Air date: 2021-08-29

Kafkaesque! This is the right word to describe this incredible, even miraculous, journey of the work of the Prague German-speaking writer. When Kafka died at 40 in 1924, he ordered his friend and executor Max Brod to burn everything down, although he had only published short texts …

Don Giovanni by Mozart

Air date: 2021-08-29

Mozart himself said about his Don Giovanni: this work is divine, it is perhaps even more beautiful than "The Marriage of Figaro". When he was commissioned by the director of the Prague theater in January 1787, he had eight months left to create one of the most powerful operas in the repertoire.

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

Air date: 2021-08-29

Victor Hugo spent 16 years writing “Les Misérables”, between Paris, Guernsey and Waterloo. It was a long creative process and not only because the manuscript has 828 leaves. The story of the writing of “Les Miserables” was a true serial novel, very 19th century style.