Famous Authors

1 - The Life and Work of Jane Austen 36 min

Like most women of her time Jane Austen lived out her life on home ground. Her adventurous brothers meant however that she was very much in touch with her age.

2 - The Life and Work of William Blake 39 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick explores the life and work of William Blake. He was born the son of a hosier in the then respectable district of Soho in London.

3 - The Life and Work The Bronte Sisters 33 min

This program introduces the rich imaginative life of Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronte, exposed to the world of literature by their father Patrick Bronte priest, examiner, and writer. The family struggled with poverty, and the family home Haworth and moorland provided inspiration for the daughters.

4 - The Life and Work of Robert Burns 35 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick follows the life and times of the 18th century Scottish poet, Robert Burns. Burns came from a simple farming background but his poetry was soon accepted as of remarkable quality and he is now remembered as the ploughman poet. The film includes examples of his work and is followed by an overview of his work.

5 - The Life and Work of Confucius 36 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick explores the life and work of the Chinese sage known to the west as Confucius. He did not found a religion and there is nothing about what he said which we have to believe. 

6 - The Life and Work of Daniel Defoe 36 min

This film in the Famous Author series by Malcolm Hossick tries to uncover the astonishing life of Daniel Defoe who wrote Robinson Crusoe, one of the earliest novels to achieve world wide success.

7 - The Life and Work of Charles Dickens 38 min

Drawing on archival and contemporary materials, this DVD presents a factual outline of Charles Dicken's life as well as the social and historical background to his writings.

8 - The Life and Work of Emily Dickinson 33 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick follows the improbable life of Emily Dickinson writing very imaginative poetry in the little New England town of Amherst in the middle of the 19th century. 

9 - The Life and Work of John Donne 52 min

John Donne was born into a fascinating and creative period of human history. He got the best education on offer in the England of Queen Elizabeth and hardly out of his teens he was recognised as a poet of astonishing ability. 

10 - The Life and Work Edgar Allan Poe 41 min

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston the son of actors David and Elizabeth Poe. His father disappeared when he was three and his mother died a year later. He was adopted by a Richmond, Virginia family called Allan. When he was 17 he was disowned by his foster parents. He was determined to be a writer and through many difficulties he succeeded ibecoming one of the first great imaginative writers in the United States.

11 - The Life and Work of George Eliot 36 min

George Eliot was born Mary Anne Evans in 1819 near the small town of Nuneaton in Warwickshire. Her father ran the estate of the local landowner. She had an excellent education in local schools and took up journalism. She began writing novels when she was over 30 and became one of the most celebrated and influential writers of her age. 

12 - The Life and Work of William Faulkner 34 min

Introduces the major themes of Faulkner's poems, plays, short stories, and novels. The film contextualizes life in the American south in the first half of the 20th century; Faulkner's southern upbringing, family history, and race relations in the wake of the Civil War were a major influence on his fiction. 

13 - The Life and Work of F. Scott Fitzgerald 34 min

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St Paul Minnesota into a fairly well-off family. He began his first novel while at Princeton University and very shortly after leaving it was accepted by Scribners and successfully published. He went on to be the prophet of the Jazz age of the twenties but his popularity declined. He is now recognised as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. 

14 - The Life and Work of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 37 min

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832) was born in Frankfurt on Main, Germany, into a well-to-do family. He made some attempts to become a lawyer but eventually began writing poetry and novels. He was immediately successful.

15 - Greek Dramatists 50 min

The dramatists of ancient Greece, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides had a huge influence on their own times but they are arguably just as significant today. In this film Malcolm Hossick uncovers how they worked and why their ideas and methods were so revolutionary.

16 - The Life and Work of Thomas Hardy 36 min

Thomas Hardy was born into the family of a practical country builder in mid 19th century England. He got a good education in the local town of Dorchester on the south coast and after beginning as an architect he soon developed into one of the most prolific and popuar novelists of his times.

17 - The Life and Work of Nathaniel Hawthorne 37 min

Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer who enjoyed considerable success with his romantic tales usually set in in the puritanical world of his home state Massachusetts.

18 - The Life and Work of Ernest Hemingway 30 min

Traces the life and literary career of Ernest Hemingway, using portraits and views of places associated with his life. "Enigmatic and intriguing, Hemingway is one of America's favorite authors.

19 - The Life and Work Henry James 37 min

Begins with James' comfortable boyhood in New York, during which his father moved James and his brother around and back and forth from Europe frequently for the sake of education. He eventually went to Harvard to study law and began writing, but felt uncomfortable with American culture and left for England, where he spent most of the rest of his life.

20 - The Life and Work of Victor Hugo 48 min

Victor Hugo was born the son of a General under Napoleon Bonaparte. At an early age he began writing and his career as a poet, playwright, novelist and even politician has rarely been equalled. 

21 - The Life and Work of Henrik Ibsen 39 min

Henrik Ibsen was born in the small coastal town of Skien in Norway. His family were middle class burghers. He worked as an apprentice to an apothecary before going to Oslo to study. He began writing plays which found little favour in Norway. He lived and wrote for about 30 years in Italy and Germany and became recognised worldwide as the greatest dramatist of his age and the Father of modern drama. 

22 - The Life and Work of Samuel Johnson 35 min

Samuel Johnson was one of the most interesting figures of literature in 18th c England. He founded a literary magazine The Rambler and compiled the first major dictionary of English. 

23 - The Life and Work of James Joyce 37 min

James Joyce was born in Dublin. He was sent first to a Jesuit school but had to leave after three years because his father could no longer afford the fees. He went to another Jesuit school in Dublin and then to University College there. He went to Paris in 1902 and rarely returned to Ireland. His writing was difficult to publish and he had a very tricky character but with his unique style he became one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century.

24 - The Life and Work of Franz Kafka 34 min

Franz Kafka was born in Prague, still under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He was well educated and from an early age he determined to become a writer. He worked in an insurance company and in his ample free time wrote a number of remarkable novels and short stories.

25 - The Life and Work of John Keats 34 min

The English poet Keats was born into comfortable circumstances in 1795. He had a good education. His father died in an accident when he was in his early teens and he took up the profession of surgeon. He was however writing poetry and he was soon recognised by his discerning friends as someone quite exceptional.

26 - The Life and Work of D.H. Lawrence 36 min

Lawrence was born into the family of a coal miner in 1885. His remarkable achievement in becoming one of the most successful novelists of his day is explored in this film by Malcolm Hossick. Not only did he make it as a writer but in his honesty and open mindedness he had a huge effect on the way novels are written in general. 

27 - The Life and Work of Herman Melville 34 min

The film follows the life of Melville was born in New York, USA. His father was a prosperous business man but the economic climate changed and the business failed. The family moved to his mother's home in New Albany and he went to Albany Academy. At twenty he went to sea and returned to write very popular books about his adventures.

28 - The Life and Work of Michel Eyquem de Montaigne 32 min

Montaigne was a French aristocrat born in the midde of the 16th century a while before Shakespeare. . He wrote essays about his views on life and in particular about himself. They are wise and amusing and just as pertinent today as they were in this own times. 

29 - The Life and Work of Eugene o"Neill 35 min

O'Neill was born in 1888 into a theatrical family. He got a good education but led a turbulent existence until he finally began to have some success with the plays he wrote for the tiny theatre in Providence Massachusetts. The film follows his early life and the influence he has had on world theatre through his work. 

30 - The Life and Work of George Orwell 35 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick follows the life and work of George Orwell. Orwell was born in India and educated at Eton College. In 1922 he went out to Burma as a police officer. He returned to England in 1927 and determined to be a writer. He was interested in politics and the lot of the poor in society and his works reflect this interest. 

31 - The Life and Work of Marcel Proust 33 min

Proust wrote a remarkable and very long novel called La Recheche de Temps Perdue, translated usually as Remembrance of Things Past. It's size and reputaiton for density and incomprehensibility mean that not many folk take it on. This is a great pity as once you have started reading it is hard not to be drawn into Proust's world. This is because you will find yourself there in it's huge cast of sensitively drawn characters.

32 - The Life and Work of Walter Scott 37 min

Scott was a prolific and passionate storyteller who saw an understanding of the past as the key to getting along in the present. His canvas was usually the history of Scotland but his means were such that he found an audience throughout the literary world. He was as much loved in foreign translations as he was in english. 

33 - The Life and Work of William Shakespeare 44 min

The film follows the life and times of the great English dramatist William Shakespeare. It emphasises the classical education he had in the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans as well as his experience of country life which he used so fruitfully in his work. 

34 - The Life and Work of George Bernard Shaw 37 min

Shaw was born into a protestant family in Catholic Dublin. His family was slowly sliding down the social ladder. He left school at 15 to become a clerk. Then aged twenty three he went off to London to become a writer. Blessed with a brilliant wit and a capacity for hard work he became the most prominent dramatist of his age.

35 - The Life and Work of Sir Bysshe Shelley 37 min

Shelley was born in 1792 in a house in Surrey on the estate of his grandfather Sir Bysshe Shelley. He was educated at Syon House Academy in London and at Eton. In 1810 he went to University College Oxford and published his first poems.

36 - The Life and Work of John Steinbeck 40 min

John Steinbeck was one fo the most popular writers of the 20th century and several of his books were made into films.This film in the Famous Author series by Malcolm Hossick explores his eventful life. It is followed by a brief overview of his works.

37 - The Life and Work of Robert Louis Stevenson 34 min

Stevenson was born in Edinburgh the only child of middle class parents. He went to the University of Edinburgh and took a law degree but in spite of his parents' opposition he was intent on being a writer. He suffered from poor health throughout his life but was successful from early in his career. He died in Samoa celebrated the world over. He wrote many travel books and short stories but is best known for his novels mostly with a background of Scottish history. 

38 - The Life and Work of Jonathan Swift 36 min

Swift was born in Dublin into a well off English protestant family. His father died and he was brought up and given the best possible education at the expense of his uncle. He was not grateful for this and his acid views on man's iniquities were the subject of his many writings.

39 - The Life and Work of Mark Twain 34 min

Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorn Clemens in the small town of Florida Missouri. When he was four his parents moved the family to Hannibal, a larger town not far away on the banks of the Mississippi river. There he had an idyllic childhood which was to form the basis of some of his later novels. 

40 - The Life and Work of Voltaire 36 min

Voltaire was born the son of a prominent lawyer and from his earliest days showed a precocious literary talent. He wrote plays and novels and historical and philosophical works his outspokeness constantly landed him in trouble with the authorities.

41 - The Life and Work of Walt Whitman 34 min

The poet Walt Whitman was born in a small village in Long Island, New York State in 1819. When he was quite young the family moved to Brooklyn where he received a modest education. He began work as a typesetter. He published his most famous book of poems "Leaves of Grass" in 1855 and gradually his reputation grew.

42 - The Life and Work of Oscar Wilde 36 min

Oscar Wilde was certainly one of the most brilliant writers of comedy for the English stage. The tale of his tragic downfall, caused by the society of his time condemning his private sexual life, has generally overshadowed the importance of his work.

43 - The Life and Work of Virginia Woolf 35 min

This film by Malcolm Hossick follows the fascinating life of the novelist Virginia Woolf. She was born in London in 1882. Her father was Leslie Stephen, a writer and literary editor. She was educated privately and in 1912 married Leonard Woolf. He encouraged her to write and they began their own publishing house called the Hogarth Press where they printed her remarkable books.

44 - The Life and Work of William Wordsworth 37 min

William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth in the Lake District in 1770. His father ran the estate of a local landowner and the family lived in a large and comfortable house. He was well educated at the grammar school in nearby Hawkshead and he went to St John's College Cambridge in 1737. He lived most of his life in his beloved Lake District enjoying the fame he achieved as the greatest poet of the romantic age. 

45 - The Life and Work of William Butler Yeats 34 min

William Butler Yeats was born in Dublin. His father was a successful artist and from an early age Yeats determined to be and was soon accepted as a poet. On the London literary scene he was a leading light and in Dublin was instrumental in setting up an Irish Theatre. He became the recognised poet of the Irish struggle for freedom and ended his long life as a senator and venerated patriarch of the new state. 

46 - The Life and Work of Emile Zola 35 min

Zola was born the son of an Italian engineer. He early determined to be a writer and via work with the publishing firm Hachette, he began writing the many realistic novels with which he made his mark. His work was very popular with a wide audience and he was seen as a champion of democracy and the people.