Preface
The
original series of Curious George was written by the team of Hans Augusto Rey and
Margret Rey. The Jewish couple fled Paris in June 1940, on self-made bicycles,
carrying the Curious George manuscript with them. At first, only H. A. Rey was
credited for the work in order to distinguish the Reys' books from the large
number of children's books written by female authors.
George
was brought from his home in Africa by "The Man with The Yellow Hat".
They are best friends and they live together in "the city" and
"the country". The names of these areas have not been declared yet.
Curious George appeared in 1941. This book begins with George living in Africa
and tells the story of his capture by the Man with the Yellow Hat, who takes
him on a ship to "the big city" where he will live in a zoo. The
second book, Curious George Takes a Job (1947), begins with George living in
the zoo, from which he escapes and has several adventures before the Man with
the Yellow Hat finds him and takes George to live at his house.
Aside
from George himself, the only recurring character in the original adventures is
the unnamed Man with the Yellow Hat who is George’s best friend. The Man often
facilitates George's adventures by taking him somewhere, and even more often
resolves the tension by intervening just in time to get George out of a tight
spot.
In
The Further Adventures of George, the
Man has a deeper role with George that takes him beyond what the Zookeeper has
in mind and joins George in his adventures, not only to intervene. These
adventures would be frowned upon by the Zookeeper and could cost the Man his
main job: training George and learning George’s language.
In the plot of my
allegorical tale, or "magic realism", the Man in the Hat has time on
his hands because his long-time relationship with Phoenix had taken a hit after
her illness; lack of motivation to experience the world. The Man has gotten
bored of exchanges with Vincent Snail and jumps at the chance to become
George's language enrichment partner at the Great Zookeeper's request. He would
like to become her trainer, too, but there is somebody assigned to her first
that she can’t break away from.
