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Book
Notes
"A second copy of the biography was made in 1965 and placed in a separate archive, which was used as corroborating evidence that the first book was authentic," a spokeswoman for publisher John Murray said. A statement said the book would be published by Lubbe in Germany in March with its UK publication due in November. The biography was based on two years of interrogation in Moscow with two of Hitler’s close associates — his butler Heinz Linge and adjutant Otto Guensche. The two of them worked for Hitler for 10 years before being captured by Soviet troops in Hitler’s bunker after disposing of the bodies of the Nazi dictator and Eva Braun. Hitler married his long-time companion Braun shortly before they both, according to generally accepted accounts, committed suicide on April 30, 1945. Stalin commissioned the book because he wanted to understand the psychology of Hitler as well as being sure the Nazi dictator was dead, the publisher said in a statement. "This is a compelling and powerful document, with an extraordinary narrative and astonishing detail and insight," said John Murray’s publishing director Gordon Wise. "Hitler remains an object of eternal fascination, but particularly remarkable about this book is the invisible but brooding presence of Stalin, for whom it was created." In 1983 the German magazine Stern published diaries purported to be Hitler’s. They were later revealed to be forgeries. — Reuters Llosa’s new love
"It’s a love story, something I’ve never written before. Love always appears in my novels, but I’ve never written a love story from beginning to end. Maybe in old age I’ve come to the point of filling that vacuum," he said. But Vargas Llosa, 68, says he feels more unsure about the quality of his writing now than when he was as a young man. "I’m more insecure, I have more doubts, I suffer from more uncertainties and more fear every time I sit down to write than I did when I started," Vargas Llosa said, a day after receiving an honorary degree from Paris’ Sorbonne University. The author, part of the "boom generation" with Colombia’s Gabriel Garcia Marquez who helped put Latin American literature on the map in the 1960s, said he was still thrilled by writing and enjoys developing projects for months or years. "Every time I have that experience, I discover that I remain young despite my age," said Vargas Llosa, a naturalised Spaniard who made a failed bid for Peru’s presidency in 1990. Vargas Llosa has turned out more than 30 novels, plays and essays, including The Time of the Hero, Conversation in the Cathedral, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, inspired by a brief marriage, and his latest The Temptation of the Impossible, a study of French writer Victor Hugo. — Reuters
Sequel to Peter Pan
When JM Barrie died in 1937, he left the rights to Peter Pan — written in 1904 — to the London-based Great Ormond Street Hospital. And they decided last year to return to Peter Pan’s fictional Neverland. Writers were invited to submit storylines from all over the world. Great Ormond Street’s one rule: the book must feature the original characters, including Peter, Wendy, Tinkerbell, the rest of the Darling family and the fearsome Captain Hook. Award-winning 53-year-old McCaughrean was hand-picked to pen the tale. Her winning story—entitled Captain Pan — was announced recently at the London International Book Fair in Olympia, west London. She said: "It is an
astonishing, daunting privilege to be let loose in Neverland, armed with
nothing but a pen, and knowing I’m walking in Barrie’s revered
footprints. "But completing this book is going to be the writing
adventure of a lifetime and such amazing fun. I am delighted beyond
words." The judging panel included JM Barrie’s
great-great-nephew, David Barrie. He said: "It was a tough
challenge for the judges. We were presented with lots of wonderfully
imaginative entries. "Geraldine had a real fight on her hands, but
she won through in the end. I think JM Barrie would have liked her
style." — AFP |
A secret biography of Nazi
dictator Adolf Hitler commissioned by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is to
be published later this month, the book’s British publisher has said.
Stalin’s Hitler Book was presented to the Soviet dictator in
December 1949, in a limited edition of one, and was put in his personal
archive before being discovered by German historian Matthias Uhl last
year.
Mario Vargas Llosa, whose
novels, plays and essays have established him as one of the Latin
American literary greats, has begun a new novel on a genre that has so
far eluded him, the love story. Often considered a candidate for the
Nobel Prize for literature, Vargas Llosa told RPP radio he had begun a
new "picaresque" novel, Las Travesuras de una Nina Mala
(The Mischief that a Naughty Girl Gets Up To).
British children’s
author Geraldine McCaughrean would be writing a sequel to Peter Pan,
the story about a boy who never grew up, the group holding the copyright
to JM Barrie’s classic tale announced recently.