On This Day ... The Nazis Light the Fires of Hate

Today’s Notable Anniversary continues on the theme of Nazi Germany (see below).

On this day (May 10th) in 1933, the Office for Press and Propaganda of the German Student Association committed an unforgivable crime against culture and literary heritage. In university towns and cities across Germany, the student arm of the Nazi party carried out book burning ceremonies, reducing 25,000 books deemed to be ‘un-German’ or ‘against the German spirit’ to ash. This purge of literary works was often accompanied by many rousing speeches from Nazi party officials, like this one from the Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda himself, Joseph Goebbels.

"You are doing the right thing at this midnight hour—to consign to the flames the unclean spirit of the past…. Out of these ashes the phoenix of a new age will arise…. Oh Century! Oh Science! It is a joy to be alive!"

Joseph Goebbels delivering his speech

The list of works which were deemed ‘un-German’ is lengthy. Books by Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, HG Wells, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, Charles Darwin and Marcel Proust, among many others, met a fiery end. Incidentally, German writers were not spared – works by Albert Einstein, Ludwig Renn and the 19th century Jewish-German poet Heinrich Hein, who wrote the prophetic line "Where they burn books, they will also burn people" were also committed to the flames.

Interestingly, in a much less publicized but equally significant way , the Allies were also guilty of large-scale book burning. In 1946, during the de-Nazification of Germany, millions of books and artworks by proponents of the Nazi regime were destroyed. That's not something we hear about very often, is it?

Lest We Forget

“All it takes for evil to flourish is for good men to do nothing”.

The sentiment expressed in this oft-used phrase forms the basis for Hans Fallada’s extraordinarily moving novel, Alone in Berlin. Published in Germany in 1947 under the title, Every Man Dies Alone (Jeder stirbt für sich allein), it is based on true events.

The novel tells the story of an unassuming, working-class couple, Otto and Anna Quangel who, distraught by the death of the son in the Second World War, begin a campaign of resistance against Hitler and the Nazi party. Their acts of rebellion are small, some would even say insignificant – they write one postcard a week, inciting civil disobedience by denouncing Hitler, the Nazis and the war that killed their son. The postcards, dropped randomly all over Berlin, were intended to be a rallying call, imploring recipients not to blindly succumb to the tyranny of the Nazis. Despite the small-scale nature of Otto and Anna’s revolt, a Gestapo inspector becomes obsessed with tracking them down. He eventually succeeds, and the Quangels pay the ultimate price for their deeds – they are imprisoned, tortured, subjected to a show-trial and eventually executed.

It quickly becomes apparent to the reader, however, that the actual subject of the novel is not Otto and Anna Quangel – the real focus of the book is in fact the Nazi regime, and more precisely, its brutality and effectiveness at suppressing all opposition, however small. The author paints a vivid picture of what life was like for everyday Germans living under Nazi control … and therein lies the novel’s greatest achievement. Fallada masterfully evokes an ominous atmosphere of pervasive anxiety, apprehension and distrust, where ordinary citizens live in abject fear of the Gestapo, and as such are prepared to turn a blind eye to their atrocities. One tends to forget that, quite aside from his crimes against Jews and other elements of society he deemed undesirable, Hitler’s despotism and cruelty was directed at all German citizens – the Führer proved himself to be equally adept at killing his own people as he was at killing Jews.

Alone in Berlin is a story of man’s inhumanity to man. There is no uplifting or redemptive ending, just as there was no uplifting or redemptive ending to the Second World War. The novel is bleak and utterly depressing, and for this very reason it is an absolute must-read … because if we are to learn lessons from history, we must never forget it.

Otto and Elise Hampel, the couple who inspired Alone in Berlin

The Wonderful World of Self-Publishing

Original Illustration by Denslow

When the author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum (who died on this day in 1919), couldn't find a publisher for his beguiling children's story, he joined forces with the book's illustrator, William Wallace Denslow to fund a private publication.

Little did they know then that the story would become a children's classic, spawning a long series of sequels written by Baum and a host of of other authors after Baum's death.

Since it's first tentative publication in 1900, the book has never been out of print - an argument for self-publication, if ever there was one!

Marcus Wareing at St Pancras

Stunning architecture and delectable food - a marriage made in heaven!

In this piece for lovefood.com, restaurant critic Giles Coren talks about Marcus Wareing's new restaurant, which is about to open in London's St Pancras Renaissance Hotel.

Worth a watch, if only to ogle at the splendour of the building, which is inarguably one of the city's finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture.

http://www.lovefood.com/journal/features/11841/superstylish-new-restaurant-opens-at-an-old-train-station

Mark Twain on Obituaries and Funerals

Today's Notable Quotable comes from the American author and humorist, Mark Twain (1835 - 1910), who reveals a certain cynicism when contemplating the subject of death and obituaries.


"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure".

"I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying that I approved of it".

Obviously, Twain didn't place much stock in the ancient idiom never speak ill of the dead!

Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot

Despite the fact we are a long way from Guy Fawkes Night, the historically curious among you may be interested in an article I have written for the brilliant History in an Hour blog on the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 and Fawkes' involvement in it.

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November,

Gunpowder, Treason and Plot.

I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason

Should ever be forgot.

http://www.historyinanhour.com/blog/read_25920/The-Gunpowder-Plot-a-Summary.html

An Obsession with Beauty

The Cult of Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement 1860 - 1900 is a new exhibition which has just opened at the Victoria & Albert Museum.

Taking a comprehensive look at the development of the 'Art for Art's Sake' movement, from it's origins in the mid-Victoria period to it's fin-de-siecle demise, The Cult of Beauty is this year's must-see exhibition.

Read my review for Tuppence Magazine here:
http://tinyurl.com/6dbk6ax

Louis Vuitton vs The Artist

 © Louis Vuitton

It cannot be denied that this 21st century world we inhabit is one entirely dominated by an obsession with image and celebrity. Proof, if proof is needed, can be found in a quick glance at topics trending on Twitter: it seems the most pressing concerns for the vast majority of the western world is the significance of Angelina Jolie’s latest tattoo or the current style of Justin Bieber’s hair.

This mania for celebrity, and the subsequent column inches devoted to it, comes at the expense of the many humanitarian crises which have been brewing, largely unnoticed, in the developing world. In particular, the worsening situation in Darfur seems to be roundly ignored by the world’s media which instead clambers to feed our incessant appetite for celebrity gossip and scandal. Fortunately, Nadia Plesner, a Danish artist and activist, is on a mission to change this.

Nadia first made headlines in 2008 when she incurred the wrath of luxury goods manufacturer Louis Vuitton. Plesner used a likeness of one of LV’s designer handbags in a controversial image which juxtaposed symbols of western wealth and excess with a starving child. The controversial picture, which was subsequently printed on t-shirts and posters, depicted a small, undernourished black boy holding a Chihuahua in one hand and a LV handbag in the other. The message was obvious, hard-hitting and made for uncomfortable viewing … and Louis Vuitton didn’t like it.

The luxury goods conglomerate, objecting to the fact that money was being raised (albeit to benefit the people of Darfur) on the back of one of its designs, sued the artist for breach of intellectual property rights ... and won. Plesner was forced to withdraw the t-shirts and posters from sale, and ordered to pay damages to the company. And there the story would have ended, if it were not for the admirable tenacity of Ms Plesner.

Undeterred by her legal defeat, Nadia soon got to work on a more ambitious project. The result is Darfurnica, a modern-day take on Guernica, Picasso’s masterpiece which depicts the horror of the Spanish Civil War. Like its predecessor, Darfurnica is a mish-mash of images – western political and ‘cultural’ icons like Paris Hilton, Victoria Beckham and Barack Obama, vie for space on the canvas with an ominous militiaman and the forgotten victims of Darfur’s civil war. But perhaps the most significant image of all is the re-appearance of the boy with the small dog and the designer handbag …

The artist decided to include the contested image because she believed that, this time, Louis Vuitton had no legal basis to object. Her argument centres on her conviction that Darfunica should be viewed as a whole, with the artist’s right to artistic freedom in mind. Louis Vuitton disagreed, and brought the case to court again. The court found in LV’s favour and ordered Plesner to remove the image from her website and to refrain from exhibiting the piece. The artist refused to comply with the order and is therefore obliged to pay Louis Vuitton €5,000 damages for every day the Darfunica image remains on her website. As of today, Nadia Plesner is in debt to LV for a staggering €350,000 and counting. She has launched a counter-claim against LV, claiming that her rights of artistic freedom have been infringed. The case is ongoing.

This is proving to be a showdown to rival that of David and Goliath. Who will win this epic battle of wills – Louis Vuitton, the ultimate symbol of rampant western consumerism or Nadia Plesner, a lone, brave voice trying to make herself heard in defence of the citizens of Darfur?

Whatever the outcome, we can be fairly certain that we haven’t heard the last from this particular artist – she is already working on her next project, using characters from the Mr Men and Little Miss series.

She has said her first piece will be called Little Miss Child Prostitute ….

 Darfurnica © Nadia Plesner 2011

For more information on Nadia Plesner, see her website:
http://www.nadiaplesner.com/

The Arrest of Oscar Wilde

On this day in 1895, Oscar Wilde was arrested after losing the libel action which he brought against the Marquess of Queensbury, the father of Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie).  It was the beginning of the end for Wilde who, after a short trial, was found guilty of gross indecency and sentenced to two years' hard labour.

When he was released in 1897, his health had badly deteriorated.  Penniless and broken, both physically and mentally, Wilde died in ignominious exile in France in 1900.  He is interred at the famous Pere Lachaise cemetery outside Paris.

Read an account of his arrest from The Times of London archive here:
http://archive.timesonline.co.uk/tol/viewArticle.arc?articleId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1895-04-06-10-004&pageId=ARCHIVE-The_Times-1895-04-06-10

Le Carré Refuses to Come in From the Cold.

The Man Booker Prize is no stranger to the machinations of the murky world of public relations. In fact, this particular literary award is one of the most publicity-driven in the industry.

Each year, in the run up to the award ceremony, an unrelenting wave of press releases issue forth from Man Booker HQ, with the express aim of drumming up the maximum amount of media attention. And in this endeavour the Man Booker organisers have been spectacularly successful; the publicity generated for the shortlisted nominees makes the Man Booker one of the most sought-after awards in the industry (although, the £50,000 prize pot is hardly a disincentive either!). In short, PR has become the lifeblood of the Man Booker Prize.

Spare a thought, then, for the Man Booker International Prize. Often regarded as the poor relation to the more widely-known Man Booker Prize, the International award was set up in 2005 as a biennial event to complement the original. The International Prize focuses on a writer’s entire body of work, and judges the author on his or her overall contribution to literature. Unfortunately, the Man Booker International Prize has failed to capture the imagination of media commentators and has not managed to achieve the dizzying heights of press attention enjoyed by its older cousin … until now.

Today, in the Great Hall of the University of Sydney, with a relatively modest amount of fanfare, the short-listed nominees for the 2011 Man Booker International Prize were announced. The press reaction was largely muted and perfunctory – until one of the nominees, John le Carré, author of such celebrated novels as The Spy Who Came in From The Cold and The Constant Gardener, whipped up a maelstrom of controversy…

In a move which will doubtless have Man Booker International’s PR minions doing a happy dance around the office in unrestrained glee, le Carré dramatically requested that his name be withdrawn from contention. In a statement issued through his publishers, le Carré said, "I am enormously flattered to be named as a finalist of the 2011 Man Booker International prize. However, I do not compete for literary prizes and have therefore asked for my name to be withdrawn."

If this was not enough to get the pundits salivating, the response of Rick Gekoski, the chairman of the judging panel, certainly was. Gekoski pointedly disregarded le Carré’s request by saying, "John le Carré's name will, of course, remain on the list. We are disappointed that he wants to withdraw from further consideration because we are great admirers of his work."

And so it appears that the Man Booker International Prize is faced with a stand-off between an unwilling nominee and a dogmatic judge … and it seems neither party is willing to concede ground.

Although it is highly unlikely that the judging panel will now award the prize to their recalcitrant nominee, le Carré’s refusal to participate has generated enormous publicity for the Man Booker International Prize, ensuring it will be one of the most closely watched literary awards in recent years – and this can only benefit all concerned.

Three cheers for John le Carré!

The complete list of the 2011 Man Booker International Prize shortlist is as follows:

 - Wang Anyi (China)

 - Juan Goytisolo (Spain)

 - James Kelman (UK)

 - John le Carre (UK)

 - Amin Maalouf (Lebanon)

 - David Malouf (Australia)
 - Dacia Maraini (Italy)
 - Rohinton Mistry (India/Canada)
 - Philip Pullman (UK)
 - Marilynne Robinson (USA)
 - Philip Roth (US)
 - Su Tong (China)
 - Anne Tyler (US)

Previous Winners of the Man Booker International Prize:
 - 2005 Ismail Kadare (Albania)
 - 2007 Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
 - 2009 Alice Munro (Canada)

The winner of the 2011 prize will be announced at the Sydney Writers Festival on May 18th.

Update: The Man Booker International Prize for 2011 was awarded to Philip Roth.  The decision was not unanimous - feminist author and publisher, Carmen Callil has resigned from the judging panel in protest.

Virginia's Last Letter

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the death of Virginia Woolf. On March 28th, 1941, at the age of 59, the writer took her own life by filling her pockets with rocks and wading into the fast-flowing River Ouse near her home in Rodwell, East Sussex. Her body was found three weeks later by children playing near the banks of the river, a long way downstream from where she died …

Virginia had struggled with bouts of severe mental illness for most of her life, and had attempted suicide on more than one occasion. She relied heavily on the support of the husband Leonard, and many believe that his love and devotion was the reason Virginia managed to survive so long against the relenting onslaught of the demons that plagued her.

In his autobiography, The Journey Not the Arrival Matters, Leonard described how the final bout of Virginia’s illness caught everyone by surprise, leaving her family and friends powerless to prevent its destructive and ultimately fatal consequences.

"For years I had been accustomed to watch for signs of danger in V's mind; and the warning symptoms had come on slowly and unmistakably; the headache, the sleeplessness, the inability to concentrate. We had learnt that a breakdown could always be avoided, if she immediately retired into a cocoon of quiescence when the symptoms showed themselves. But this time there were no warning symptoms."

Virginia, for her part, seemed to be painfully aware of the effect her illness had on the lives of those around her. Before her death, she wrote three letters: one to her sister, the painter Vanessa Bell, and two to Leonard. In the last of these letters, she acknowledges the debt of gratitude she owes her husband, and expresses her desire to no longer be a burden to him. It is tender, poignant and unutterably heartbreaking … a final love letter to the one man who brought her happiness …

"Dearest,

I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can't go through another of those terrible times. And I shan't recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can't concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don't think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can't fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can't even write this properly. I can't read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that - everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can't go on spoiling your life any longer.

I don't think two people could have been happier than we have been.


V."

Virginia by Vanessa Bell

And so it was: on this day in 1941, the dim lights of Virginia Woolf’s troubled life were finally extinguished. Leonard lost a wife, Vanessa lost a sister … and the world lost an irreplaceable literary talent.

To read the New York Times obituary of Virginia Woolf, click here:

http://tinyurl.com/5vlaz52

How To Become a Famous Novelist

As regular followers will attest, I am quite fond of writing the odd book review. In fact, truth be told, this blog has seen more than its fair share of them … but no more, dear readers! This reviewer has finally seen the error of her ways. The following will be the last book review I will ever write… and even as I put pen to paper* to compose this final dispatch, I do so with a heart heavy with shame and regret.

Up until now, it was my firm belief that the job of a book reviewer was to advance the literary cause. Drawing the public’s attention to good writing, while denouncing the bad was, I believed, a worthy occupation. However, nothing could be further from the truth – at least according to Pete Tarslaw, the protagonist in Steve Hely’s fictional debut How I Became a Famous Novelist.

The book, ostensibly an account of one man’s crusade to become a bestselling author, is in reality a vehicle through which Hely mercilessly lampoons many aspects of the publishing industry, including (you’ve guessed it) book reviewers. Our protagonist’s opinion of reviewers is unequivocal, to say the least. According to him, they are:

“… the most despicable, loathsome order of swine … snivelling, revolting creatures who feed their own appetites for bile by gnawing apart other people’s work… they are human garbage [who] all deserve to be struck down by awful diseases described in the most obscure dermatology journals ..”

Hmmm … there’s nothing quite like being called the scum of humanity (I’m paraphrasing) to make one re-assess one’s career path.  But I digress …

Prejudice against book reviewers aside, this novel is simply brilliant. The premise is rather ingenious - a down-trodden, unlucky-in-love, would-be

writer is eking out a miserable existence in a dead-end job when he is struck by a proverbial thunderbolt. Suddenly recognising the fundamental spuriousness of the publishing industry, our hero comes to the conclusion that the business of writing and publishing is nothing more than a complex exercise in deception. Convinced that bestselling authors are simply con artists who make a substantial living by manipulating the emotions of the reading public, Pete undertakes an elaborate counter-con … using his new-found insight, he sets about writing his own bestseller with hilarious results.

How I Became a Famous Novelist is laugh-out-loud, side-splittingly funny and gloriously ironic. It shines an unforgiving light on the workings of the publishing industry and exposes the pretentiousness which surrounds literary writing, and of course literary review. If you are a fan of no-holds-barred satire, you’ll love this!

And now, I’m off in search of alternative, worthier employment. Maybe I’ll try my luck as a traffic warden? Or a telemarketer? Estate agent? A tax inspector, perhaps? Anything, it seems, would be better than a devilish book reviewer.

How I Became a Successful Novelist is published by Corsair and is available in paperback from March 24th.

(* figuratively speaking, of course; ‘fingers to keyboard’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?)