Hello, guys! Since I am back at the forums (let's hope, for good), let me up-date you on the 'famous' novel I was writing (the old thread is here). First of all, years have gone by and the story has grown much mature and complex (as have I myself). It certainly has evolved much, in density, profundity, philosophical scope, ambition and diversity. First of all, I dropped most of the teenage ideas, completely inverosimile, and I re-wrote a whole new draft. This means I am writing a new, different novel than the one I told you about, though the latter provides the general guideliness. ________________________________________________________________ It will be divided in chapters, each one telling the story of the six main characters, which are: 1) Friedrich, Count of Lierry (the old Friedrich von Jolly), born 1886. The main character, who serves as liaison with the other five. Rich and elegant intellectual and artist, quite weak in character, bi-polar and deeply affected by his past (opressive military father, crazy mother, WWI trench horrors, recent loss of wife, disappointed of life in general), though a good, sensitive person. In this new novel, I am not sure what will become of Friedrich, since re-joining the Army and escalating positions all the way up to frontline command in WWII seems unlikely... 2) Ludwig (used to be 'Omar', and unlikely to remain)von Reit, born 1905. Austrian-born captain of the French Foreign Legion who, after saving Hitler's life, becomes a personal bodyguard of the Führer and a member of the SS. Estoic, cold-blooded, cold-hearted, selfish and ruthless, he is the reader's eyes into the Nazi Party, Hitler as a man and the developing story of the nazi takeover. At this point I too doubt whether he will remain in the SS, later join the Waffen SS and take part in WWII (something I had considered, but as a part of the Army). 3) Mark Albert Willingstone (Hannover until 1914), III Duke of Cambridge, Baron Culloden and Earl of Tipperary, born 1885. After modifying a bit the genealogy of George III of Great Britain, I got Lord Mark, Friedrich's close relative and best friend, an intelligent, honest man of great personal integritry, though as cold as can be expected of a British aristocrat. WWI veteran, successful in business and, I am thinking, with a high profile career either in politics or the military... He provides the view to inter-war Britain and acts as the de facto head of the Von Lierry family, given the Friedrich's poor mood. 4) Humbert Haar, born 1892. Of urban middle-class, a meticulous staff captain of the Reichswehr, though atypical, far from the snobbish Prussian officers (his father, an Army general, was an engineer who struggled his way up because of his lack of pedigree), with intellectual interests, not entirely conservative, relaxed views on life (part of his American experiences after WWI) and with a stable family and a stable lover... Also a view on middle-class Germany, from a Protestant conservative family much likely to vote for the nazis (his own brother is a detective who will soon become a Gestapo agent) to the nationalist gentlemen of the old Army, also supporters of the régime. But there is also the lover, a Jewish woman and a member of the Communist Party... His youngest daughter will suffer from Down syndrom and will be a victim of the T-4 programme. Haar will remain in the Army and raise to become a high-level staff general in WWII. Not many problems with his character. 5) Norma della Rosa (actually Rosenblum), born 1878. Our eyes into Italy. Member of an old and wealthy Neapolitan Jewish family (from her mother's side) and a Jewish father from Prussia (veteran of the Franco-Prussian war), she is an intellectual, politically comitted (first a socialist, then a fascist and always a sionist and feminist), open-minded and 'savage' woman. She's Friedrich's best friend (and all-time secret pretender) and a close influence on his children. By 1938, she breaks up with Mussolini and retires to Sicily, where she'll meet the Allied invasion... and later end up in Auschwitz. How? I don't know yet... 6) Viktor Kastner, born 1900. This is the fuzziest character, since I don't even know whether he deserves to have his own series of chapters or should be one of the many secondary characters. He marries Friedrich's daughter and be-friends Von Reit, but, since Kastner is an Hungarian Jewish name, I don't know whether to make his father a German-as-you-can-get, burgeois, conservative, Jewish entrepeneur who faces persecution and murder, and therefore forcing exile on Viktor himself, or not... And in that case Viktor's family would be nothing more than a Bavarian, rural middle-class German Catholic family. I only know Viktor is both a Phycisist and a WWI veteran. I am not sure if, in case of being a gentile, he should remain in Germany and do... who knows? ________________________________________________________________ Now, the novel starts two years earlier than the former, in 1932, and, according to the planning and actual writing I already have (in bold), develops like this in the beginning: I chapter, Von Reit: tells the story of the political campaigns of 1932, with Nazi officials discussing things, detailed description of Hitler's eccentricities (follies?), along a narrative about Von Reit's own origins, obscure past, selfishness. There he meets (and makes out with...) Friedrich's 16-year-old son... gets caught by a Nazi official and... II chapter, Haar: during those very same campaigns, Haar works normally in the Army, sees his family and his lover, who, after years of a passion-less relationship, encourages to pick up a girl in a cavarette... Friedrich's eldest daughter, a femme fatale... III chapter, Lord Willingstone: Mark receives a letter from Anna, another of Friedrich's numerous children, complaining of the disastrous state of the family and the permanent depression of his father. He then has to face the responsibility of the German family, adding to his own problems: the political and economical problems of Britain, his wife, his alcoholic brother and his old father, a staunch, extremist Tory (a friend of Lord Albert Douglas and Sir Oswald Mosley...). IV chapter, Norma: Friedrich's oldest daughter travels to Italy, adding up to the Von Lierrys story and looking at Italy's situation. V chapter, Friedrich: Friedrich has a nightmare, which is actually his remembrance of the battle of Verdun, the greatest trauma of his life. VI chapter, Viktor... ????? Complete blank... ________________________________________________________________ As you can see, there's a lot to be built and written, if the story is going to continue until after WWII... As I have grown, the story and the characters have become more and more independent of myself, and this developed stories of their own which I don't know where will they lead to... I do bear in mind the general objectives of this project, which are: painting an historical landscape of Germany, Great Britain and Italy from 1932-1949... providing human faces and colours to the drama of those years (without heroes and villains, avoiding stereo-types and black and white characters) telling a literary, fictional story which explores human dymensions of life in extraordinary circumstances drawing a set of phylosophical and ethical bases (without lecturing), that post questions, disturbing most of the time, important for today's matters The problem is that I'm still in the middle, in the hard work of actually getting it done... and that is why I most humbly ask for your help, suggestions, questions, critique, etcera. Thanks for reading!
Of all the names for British Heraldry....Henry...James, Rupert, Rodney even....Richard, John, William.....you chose Mark..... No seriously....bloody good Friedrich...
Actually, Urqh, the character is based on a guy named Mark... but I agree with you. It's not at all a British name, which certainly wouldn't be used by a Duke. I think I will go for Albert...
