TEN AUTHORS HELP TO WRITE A BOOK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 351, 11 May 1928, Page 14

TEN AUTHORS HELP TO WRITE A BOOK

IMAGINATION AND HISTORY An interesting literary enterprise has been started by ten noted Italian authors: Fausto Maria Martini, Guido Milanesi, Antonio Beltramelli, C. G. Viola, Alessandro Varaldo, Massimo Bontempelli, Alessandro De Stefani, Li. d’Ambra, F. T. Marinetti, and L. Zuccoli.

The authors have each agreed to write two chapters of a novel. Signor d’Ambra will write the first and the last chapters, another novelist will continue, the third will develop the plot, and so on. In order to give more unity to the novel they will meet once a week in a Roman tavern to discuss the work. Still, the enterprise is none the less extraordinary, as the writers belong to different schools. It would be sufficient to compare Martini, who is a classical poet, and Marinetti, so well known abroad, who Is one of the most unclassifiable futurist writers. The title of the novel will be “The Czar is Not Dead.” It will be a mixture of history and imagination. The Russian revolution will oiler the background; the rest will be invented. As is known —it has often been said, though nobobdy believes it—that the

Czar is still living and hiding somewhere (says the “Daily Express”). It seems that the authors will put Bolshevism face to face with Fascism, thus drawing an interesting parallel between the two Political conceptions.

From a business point of view the novel should be a success. As each writer usually has at least 10,000 faithful readers, the “collective” novel should at least have 100,000 readers. The novel will not be finished before the middle of next year.