Winnie and Wolf

Wilson's 'Winnie and Wolf' exhibits a prodigous knowledge of German history from the end of WW1 until the end of WW2, Wagner's music, German philosophy, literature and art and the history of the Bayreuth Festival. Why I asked myself, did he write this as a novel using the wild premise that Winifred Wagner and Adolf Hitler had an affair that produced a child? Wilson hangs his novel on a framework of having the novel writen as a memoir of 'N', Siegfried and then Winifred's personal assistant which N later in life will give to his adopted daughter the biological child of Winnie and Hitler. By using this device we become privy to private conversations between Winnie and Hitler, Winnie and Tietjen, Winnie and Toscanni. But more importantly it makes vivid the everyday life of Germans in Weimar Germany who then witness and then for the most part deliriously support the rise of their ultimate Leader, Hitler and Nazism. N finds himself torn between his love of Winnie and of Wagner, and his ambivalent feelings towards the charismatic Uncle Wolf who reguarly visits Bayreuth and who reads fairy tales to the Wagner children and adores dogs. It is N's theory that the Uncle Wolf of Bayreuth and the Hitler of Munich and Berlin are two conflicting beings inhabiting one body, an interesting psychological premise. The device of the narrator works superbly in allowing the reader to view the rise of Hitler through the eyes of everyday Germans. However, the premise of Winnie's and Hitler's 'love' child seems silly and unnecessary. Did the author think such an outrageous premise would spark the book buying public to purchase more books? If so he is wrong. This is definitely not a book for the general reader, but for those who are already well acquainted with the music of Wagner, the history of the Bayreuth Festival and the rise and fall of Adolph Hitler.

This is a gorgeously written book that I could not put down. It is absolutely not for everyone. But if you are interested in the life and music of Richard Wagner and/or the strange story of how the Nazis co-opted his works and perverted their meaning, or if you are interested in Germany's bizarre path from tentative democracy following the Great War to becoming the evil empire under Hitler, and why the German people surrendered their critical facilities and allowed Hitlerism to bring them, and much of the world, to the brink of destruction - if you are interested in these things, you will savor every page of Winnie and Wolf. The premise, that Winifred carried on an affair with Hitler and bore his child, is absurd, but it doesn't matter. The author's observations about life in Bayreuth after it was usurped by Hitler is accurate to the finest detail. I strongly recommend reading it after you've finished Brigitte Hamann's suberb Winifred Wagner: A Life at the Heart of Hitler's Bayreuth. You will see how faithful the novel is to history, and you will have more context to understand the cast of characters such as Hans Tietjen, Houston Stewart Chamberlain, Friedelind Wagner, etc. Mesmerizing, hypnotic, touching and ripe with keen insights into German history and philosophy and music, not to mention human nature.... Well, what more can we ask for? As I headed into the last 50 pages or so I started to read it more slowly, sometimes reading only one or two pages a night before bedtime, because I didn't want it to end. A book to cherish.

A really nice and sympathetic if not compassionate book about Mrs. Wagner and Mr. Hitler. The author has managed to create a believable and entertaining picture of the relationship of the two which has so far attracted much, but superficial treatment in most books about Hitler. A pleasure to read, could have been chosen for the annual Booker or prize..., but perhaps the theme did not allow...