All Lit Up: The Inevitable Futility of Recreating a True Story

I liked this description. 
'Recently shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Non-Fiction, this book is a unexpected and clever pastiche of genres. Steinmetz has done a remarkable thing by piecing together bit of diverse information in such a way underscores the inevitable futility of recreating a true story.'

Hamburger Theatersammlung. Theatre archives, Hamburg. 

"The S-Bahn leaves me at Dammptor. I exit the busy terminal in the direction of the university, following the crush of students. Outside, I verify the campus address. Von-Melle-Park 3. At last I’ll meet this Dr Giesing, someone for whom Michael is a subject of objective study. The director of the archives, she holds the key to material that might unlock Michael’s story. A corner piece of the floor puzzle. Well, I don’t actually believe it – it isn’t likely – but then I’ve come this far and under which pretext if not because I hold out hope. Why put on a method writer’s lumbering show if you can’t suspend disbelief for a measly hour?" - from This Great Escape.

Unnecessary Travel Lengthens The War

1963. The Great Escape – 
The Mirisch Company Inc. Presents

INT. TRAIN COMPARTMENT – DAY. 

The door opens and a Gestapo agent enters. He glances at the identity cards offered by a pair of SS officers. Not of interest, not on his list. In total there are 76 escaped prisoners from Stalag Luft III and Hitler has ordered a nation-wide manhunt, ein Grossfahndung. The Gestapo agent moves forward and then stops when he comes face to face with the actors Richard Attenborough and Gordon Jackson, escaped POWs disguised as businessmen on the Berlin-Breslau train. There is something about them.

A complete chapter from my upcoming book, This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla, can be found here at the CNQ blog.

The Non-Fiction Thing

It was inspiring to find a recent post about Eva's Threepenny Theatre by Cristina Pietropaolo at The CanLit Thing, just as I am finishing up a book about Eva's son, Michael Paryla. Michael was an actor like his mother and father. Before his death in Hamburg, in 1967, he had a small part in John Sturge's The Great Escape. Actually, he played a Gestapo agent; and here he is on a train in the movie about to have words with Richard Attenborough and David McCallum:

In Eva's Threepenny Theatre, I give only a page to Michael's story. I have spent the last five years finding out about him. The book will be called This Great Escape - The Case of Michael Paryla.