Chain Reactions: How a Kiss in Edwardian London and a Novel in Switzerland Led to Hiroshima

Tasmanian writer Richard Flanagan's genre-bending memoir/novel/history book Question 7 poses intriguing questions about the interconnectedness of events. The story begins with a kiss in 1911 between Rebecca West and HG Wells, which sparks a chain reaction that leads to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Flanagan's personal connection to this story adds depth and complexity, as he owes his own existence to the event. This rare visit to the Book Festival was a chance to encounter a unique writer and mind.

Key Takeaways:

• Richard Flanagan's novel Question 7 explores the chain reaction that led to the dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima, tracing the connections between a kiss in 1911, a novel in Switzerland, and the Manhattan Project.
• Flanagan's personal connection to the story is rooted in his father's experience in a Japanese labour camp, where he would have likely died if the bomb had not been dropped.
• Flanagan's father's release from the camp is a direct result of the bomb, making Flanagan's existence contingent on this event.
• Question 7 was written in just ten months, after Flanagan was misdiagnosed with early-onset dementia, which led him to reflect on his parents' lives and the idea of love and goodness in their "very ordinary lives".
• Flanagan emphasized the importance of resisting ideologies that dehumanize others and finding hope in our troubled world by taking our moral compass from the sense of common humanity.
• Richard Flanagan won the Booker Prize in 2014 for his novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.
• The novel explores themes of love, goodness, and the human condition, and was influenced by Flanagan's father's experiences in the Tasmanian rainforest.

Statistics:

• 2 years: The time frame in which HG Wells was writing his novel, The World Set Free, which imagined a nuclear war.
• 1 year: The time it took Leo Szilard to work on the science behind the atom bomb after being inspired by Wells' novel.
• 10 months: The time it took Flanagan to write Question 7, after being misdiagnosed with early-onset dementia.
• 6 children: The number of children that Flanagan's parents raised in the Tasmanian rainforest.
• 100% certified fresh rating: The rating on Rotten Tomatoes for the TV adaptation of Flanagan's novel, The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Sources:

• By Susan Mansfield, The Scotsman, August 10, 2022 (no link provided)
• Richard Flanagan, Question 7 (book)
• Richard Flanagan, The Narrow Road to the Deep North (book)
• Andrey Kurkov, Edinburgh Book Festival, August 2022 (no link provided)
• Andrey Kurkov, War Diaries (book)