Answers: Fictional Pursuits of National Leaders

Answers

1) He became the first (former) U.S. president to venture into fiction, with the novel The Hornet’s Nest: A Novel of the Revolutionary War (published in 2003). This work of historical fiction is set primarily in the American South. Who?

Jimmy Carter. More here and here

2) Bill Clinton has co-written two thrillers with James Patterson. The second one, The President’s Daughter was released this year. A review here. The first, The President is Missing was published in 2018. Crucial to unravelling the puzzle in the book is a region that broke away after a war in 1992-93 and declared independence in 1999. Its main benefactor Russia is one of the few countries that recognise it. Which region?

Abkhazia, which broke away from Georgia. Another review of the book here. Human Rights Watch’s 1995 report on the conflict between Georgia and Abkhazia here. More on Abkhazia here.

3) A compilation of his short stories and essays was published under the title Escape to Hell in English in 1993. Other stories in the book include The Suicide of the Astronaut and Death. As far as books go, he’s more known for an ideological tract from 1975 titled The Green Book (big hint). Who?

Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi. More here

4) This Prime Minister’s only novel so far is Seventy-Two Virgins - A Comedy of Errors (2004). It’s a thriller spanning just over three hours in which suicide bombers target a fictional U.S. President. Who is the author?

Boris Johnson. More here and here.

5) He is the most prolific novelist among Prime Ministers by a mile. When asked about a work of another author he quipped, “When I want to read a novel, I write one.” He published 15 novels as well as non-fiction and poetry. When he died, he left behind an unfinished novel in which he took swipes at his longtime political rival, modelling the central character on the rival. Who was this prolific novelist-politician? (Hint: For his last completed novel Endymion he received the largest advance paid for a work of fiction at the time)

Benjamin Disraeli, UK Prime Minister in 1868 and 1874-1880. More on Disraeli here, here and here. He received higher advances for his novels than Charles Dickens. Disraeli took swipes at his longtime political rival and Liberal leader William Gladstone in his unfinished novel.

6) This Prime Minister’s novel is set in the fictional region of Afrozabad. The main protagonist Anand becomes Chief Minister of Afrozabad and eventually Prime Minister of the country. Four real-life Prime Ministers feature in this novel with autobiographical shades. Name the author and the country. (Hint: the author has been talked about this year in numerous articles due to landmark changes he initiated as PM)

P.V. Narasimha Rao, India’s Prime Minister from 1991 to 1996. The novel was The Insider. More here, here, here and here. The launch issue of Outlook magazine in 1995 had a sexually explicit excerpt from The Insider as its big scoop (when Rao was PM). More here. The resulting furore led to changes in the manuscript, with the sexually explicit bits toned down, and the lead protagonist’s name was changed from Niranjan to Anand.

2021 marks the birth centenary of Narasimha Rao as well as the 30th anniversary of the liberalisation drive under his leadership that transformed India’s economy. More here.

7) This Prime Minister and Nobel laureate for literature published his only novel at the age of 23. Savrola: A Tale of the Revolution in Laurania has been classified as a Ruritanian novel, a genre exemplified by Anthony Hope’s The Prisoner of Zenda. Who?

Winston Churchill. More here and here.

8) His ‘romance’ novel The Cardinal’s Mistress published in 1910 depicted a love affair involving a fictional 17th century cardinal. It was translated and published in English in 1928. The novel had taken potshots at the Catholic Church but it was pulled off shelves after the author signed a pact with the church hierarchy. Who was the author?

Benito Mussolini. Dorothy Parker’s scathing review in the New Yorker from 1928 here and here. More on the Lateran Treaty in 1929 between the Catholic Church and Mussolini that recognised papal sovereignty over Vatican City here and here.

9) This U.S.-born President has published multiple compilations of short stories for children. Her books include Patricia the Baby Manatee and Other Stories, Anastasia the Anteater and The Dog Who Loved Flowers. Born in Chicago with the surname Rosenberg she renounced her American citizenship as an adult. She is the only U.S-born woman to be a country’s President. Who and which country?

Janet Jagan, President of Guyana from 1997–99. More here, here and here. Her leftist husband Cheddi Jagan led Guyana to independence only to be shut out of power in the 1960s through U.S. meddling. More here and here. Cheddi and Janet Jagan led the opposition for nearly three decades until his return to power in 1992.

Janet Jagan’s stories and poems here.

10) His first play in 1963 The Garden Party won him international acclaim. After events in his country in 1968 he was banned from theatre. But his plays and essays were distributed underground and he emerged as a prominent dissident, playing a crucial role in the dissemination of Charter 77, a text calling for political freedom. In December 1989 he became President of his country. Who and which country?

Vaclav Havel, Czechoslovakia and later Czech Republic. More here and here

11) The four novels attributed to him include Zabiba and the King, The Fortified Castle and Men and the City. His fictional work was part of his country’s school syllabus until he was overthrown. The first book Zabiba and the King, a love story between a king and a commoner, was published in 2000 (Zabiba’s cruel husband symbolises the U.S.). Name the author and the country.

Saddam Hussein and Iraq. More about the former Iraqi leader’s literary endeavours here, here, here and here.

12) A dentist by training, this current President leads a government ranked by human rights and press freedom groups as one of the most repressive in the world. More than 50 books have been credited to him, whose subjects include medicinal plants, carpet weaving, horses (big hint) and history. His output includes a novel The Bird of Happiness based on his father’s childhood. Name the author and country.

Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov and Turkmenistan. More here, here, here and here. Turkmenistan officially claims to have no cases of covid-19 but the reality may be very different. Berdymukhamedov is known for his love of horses. A riding accident in 2013 was censored (he was unharmed)

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