The Stonehenge Letters

The Stonehenge Letters
Harry Karlinsky

A remarkable new novel from the Wellcome Trust longlisted author.While digging through the Nobel Archives in Stockholm, trying to figure out why his hero, Sigmund Freud, never received a Nobel Prize, a psychiatrist makes an unusual discovery.Among the unsolicited self-nominations in the museum’s ‘Crackpot’ file there are six letters addressed to Mr Ragnar Sohlman, executor of Alfred Nobel’s will. Remarkably, all but one has been written by a Nobel laureate – including Rudyard Kipling, Ivan Pavlov, Teddy Roosevelt and Marie Curie. Each letter attempts to explain why and how Stonehenge was constructed. Diligent research eventually uncovers that Alfred Nobel, intrigued by a young woman's obsession with the mysterious landmark, added a secret codicil to his will:A prize – reserved exclusively for Nobel laureates – was to be awarded to the person who can solve the mystery of Stonehenge.Weaving together a wealth of primary documents – photos, letters, wills – The Stonehenge Letters is a wryly documented archive of a fascinating covert competition, complete with strange but illuminating submissions and a contentious prize-awarding process.But is this fact or is this fiction?

Trilithons B and C from the south-west, Stonehenge, c. 1867.

Dedication (#ulink_b479edfa-906e-5588-8a3d-e81cc294eb0a)

For Minnie and Will

They look upon me as pretty much of a monomaniac, while I have the distinct feeling that I have touched upon one of the great secrets of nature.

Sigmund Freud, Letter to Wilhelm Fliess, 21 May 1894

CONTENTS

Cover (#u428345fd-0d73-517b-9271-e3c069b88dfb)

Title Page (#u43752a52-cdd4-536d-9ee5-f77e2e0760c3)

Dedication (#u211c8c76-acd3-5d9c-ac2c-515042683dca)

Epigraph (#u8e00b355-53c2-5c7f-8d42-167a0b986b92)

Introduction: The Knäppskalle File (#u1567de88-74c7-55ad-b690-7cbee3e106cb)

Part One: Alfred Nobel’s Last Will and Testament (#u56c2f418-b205-5e17-9b12-6b06993107f5)

Chapter 1. Alfred Nobel (#u1094052c-1a79-5fcb-859a-16dd05a35be9)

Chapter 2. Lilljeqvist and Sohlman (#u01368664-641c-54be-aa2e-b2b4f5b054bd)

Chapter 3. Nobel’s Last Will and Testament (#u1de7999f-4f60-59c0-b3f4-5922a2c44b7e)

Part Two: An Unexpected Prize (#u6aced2b8-e69b-5189-a6c3-e7b5659c309b)

Chapter 4. ‘Frau Sofie’ and Countess Bertha Kinsky (#u0ba6a855-22d2-53ef-905f-f23e64eb3c0c)

Chapter 5. Stonehenge for Sale (#ue933935a-3f84-5f3a-9553-3dbe83207180)

Chapter 6. Florence Antrobus (#u350c0270-070a-5214-8f4a-2f3fe33f785d)

Chapter 7. The Secret Codicil (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 8. The Royal Swedish Academy of History, Letters, and Antiquities (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 9. A Sentimental and Practical Guide to Stonehenge (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Three: The Mystery of Stonehenge (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 10. Great Stones Undermined by Worms (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 11. When Stonehenge was New (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 12. Seaborne Stones (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 13. The Curve of Knowns (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Four: Deliberations (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 14. 10 December 1911 (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 15. The Grand Hôtel (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 16. Trivial and Flawed (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 17. Albert Einstein (#litres_trial_promo)

Chapter 18. Dear Lady Antrobus (#litres_trial_promo)

Part Five: Epilogue (#litres_trial_promo)

Postscripts (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix I: A Psychological Autopsy – A Diagnostic Listing of Alfred Nobel’s Dominant Personality Traits, Defence Mechanisms, and Primary Mental Disorders (#litres_trial_promo)

Appendix II: Acute Radiation Poisoning – Psychosomatic Variant (#litres_trial_promo)

Footnotes (#litres_trial_promo)

Bibliography (#litres_trial_promo)

Author’s Notes and Acknowledgments (#litres_trial_promo)

Sources for Quotations (#litres_trial_promo)

Also by Harry Karlinsky (#litres_trial_promo)

Credits for Illustrations (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

INTRODUCTION (#ulink_7dfd5666-9ad1-511b-902c-fffc55a658d6)

THE KNÄPPSKALLEFILE (#ulink_7dfd5666-9ad1-511b-902c-fffc55a658d6)

As a (now retired) psychiatrist and amateur historian, I had long been vexed that the clearly deserving Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) had never received the Nobel Prize. In my younger years I had attempted to uncover the reason for this remarkable omission by contacting the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, the overarching body responsible for the administration of the Nobel Prizes. I was politely but firmly informed that, according to the foundation’s statutory rules, ‘Proposals received for the award of a prize, and investigations and opinions concerning the award of a prize, may not be divulged’. This stipulation meant that neither the names of those nominated for a Nobel Prize nor the subsequent prize deliberations were made known to the public. As it was more patiently explained to me, the Nobel Foundation could not and would not confirm whether Freud had ever been under consideration for the prize, let alone release the adjudicative details of his evaluation had he ever been nominated.