NEW YORK — Author William Manchester says he's too weak to finish the highly anticipated third volume of his biography of Winston Churchill.
Manchester, 79, suffered two strokes after his wife's death in 1998, and said he has tried several times to write the final book of "The Last Lion" — completing 237 pages so far.
"Language for me came as easily as breathing for 50 years, and I can't do it anymore," he told the New York Times. "The feeling is indescribable."
The first two volumes of the biography, "Visions of Glory" (1983) and "Alone" (1988), sold about 400,000 hardback copies, according to Roger Donald, the former publisher of Little, Brown. The hardbacks and the paperback editions still are in print.
Manchester, author of 18 books including "The Death of a President" and "American Caesar," said he now needs a full day to write a letter to a friend.
He said his memory is no longer what it was, and that he no longer has the mental or physical energy to write like he once did.
"I used to write, be able to think, a dozen paragraphs ahead; I would jot down little symbols to remind me what was coming next," he said. "I couldn't write fast enough."
Manchester is skeptical of Little, Brown's suggestion that he finish the book with a collaborator, but has agreed to consider the option. He told the Times he has so far refused about a dozen inquiries.