I've seen the movie Amadeus. I also acted in the play in college. Not as a character with a name or lines, but I certainly got to know the action and dialogue of the play through osmosis.
So reading Drood, I got a definite feeling of Salieri coming through Wilkie Collins's narration. Was not surprised to find out through another source that it was intentional on Simmons's part. I would guess that he embellished as much as Shaffer and the Mozart/Salieri playwrights before him did. (Most records indicate that Salieri had a distant respect for Mozart's talent, not worship crossed with hatred.) Anyway, Collins's envy of Dickens in the story brings an interesting uncertainty to the bizarre events of the novel. That and the fact that he spends most of the story tripping balls.
So reading Drood, I got a definite feeling of Salieri coming through Wilkie Collins's narration. Was not surprised to find out through another source that it was intentional on Simmons's part. I would guess that he embellished as much as Shaffer and the Mozart/Salieri playwrights before him did. (Most records indicate that Salieri had a distant respect for Mozart's talent, not worship crossed with hatred.) Anyway, Collins's envy of Dickens in the story brings an interesting uncertainty to the bizarre events of the novel. That and the fact that he spends most of the story tripping balls.
2 comments:
According to wikipedia the relationship between Mozart and Salieri was highly fictionalized by Peter Shaffer. According to their records the two of them were more friendly rivals than bitter enemies; the rivalry itself was more apparent after Mozart's early death when his music continued to grow in popularity as Salieri's own output declined. Nevertheless, Amadeus was a very good movie.
I can see your point in being reminded of these two very different famous pairs of men but a big difference is that Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens were good friends from their first meeting. It must be amazing to know and love a fellow artist you know you can never hope to match and that was very much the case with Collins. I really liked the way that Dan Simmons relayed the complexity of Wilkie Collins feelings toward his friend as he struggled with his own work. Then again, perhaps I'm assuming truth in the book that isn't so at all. Collins did write some very good books, I remember enjoying The Woman in White and The Moonstone but I don't remember either of them as well as Oliver Twist or A Tale of Two Cities. The amount of laudanum he ingested was staggering - quite literally and he really didn't treat the women in his life very kindly either.
There were definitely some very intense moments in the book - the London Underground parts and the nailed up staircase were very creepy. I quite liked it.
From what I understand, there were plays in the 19th century about Salieri killing Mozart. These had little relation to their real history, but an urban legend had already sprung up. So Shaffer was definitely fictionalizing events, but part of that was both arranging previous fictions and exploring them a little more deeply. I've actually heard some of Salieri's music and liked it. I hope it doesn't bother him too much - wherever he is - that other things have overshadowed his music. And yeah, both F Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce were incredible in the movie.
The book I liked. It was quite a ride, the way it kept whiplashing from domestic scenes to bizarre stuff like the tour of opium dens. But yes, Collins and Dickens had been friends for a long time, even before Dickens had started his big rise. The subject of how Collins felt about that is a good one for telling.
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