Mozart: A Novel [Hardcover]

Robert Howse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 2004

Arthur Rizler, famed American novelist turned neo-conservative icon, visits Prague to lecture on Mozart; the septuagenarian Rizler is accompanied by his overprotective younger wife Maya. The Rolling Stones upstage the Mozart event with a concert under the patronage of the Czech President; while Rizler is struggling to recoup his dignity and self-direction, a disgruntled suitor from Maya's distant past is on his way to Prague-Jeremy Stuart, a hyper-ambitious but eccentric international attorney, has been cyberstalking Maya for years. Stuart is bent on derailing a privatization deal with rumored links to the Russia mob-but he is also tempted to settle some old scores with Maya. An outrageous comedy of errors unfolds, putting Rizler's marriage-and his life-at risk. Duplicitous American diplomats; a flirtatious but jaded female foreign correspondent; an aristocratic British wonder surgeon with a secret that could destroy her career; a day-trading hotel bartender with a live-in neo-Nazi son: these are among the cast of characters that ends up shaping the destinies of Rizler, Maya and Stuart during a single fateful week, as their lives spin out of predicable direction and control towards a madcap ending that is a tribute to the film "Casablanca". The strange entanglement of these three personalities turn out to be haunted by demons from all of their pasts-old loves and hatreds, vulnerabilities and betrayals, emotional loose ends that have never been tied up, and which spill out and reveal themselves in surprising ways. "Mozart" is farcical but also poignant and human; unsentimental but full of good humor and heart; a classic comedy/love story, which also casts a satirical light on western culture and politics in the late twentieth century.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

". . . Filled with characters who are quirky and captivating . . . a wonderful read for those interested in contemporary intellectual life . . -- Lan Cao, author of Monkey Bridge

". . .Page turner. The book Mozart: A Novel well deserves four stars." -- simegen.com, December 2004

"... Amusing, extraordinary and compelling story...combining the novel of manners, the satirical commentary and the philosophical reflection....Recommended." -- BookPleasures.com, December 2004

"...Intriguing and entertaining .... A novel that makes you think ...." -- bookideas.com, December 2004

"A terrific novel: entertaining, moving, and instructive..." -- Peter Berkowitz, former contributing editor, the New Republic

Product Details

• Hardcover: 156 pages
• Publisher: Xlibris Corporation (December 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413478964
• ISBN-13: 978-1413478969
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,061,552 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars IF ONLY WE COULD UNRAVEL IT A BIT:, March 24, 2005

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mozart: A Novel (Paperback)

When Saul Bellow's novel Ravelstein came out there was not only no doubt that it was a roman a clef but folk had little trouble discerning who many of the characters were, not least Ravelstein himself, the late Allan Bloom. Comes Robert Howse to tread what seems to be some of the same ground -- including a protagonist who bears more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Bellow -- but, notwithstanding the author's obligatory disclaimer that all is fiction, I'm not sure how much of this we're supposed to connect to reality and how much is supposed to stand on its own. Matters are hardly helped by the fact that Mr. Rowse was a student of both Leo Strauss and Allan Bloom. The book is diverting enough in its own right, but leaves a gnawing feeling that in-jokes are slipping by we unwashed.

The story takes Arthur Rizler, a Toronto-born novelist who enjoyed considerable success at mid-century, to post-communist Prague, where he is to deliver a lecture on Mozart. Accompanying him is his fourth wife, Maya, who is half his age and far more invested in the remains of his renown than he seems to be. Hot on their heels are Midge Svobodnik, Maya's mother who is bent on her daughter ditching Rizler so she can get on with having children, and Jeremy Stuart -- "a freelance agent of global capitalism and democracy, a citizen of the world, and much in demand as a speechwriter, an adviser, a behind-the-scenes-man, transnational troubleshooter" -- who is romantically obsessed with Maya. As the setting and the description of Jeremy suggest, one of Mr. Howse's main topics here is the triumphalist moment at the end of the Cold War when neoconservatism was in its first blush of glory and there was an easy buck to be made off of both explaining and implementing its ideas. He casts a somewhat dubious eye on the phenomenon of globalization and the notion of the End of History, referring wittily to CNN as "Fukuyama Vision" and saying of Maya:

Whatever wavering in her feelings about Rizler as a husband, she had never doubted for a moment that he was one of the few living human figures who had any capacity to make the human condition more tolerable, to combat the forces of darkness. Rizler was still, and would always be her world historical mission.

That's a nice dig at the notion of the intellectual as Hegelian superhero, never mind the hero's latest trophy.

Mr. Howse calls his book a farce, though it seems all too probable, especially when it ends with an event that has a distinct parallel in reality. Whatever the reader ends up classing it in, the book is dryly funny and an enjoyable read.