Two-Fifty Tuesday: I’m No Genius

We Do Our Best

The 1984 movie Amadeus is about the 18^th century fictional rivalry between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and fellow composer Antonio Salieri. Mozart, a transcendental genius, is also portrayed as obscene and immature, and Salieri, who devoted his music to God, has a crisis of faith. Why would God bestow such gifts on a man such as Mozart when he, Salieri, is so devout? 

The movie is powerful; the actors extraordinary. But why the movie stays with me all these years is its message to me, a 21^st century writer: 

I am Salieri. 

Okay, I’m not in an existential battle with God, nor do I plot the death of my enemies, but I feel his pain. He’s talented. He works hard. He follows the rules. He does everything he’s supposed to. And the glory goes to another?? A genius whose work seems to require no effort??

I’m talented. I work hard. I follow the rules. Yet I’m not among the literary geniuses. And, like Salieri, sometimes that stings. 

But here’s the silver lining: geniuses are rare. Maybe there are some writers whose first draft is perfection but honestly, most of us aren’t geniuses. Including our own literary heroes. 

If you are the genius writer for whom the process comes effortlessly, I commend you. For the rest of us? We are Salieri: we recognize our passion, use our talents to the best of our ability and have to work damn hard. 

And I’m okay with that.