Genius is a love song to the passion of writing, books and the necessity of a good editor. Every serious reader, and historical movie buff, will enjoy every second.
It tells the story of legendary editor, Maxwell Perkins, of Scribner’s in New York, and the volatile writer, Thomas Wolfe, of Asheville, NC.
When a sizeable manuscript (the height of a water glass was my estimate) by a young Thomas Wolfe lands on Perkins’ desk, having been rejected by every other publishing house in New York, he very quietly eyes it, then goes back to editing the Fitzgerald book lying before him.
Later he pulls the manuscript out of his briefcase on his train ride home and begins to read.
The genius of the film is in its understated details. Perkins, played by Colin Firth, comes into his lovely home, is greeted by his wife and her theatrical society acting a scene, his five daughters with random attacks of affection, before he can finally settled in his clothes closet for some privacy to keep reading.
Back at the office, Wolfe (Jude Law) enters with all the bruised enthusiasm of rejected young writers of rejected, desperately talented young writers who expect nothing but a brush off and maybe a “No, thanks.” He is almost in tears when Perkin accepts his work, O Lost. It will become his first massive hit, Look Homeward, Angel.
Set in the 1920s and 1930s, Genius is more a play versus film. You could see it performed on a Broadway stage. It’s for the audience that’s read the great American writers of the 1920s – F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby), Ernest Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms) and Thomas Wolfe.
Perkins was their editor, hand-holder, cash supplier and shoulder to cry on. When the care of Fitzgerald’s mentally ill wife, Zelda, swamps the writer, Perkins lends him money. Hemingway takes Perkins fishing in Key West before leaving for the Spanish Civil War. They were his literary “children” and he cared for them.
Genius is based on the book, Max Perkins: Editor of Genius
Speaking personally, I’ve always considered a first draft as like an untamed shrubbery, full of unnecessary branches and florid leaves. The draft that goes to an editor should be already trimmed down considerably. Then the wise editor does what they do best – makes it sing, or points out where the writer’s gone right or wrong. Or leaves out a verb or two.
As shown in Genius, Perkins was a master at his job by his handling of the Wolfe novel, Of Time and the River. Wolfe showed up with three boxes of hand-written and occasionally typed pages. Perkins sends him away, and gets the pages typed, then settles into read. It will take years to shape the classic book.
It is very clear that, to Wolfe, the world revolves about his writing. His passion is for the creation of the word, the indulgence imagery, and the vividness of life. Every cut is a negotiation between him and Perkins.
Perkins finally tells him, “My only job is to put good books in front of readers.”
Genius also shows the darker part of Wolfe.
Over the years, Wolfe’s arrogance, the flip side of his brilliance, becomes unruly. He is selfish. He hurts the people around him, in particular the married woman who lived with him and loved him, Aline Bernstein. She finally returns to her husband and children, considerably burned by flying too close to Wolfe’s fire.
It takes years but Wolfe finally outstays his welcome with Perkins and leaves for another publisher. He died at 37 of tuberculosis of the brain, leaving a note to Perkins acknowledging his help in realizing his novels.
So, why spend an afternoon seeing a film about a writer and his editor? Because it’s an ode to the joy of writing, the passion that drives writers to sit inside telling stories that may never be read but have to be set down in print because characters demand it. Non-writers might get insight in what drives writers. Writers will just want a Max Perkins.
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
