Reliance on conjecture isn`t salvaged by heavy-handed writing

You can hardly blame author J.D. Landis for making Robert and Clara Schumann the subjects of his historically based fiction.

Composer-critic Robert Schumann was a hero of the Romantic Era, artistically bold but doomed by mental illness that the medical establishment didn`t know how to treat. Pianist Clara Wieck Schumann was his wife, muse and the mother of their children in addition to being one of the 19th century`s leading keyboard virtuosos.

Their relationship had all the ingredients for classy melodrama: love, genius, madness, suffering, death and artistic immortality. Small wonder that Hollywood capitalized on them for the 1947 film "Song of Love," which starred Katharine Hepburn as the noble Clara, Paul Henreid as her haggard husband and Robert Walker as their enthusiastic young friend, composer Johannes Brahms.

Stiff and reverential, "Song of Love" wasn`t a very good movie. And "Longing," alas, leaves you longing for something better, despite the inventive efforts of Landis, the former editor-in-chief at William Morrow. The book occupies the peculiar netherworld between truth and fiction, a place where, in the author`s words, "everything is real, filtered through my imagination." There`s much to cover, including Robert`s first meeting with Clara (she was 8, he was 17) and their marriage a dozen years later, much against the wishes of Clara`s father, once Robert`s piano teacher, who nicknamed Robert "the hothead."

Then there`s the paternity issue regarding Clara`s son Felix, who was conceived the month that Brahms first came to visit. Landis strongly suggests that Brahms was Felix`s father - an intriguing idea, even if the evidence is hardly conclusive.

Extensively researched and footnoted, the text is heavy on literary indulgences, as when the shape of a German region is likened to male genitalia. Or when young Brahms` hair is described as being "thick with some sort of radiant promise, not particularly clean but all the more exciting for that."

Dirty hair is a turn-on?

"Longing" makes for uneasy reading, not only because of the reliance on speculation and conjecture but because of the florid, pseudo-romantic writing. For a book about musicians, it doesn`t focus much on Schumann`s symphonies, songs or chamber music, perhaps because Landis isn`t altogether comfortable with the subject. (Too bad no one caught his error about the cadenza of a piano sonata. Sonatas don`t have cadenzas; concertos do.)

The book is best at descriptive details. The 4-year-old Clara standing outside the parlor, listening raptly to her mother play the piano; the deranged Schumann smashing his fists on the keyboard, bloodying his knuckles.

Landis also chronicles Schumann`s agonizing and unstoppable descent into dementia. He displays such morbid fascination that he almost seems more interested in the composer`s relationship with his doctor than with Clara.

Those wanting to learn more about the Schumanns should read Jan Swafford`s outstanding 1997 biography of Brahms, which combines insight and scholarship.

Another option is "Song of Love," creaky and weepy as it is. At least you can watch Katharine Hepburn twiddling her fingers, pretending to play the piano, and hear some of Schumann`s glorious music.

- Valerie Scher

"You Go Girl" by Kim Doren and Charlie Jones; Andrews McMeel; 344 pages; $22.95

Charlie Jones, the nationally renowned sportscaster, has found a new passion.

The passion is in writing, and with his second book aimed at inspiring young people, he proves that notes and interviews originally collected for broadcasting can be converted into a volume well worth reading.

Jones and his co-author, Kim Doren, believe that their book, "You Go Girl," can be a catalyst to motivate women participants in sports, but they also conclude that "sport is often a metaphor for life."

As a boy, Jones found his first passion, small-town broadcasting. With what was to become one of the most recognizable voices in broadcasting, he then turned to football, working first for Lamar Hunt and the Dallas team that later became the Kansas City Chiefs. Since then, Jones has spent almost 40 years covering sports for NBC and ABC and currently mixes independent broadcasting with his work as an author.

Both Jones and Doren are San Diego-area residents. Doren is a former Stanford badminton and softball star who currently is a marketer for Cobra Golf.

Jones` first book, "What Makes Winners Win," featured quotes from successful men and women who pointed out some of their formulas for success.

Typical of the philosophy expressed in "You Go Girl" is a quote from Manon Rheume, a Canadian who became the first woman to play in a National Hockey League game: "In life, not just in sports, if you don`t try, you cannot know what you can do." The book focuses on women athletes, but it goes far beyond sports.

World figure skating champion and Olympic silver medallist Michelle Kwan is quoted as saying: "As people teach their children about competition, about ups and downs and how to deal with them, I guess I can stand as a role model. They can say, `She didn`t win but she`s still standing tall and smiling and loving her sport.`" After missing a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics, Kwan is attending college, but her goal is a gold medal in two years in Salt Lake City. She is favored to win.

Marion Jones, one of the great track and field athletes of all time, summarizes her competitive philosophy this way: "It`s really important to love what you do, because if you don`t there`s no point in going after it. If you dedicate yourself to something, it`s important to make sure and finish it off. I can`t guarantee that if you step on the track you`re going to be a Jackie Joyner-Kersee or an Evelyn Ashford, but I can guarantee that if you give your all, people will respect you."

The summer Olympics in Australia are likely to inspire more women to participate in athletics. "You Go Girl" will provide a philosophic handbook for all who are interested in sports, young or old.

- Herb Klein

(c) Copley News Service

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Author: Valerie Scher and Herb Klein