Spring Break
Story proves to be ungratifying
Andrew Hackman
Issue date: 4/3/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment
"Drood" is a book of many strange contradictions. It is an endless piece that feels incomplete. It is a masterpiece of tone and characterization that feels, at times, gray and vague. It is a book about a literary genius written by a modern master told through the view of a second-rate, unsympathetic, opium addicted hack who has failed the test of time. It is a story of murder, mystery, pagan deities, detectives, and underground cities viewed from the sidelines, through drug induced hazes and momentary glimpses. It is an altogether strange work.
There is a lot to explain before any of this makes sense, though I doubt that even an explanation will do the trick. "Drood" examines the final years of the life of Charles Dickens, renowned literary genius, as told by his friend Wilkie Collins, an overweight opium addict and mediocre author.
The story begins by recounting a horrific train accident on June 9, 1865 that nearly claimed the life of Dickens. While trying to help the dead and dying passengers, he noticed a terrifying corpse-like man who seemed to always appear moments before a victim breathed their last. This pale skinned man with sharpened teeth, pale skin, and disfigured features went by the name of Drood.
Drood, the antagonist of the story and seemingly all powerful mesmerist, ruler of the underworld, and magician, plays a smaller direct role in the story than one would expect. His influence is felt throughout the story, haunting Dickens and Collins, exerting his will through his mental powers and minions, or simply brooding just out of sight. Drood himself is rarely ever actually there - seems to be a good metaphor for the story as a whole, a terrifying figure that is simply out of reach.
Collins recounts the entire story of Dickens' obsession with Drood and his own later conflict with the same man.
As a narrator, however, he always seems to be missing something. He is an author, but one that just barely understands the extent to which he is inferior to his friend.
There is a lot to explain before any of this makes sense, though I doubt that even an explanation will do the trick. "Drood" examines the final years of the life of Charles Dickens, renowned literary genius, as told by his friend Wilkie Collins, an overweight opium addict and mediocre author.
The story begins by recounting a horrific train accident on June 9, 1865 that nearly claimed the life of Dickens. While trying to help the dead and dying passengers, he noticed a terrifying corpse-like man who seemed to always appear moments before a victim breathed their last. This pale skinned man with sharpened teeth, pale skin, and disfigured features went by the name of Drood.
Drood, the antagonist of the story and seemingly all powerful mesmerist, ruler of the underworld, and magician, plays a smaller direct role in the story than one would expect. His influence is felt throughout the story, haunting Dickens and Collins, exerting his will through his mental powers and minions, or simply brooding just out of sight. Drood himself is rarely ever actually there - seems to be a good metaphor for the story as a whole, a terrifying figure that is simply out of reach.
Collins recounts the entire story of Dickens' obsession with Drood and his own later conflict with the same man.
As a narrator, however, he always seems to be missing something. He is an author, but one that just barely understands the extent to which he is inferior to his friend.
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