FICTION

MOZART AND THE ARCHBOOBY by Charles Neider (Penguin: $7.95; 87 pp.). Creative types seem to love playing around with the personality of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who wrote more than 600 works of music before his death at age 35, and whose music continues to delight. Mozart was difficult for pedestrian tyrants like the archbishop, who expected the young genius to kowtow to them. “Simpering upstart” is what the “archbooby” calls Mozart because he fails to spend two hours hanging around in his grace’s antechamber every morning in case he’s wanted. Neider’s Mozart writes letters to his father that range in mood from whimsical to furious, from contemplative to wheedling, from outrageous to mocking. They show a healthy young ego with a joyful delight in his own talent.