Year of the Monkey

Patti Smith

2020

Patti Smith finds herself tramping the coast of Santa Cruz, about to embark on a year of solitary wandering. Unfettered by logic or time, she draws us into her private wonderland, with no design yet heeding signs, including a talking sign that looms above her, prodding and sparring like the Cheshire Cat. In February, a surreal lunar year begins, bringing with it unexpected turns, heightened mischief, and inescapable sorrow. In a stranger's words, "Anything is possible: after all, it's the year of the monkey." For Patti Smith - inveterately curious, always exploring, tracking thoughts, writing the year evolves as one of reckoning with the changes in life's gyre: with loss, aging, and a dramatic shift in the political landscape of America. Smith melds the Western landscape with her own dreamscape. Taking us from Southern California to the Arizona desert; to a Kentucky farm as the amanuensis of a friend in crisis; to the hospital room of a valued mentor; and by turns to remembered and imagined places - this haunting memoir blends fact and fiction with poetic mastery. The unexpected happens; grief and disillusionment. But as Patti Smith heads toward a new decade in her own life, she offers this balm to the reader: her wisdom, wit, gimlet eye, and above all, a rugged hope of a better world. Riveting, elegant, often humorous, illustrated by Smith's signature Polaroids, Year of the Monkey is a moving and original work, a touchstone for our turbulent times.

Memoir (Grief)

Bloomsbury UK

https://www.exlibris.ch/de/buecher-buch/english-books/patti-smith/year-of-the-monkey/id/9781526614766/?msclkid=a72def38cc9c156d1d558ba9b3d5577b&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=MS%20Shopping%20Rang%2020-30-40%20(sh-ch-de)&utm_term=4574724303897212&utm_content=20-30-40&gclid=a72def38cc9c156d1d558ba9b3d5577b&gclsrc=3p.ds

Devotion

Patti Smith

2017

A work of creative brilliance may seem like magic&;its source a mystery, its impact unexpectedly stirring. How does an artist accomplish such an achievement, connecting deeply with an audience never met? In this groundbreaking book, one of our culture&;s beloved artists offers a detailed account of her own creative process, inspirations, and unexpected connections.
 
Patti Smith first presents an original and beautifully crafted tale of obsession&;a young skater who lives for her art, a possessive collector who ruthlessly seeks his prize, a relationship forged of need both craven and exalted. She then takes us on a second journey, exploring the sources of her story. We travel through the South of France to Camus&;s house, and visit the garden of the great publisher Gallimard where the ghosts of Mishima, Nabokov, and Genet mingle. Smith tracks down Simone Weil&;s grave in a lonely cemetery, hours from London, and winds through the nameless Paris streets of Patrick Modiano&;s novels. Whether writing in a café or a train, Smith generously opens her notebooks and lets us glimpse the alchemy of her art and craft in this arresting and original book on writing.

Essay/Memoir/Tale

Yale University Press