I didn't realize you wrote such bloody awful poetry
We don't hear so much about Morrissey these days. Even as a diehard fan, I no longer follow his every move.
Of course,part of the reason is he appears to be semi-retired. Morrissey says he is done with touring. He claims that he does have new material, but without record label support, he finds it pointless to go on.
Which is a pre-Y2K mindset, of course. You wouldn't hear this from an artist under the age of 30, but I get it.
Or I don't get it, but I don't believe him. In 2012, he said he had 2 years left in him, and longer minds remember quotes about giving it up going on for 20 years now.
In any case,while his music career may no longer be in the headlines, his writing career is. His Autobiography was at the top of many year end books, and there were strong rumors that Moz was turning to fiction.
Musicians and literature generally get summed up by one word "Tarantula".
"Tarantula" of course was the 150 page novel written by the singer-songwriter most likely to be studied in American literature classes - Bob Dylan. Dylan was the most literate of songwriters, so it was assumed that would translate to the written pages. "Tarantula" was widey bootlegged and universally deemed awful.
For more modern ears, Nick Cave's "And the Ass saw the Angel" had a similar reception. The guy most likely to quote Milton, similarly had high expectations.
Cave's book wasn't the bomb Tarantula was, and he's subsequently redeemed himself with other written words and his film career. Meanwhile, Dylan's Chronicles has redeemed Dylan's non-music work. While it was met with mixed reviews at its release, a decade later, it is generally trumpeted.
In any case, it's a warning for musicians, and the more literate, the higher highs and lower lows one can expect.
Indeed, a Morrissey novel could be genius, but could equally be awful. The man has spent his life reading and quoting classic masters like Hardy, Elliott, Austen, Wilde, and the Bronte sisters. Although the problem comes up when someone thinks they belong with the crowd, and Morrissey is no exception.
So when List of the Lost became a reality.
Clearly, Moz wants to write his generation's answer to the British classic The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
So, it's a little heavy handed to start, with Morrissey writing about 4x200 and 4x800 relays (To which The Guardian points out are rarely run). As well as apparently naming the protagonist Ezra Pound, which again is less than subtle.
The Guardian sums up the book and its flaws, which seem to be many. Moz takes shots at meat-eaters, headmasters and judges (as you might expect, nothing new here) but also Winston Churchill.
A whole section, inexplicably, is devoted to Morrissey’s disgust at the conduct of British establishment during the second world war (along with a contemptuous repetition of the rumour that Winston Churchill and Ivor Novello were lovers, which is odd, given that he also complains that Churchill being credited with winning the war stole the credit from Alan Turing, denied glory because he was gay). Rare is the writer who is willing to complain that the big problem with Churchill during the war was that he was, frankly, a bit of a coward and unwilling to try to identify with the people he governed, but Morrissey is that writer.
Wiki describes the plot as thus: The book is about a 1970s relay team in Boston who accidentally kill a demon, who then curses the team
Which of course does sound awful, but doesn't necessarily mean it is.
Though, apparently it is that bad. Critics are panning it universally, with the only thing resembling a comment being that clearly Morrissey is the only person who could have wrote this (and similar verbiage from The Times).
Others called it "Overlong" whilst it is only 118 pages. In any case, many will likely call it "Worst Book of the Year."
Mainly, that will be due not to poor dialogue (though there is that) and poorly developed characters (catty women and adonis men) but not surprisingly sex- if Moz is not obsessed, then surely it appears everyone in the book is.
We are talking laughably bad worse-than-Tom-Wolfe-I-am-Charlotte-Simmons bad, and you can read them here before they surely end up on bad erotic writing lists.
Which also means that many won't read it (as a diehard (and at 118 pages) I probably will eventually pick it up) so most would be well served by The Telegraph's list of 10 worse lines.
Of course,part of the reason is he appears to be semi-retired. Morrissey says he is done with touring. He claims that he does have new material, but without record label support, he finds it pointless to go on.
Which is a pre-Y2K mindset, of course. You wouldn't hear this from an artist under the age of 30, but I get it.
Or I don't get it, but I don't believe him. In 2012, he said he had 2 years left in him, and longer minds remember quotes about giving it up going on for 20 years now.
In any case,while his music career may no longer be in the headlines, his writing career is. His Autobiography was at the top of many year end books, and there were strong rumors that Moz was turning to fiction.
Musicians and literature generally get summed up by one word "Tarantula".
"Tarantula" of course was the 150 page novel written by the singer-songwriter most likely to be studied in American literature classes - Bob Dylan. Dylan was the most literate of songwriters, so it was assumed that would translate to the written pages. "Tarantula" was widey bootlegged and universally deemed awful.
For more modern ears, Nick Cave's "And the Ass saw the Angel" had a similar reception. The guy most likely to quote Milton, similarly had high expectations.
Cave's book wasn't the bomb Tarantula was, and he's subsequently redeemed himself with other written words and his film career. Meanwhile, Dylan's Chronicles has redeemed Dylan's non-music work. While it was met with mixed reviews at its release, a decade later, it is generally trumpeted.
In any case, it's a warning for musicians, and the more literate, the higher highs and lower lows one can expect.
Indeed, a Morrissey novel could be genius, but could equally be awful. The man has spent his life reading and quoting classic masters like Hardy, Elliott, Austen, Wilde, and the Bronte sisters. Although the problem comes up when someone thinks they belong with the crowd, and Morrissey is no exception.
So when List of the Lost became a reality.
Clearly, Moz wants to write his generation's answer to the British classic The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner.
So, it's a little heavy handed to start, with Morrissey writing about 4x200 and 4x800 relays (To which The Guardian points out are rarely run). As well as apparently naming the protagonist Ezra Pound, which again is less than subtle.
The Guardian sums up the book and its flaws, which seem to be many. Moz takes shots at meat-eaters, headmasters and judges (as you might expect, nothing new here) but also Winston Churchill.
A whole section, inexplicably, is devoted to Morrissey’s disgust at the conduct of British establishment during the second world war (along with a contemptuous repetition of the rumour that Winston Churchill and Ivor Novello were lovers, which is odd, given that he also complains that Churchill being credited with winning the war stole the credit from Alan Turing, denied glory because he was gay). Rare is the writer who is willing to complain that the big problem with Churchill during the war was that he was, frankly, a bit of a coward and unwilling to try to identify with the people he governed, but Morrissey is that writer.
Wiki describes the plot as thus: The book is about a 1970s relay team in Boston who accidentally kill a demon, who then curses the team
Which of course does sound awful, but doesn't necessarily mean it is.
Though, apparently it is that bad. Critics are panning it universally, with the only thing resembling a comment being that clearly Morrissey is the only person who could have wrote this (and similar verbiage from The Times).
Others called it "Overlong" whilst it is only 118 pages. In any case, many will likely call it "Worst Book of the Year."
Mainly, that will be due not to poor dialogue (though there is that) and poorly developed characters (catty women and adonis men) but not surprisingly sex- if Moz is not obsessed, then surely it appears everyone in the book is.
We are talking laughably bad worse-than-Tom-Wolfe-I-am-Charlotte-Simmons bad, and you can read them here before they surely end up on bad erotic writing lists.
Which also means that many won't read it (as a diehard (and at 118 pages) I probably will eventually pick it up) so most would be well served by The Telegraph's list of 10 worse lines.