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Simpson's "Saint Morrissey" serialised in the Independent on Sunday (Nov. 2)

posted by davidt on Thursday October 30 2003, @10:00AM
Mark sends the press release:

The first chapter from Mark Simpson's 'psycho-bio' of the real 'saint of the gutters' will be serialised in this weekend's TALK OF THE TOWN magazine supplement with (UK national newspaper) the INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY (2/11/03).

Twenty years on from the release of 'This Charming Man', the song that ruined his life, Simpson tells in this extract the story of how he and a whole generation of vulnerable teenagers in the early 1980s were abducted by Morrissey's genius.

And why he wouldn't have it any other way.

SAINT MORRISSEY is published in a rather lovely large-format hardback by SAF on 10 November at £16.99

www.marksimpson.com
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  • Actually you can buy it now in the Berwick street area of London for 12 pounds at the book discount shops.
    Anonymous -- Thursday October 30 2003, @10:42AM (#78107)

  • Could anyone from the US tell me if they've received their pre-ordered copy yet? There really wasn't a firm ship date mentioned on his site.

    Cheers,

    Jamie
    Jamie <[email protected]> -- Thursday October 30 2003, @08:39PM (#78207)
    (User #48 Info)
  • not everyone lives in UK,that means that I will never got it...no chance.Sad.
    mozetka -- Friday October 31 2003, @01:46AM (#78222)
    (User #9058 Info)
  • I pulled my independant on Sunday apart from cover to cover and never found a single reference to Morrissey??

    Is it me?

    Anyone else find it?
    sonofward -- Monday November 03 2003, @07:26AM (#78422)
    (User #4901 Info)
    " Life is very long when you're lonely... "
  • Thought it was worth a read over my breakfast yesterday. However, if the extract's anything to go by I won't be rushing to buy the book - it told me more about the author's (tedious) experience of the 1980s than about Morrissey and his work. In that respect it reminded me of the vile Ruby Wax's interview technique - constantly referring back to herself when dealing with a far more interesting subject.

    Anyone read the entire book?
    Anonymous -- Monday November 03 2003, @09:43AM (#78445)
    • I haven't read the whole book yet - I'm about half-way through it - but the first chapter (the one extracted in the IoS) isn't really representative. The first chapter, as you've said, is about Mark Simpson's subjective experience of the eighties and of his discovery of the Smiths etc. - the rest of the book is part conventional chronological account of Morrissey's career, part textual analysis of the lyrics and part discussion of Morrissey's significance as cultural icon.

      So far, I'm quite enjoying it - IMHO he's a much better writer than Rogan or Goddard - but then it's a completely different type of book. His sources are largely confined to Morrissey's lyrics and interviews. This can give you the feeling that you're just reading an unusually lucid, invective-free (mostly) discussion forum posting. On the other hand, I think his decision to avoid a re-tread of the expected tired arguments - the Smiths management woes, the breakup, the royalties dispute etc. - was the correct one.
      Almodis <reversethis-{moc ... } {ta} {sidomla}> -- Monday November 03 2003, @10:08AM (#78449)
      (User #4664 Info)
      ...the Crime they styl'd 'Anonymity.' That is, I left messages posted publicly, but did not sign them. -- Thomas Pynchon
  • Read said article in 'Talk Of The Town', and have to say I was surprised how well-written and entertaining this sample chapter was. This was in stark contrast to the chapter I read in here about two years ago - which I thought at the time to be a load of sycophantic tosh. If Simpson did a re-write it was well worth the wait.

    One way to look at Simpson's book, is to see it as the account of someone outside Morrissey's golden inner circle i.e. this is not a book called for example 'Our Friendship Analysed' by Ms. L Sterling-Bracewell, cataloging in intimate detail a 'the-two-peas-in-a-pod' lifelong connection forged with Morrissey back in 1976.

    Instead it is a rather subjective reminiscence of someone who was deeply affected by Morrissey over the past twenty years but who never actually met him, and has no 'suck&sell' story to flog to the the sunday tabloids.

    Simpson doesn't have anything new to say about Morrissey that has not been written already, but his book is not a lesser tome for that matter. Simpson by virtue of the fact that he is the outsider's outsider himself and has lead rather interesting chequered life, inadvertently manages to capture the body and soul of Morrissey/The Smiths in his prose - both in content and style.

    This is a companion book to the Severed Alliance - Simpson compliments Rogan's obsessive fact finding with whimsy, wit and unashamed nostalgia.

    The bit in 'TOTT' about how his contemporaries survived the dole in 80's Manchester by living an energy saving/slowed down existance i.e. everyday is a duvet day, was a real hoot. If there is more of that kind of humour in the subsequent chapters then I'm sure this book will sell a respectable number of copies.
    Lazy Sunbather -- Monday November 03 2003, @03:15PM (#78471)
    (User #843 Info)

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