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Autobiography (Morrissey book)

book

AuthorMorrissey
Cover&#;artistPaul Spencer at Rebecca Valentine Agency
LanguageEnglish
GenreAutobiography
PublisherPenguin Books(UK, Commonwealth and Europe), G.

P. Putnam's Sons(US)

Publication date

17 October (UK, Commonwealth and Europe), 3 December (US)
Publication placeUnited Kingdom
Media&#;typePrint (paperback) and e-book
Pages pp (first edition)
ISBN (first edition)

Autobiography is a book by the British singer-songwriter Morrissey, published in October

Controversially, it was published under the Penguin Classics imprint.

It was a number one best-seller in the UK and received polarised reviews, with certain reviewers hailing it as brilliant writing and others decrying it as overwrought and self-indulgent.

Publication

Morrissey mentioned that he had begun work on his autobiography in a radio interview in [1] An extract from Autobiography titled "The Bleak Moor Lies" was published in as part of The Dark Monarch: Magic & Modernity in British Art, a compendium published by Tate St Ives art gallery.[2] The extract tells the story of Morrissey and a few companions seeing what they believed to be a ghost near the Yorkshire village of Marsden in [3] In , Morrissey said in an interview that he had completed the book and was looking for a publisher.

He expressed interest having the book published as a Penguin Classic.[4]

A few days before the book's apparently scheduled, but unannounced, release on 16 September , Morrissey issued a statement explaining that a content dispute with Penguin Books meant that publication would be delayed and that he was seeking a new publisher.[5] The book's subsequent European release, on 17 October , caused controversy as it was published under the Penguin Classics imprint, normally reserved for highly esteemed deceased authors.[6][7][8]

On the day of the book's publication, Morrissey undertook a signing session in Gothenburg, with some fans queuing up to 30 hours in advance.[9]

The book was published in the United States on 3 December by G.

P. Putnam's Sons.[10] An audiobook, read by David Morrissey (no relation), was released on 5 December [11]

Content

The book is not divided into chapters, and its opening paragraph lasts four and a half pages.[12] The book covers Morrissey's childhood and adolescence, his period as lead singer with The Smiths, his subsequent solo career and his courtroom battles with Smiths drummer Mike Joyce, who successfully sued him and former bandmate Johnny Marr for unpaid royalties in the s.

He writes extensively about the television programmes, literature and music that influenced him, devoting many pages to the New York Dolls, whom he persuaded to reform in the early s. The book includes a number of descriptions of people Morrissey has worked with which his biographer Tony Fletcher calls "character assassinations".

Fletcher describes the depiction of Rough Trade Records boss Geoff Travis as particularly unflattering.[13] Morrissey writes in the book about two serious romantic relationships he has had with a woman and a man.[12] In the days following the book's release, he issued a statement emphasising that he did not consider himself to be gay: "I am attracted to humans.

But, of course, not many".[14]

The book was not issued with an index, although an informal and unauthorised "online index" created by a fan was released on 22 May [15]

Reception

Autobiography became the number one selling book in the UK upon release, setting a new first week sales record for a music autobiography.[16] It also topped the non-fiction chart in Ireland.[17]

Neil McCormick in The Daily Telegraph gave the book a 5-star review that called it "the best written musical autobiography since Bob Dylan'sChronicles",[18] while Boyd Tonkin in The Independent criticised the book's "droning narcissism" as well as the behaviour of its publisher for issuing it in their Classics series.[19]

John Harris wrote in The Guardian website, "for its first pages, Autobiography comes close to being a triumph", but focuses unduly on Morrissey's legal battles with Mike Joyce; "the verbiage dedicated to this stuff threatens to eclipse what he has to say about every other aspect of his career".[20]Stuart Maconie in The Observer described the opening section of the book as "brilliant" but stated that the section on The Smiths is "both sketchy and wearisomely exhaustive".[21] Literary critic Terry Eagleton, in The Guardian itself, wrote: "There is a relish and energy about its prose that undercuts his misanthropy.

Its lyrical quality suggests that beneath the hard-bitten scoffer there lurks a romantic softie, while beneath that again lies a hard-bitten scoffer."[22]

A. A. Gill, who won the Hatchet Job of the Year for his review in The Sunday Times,[23] wrote: "What is surprising is that any publisher would want to publish the book, not because it is any worse than a lot of other pop memoirs, but because Morrissey is plainly the most ornery, cantankerous, entitled, whingeing, self-martyred human being who ever drew breath.

Morrissey autobiography hard back stadium seat with neck support Although batting away the open hand of Bowie on many occasions, the pair would both find themselves in Los Angeles in the late 90s, meeting on one occasion in a hotel bar:. To begin with, these are mostly with his record label, Rough Trade. Morrissey complains through much of these pages with terrific flair and all the aphoristic wit of his songs. Putnam's Sons.

And those are just his good qualities."[24]

References

  1. ^Bret, David (). Morrissey: Scandal and Passion. London: Robson Books.
  2. ^"Morrissey previews autobiography with essay relating to Moors Murders". NME. 21 December
  3. ^Michael Bracewell, ed.

    (). The Dark Monarch: Magic & Modernity In British Art. St Ives, UK: Tate St Ives.

  4. ^"Front Row" BBC Radio Four, London 20 April Retrieved 20 April
  5. ^"Morrissey autobiography pulled at last minute following 'content disagreement'".

    A wild random assault from those who hate him. Both notes are hit constantly in Autobiography , but over and over there is something missing and one of the weirder ironies here is that the boy he describes in its compelling first third could have told him exactly what it is. By Gabriella Paiella. And what was I doing there, having taken a bus quite some distance to visit my childhood hometown?

    NME. 13 September Retrieved 16 September

  6. ^Sandle, Paul. "Morrissey's 'Autobiography' a classic before it's even been read". Reuters UK. Archived from the original on March 6,
  7. ^Sherwin, Adam (22 April ).

    Morrissey children: Share this post. Facebook Twitter Email. That he could use words like that so freely, in a book like this , is astounding. For someone so fiercely opinionated, it is striking how many kinds of opinions he seems unwilling or unable to share.

    "Smiths bidding war hinges on 'classic' status". The Independent. The Independent Print. Retrieved 29 December

  8. ^Mayer, Catherine (22 October ). "Two British Greats, Sir Alex Ferguson and Morrissey, Peddle Their Legends in New Books". Time.
  9. ^"Morrissey launches Autobiography with single book signing in Sweden".

    Hardback stadium seat Start Writing Get the app. Archived from the original on October 17, Autobiography is a book by the British singer-songwriter Morrissey , published in October At least the existence of these songs is acknowledged.

    The Guardian. 17 October

  10. ^"Morrissey Autobiography to Be Published in U.S."New York Times. 29 October
  11. ^"Morrissey's Autobiography audiobook to be read by … Morrissey". The Guardian. 4 November
  12. ^ abMarc, Schneider (17 October ).

    "Morrissey Opens Up About His Personal Life in Autobiography". Billboard.

  13. ^Fletcher, Tony (16 October ). "Autobiography by Morrissey: a full review". i-Jamming. Archived from the original on October 17,
  14. ^"Morrissey says he's 'humasexual', not homosexual".

    Morrissey autobiography hard back stadium seat Autobiography ends mystifyingly with a long tour travelogue, fairly detailed and fairly aimless, from a few years back. There have been insinuations—and occasionally outright accusations—over much of his career. Having lost the case, the due course of action was naturally to flee England. Most Popular.

    The Guardian. 21 October

  15. ^"An online index to Morrissey's "Autobiography" &#; the Morrissey Autobiography Online Index". Archived from the original on Retrieved 23 June
  16. ^Stone, Philip (23 October ). "Morrissey tops chart". The Bookseller.
  17. ^"Morrissey knocks Dunphy off No 1 in book chart".

    RTÉ Ten. 22 October Archived from the original on

  18. ^McCormick, Neil (17 October ). "Morrissey, Autobiography, first review".

  19. Morrissey politics
  20. The smiths lead singer death
  21. Morrissey family
  22. Morrissey wife
  23. Steven patrick morrissey partner

    24. The Telegraph.

  24. ^"Autobiography by Morrissey - Droning narcissism and the whine of self-pity". The Independent. London. 17 October Retrieved 17 October
  25. ^Harris, John.

  28. "Morrissey's Autobiography is nearly a triumph, but ends up mired in moaning". The Guardian.

  29. ^Maconie, Stuart (19 October ). "Autobiography by Morrissey – review". The Observer.
  30. ^Terry Eagleton "Autobiography by Morrissey – review", The Guardian, 13 November
  31. ^Alison Flood "Hatchet Job of the Year goes to AA Gill for Morrissey broadside", , 11 February
  32. ^Jon Stock "Hatchet Job of the Year AA Gill wins for his review of Morrissey's autobiography", , 12 February