Early Work 1970 To 1979

Patti Smith

W. W. Norton & Company, 1994 - Literary Collections - 177 pages

Patti Smith - poet, songwriter, performer. Collected here are selections from Smith's writings over the decade in which she made a lasting impact on America's underground scene. Smith's work evokes the experimentation, the longing, and the desire to break boundaries of those pre-punk days. Early Work: 1970-1979 contains poems and prose from her chap-books Seventh Heaven, Ha! Ha! Houdini! (complete), and Witt, as well as selections from her landmark work Babel. Over one-quarter of the works are previously unpublished, chosen from transcriptions of performance pieces, notebook entries, and the author's personal papers. In an introduction, Smith places her writing in the context of the seventies, a time when the consequences of leading a life on the edge were less profound. From obscure publications to well-known anthems, Early Work will bring together all the sides of Patti Smith from the meditative to the explosive. With published and unpublished photos by Robert Mapplethorpe, Judy Linn, and others, this raucous volume will remind people of why Patti Smith became a legend.

Contents

• the sheep lady from algiers: 10
• jeanne darc: 24
• notice: 35
• georgia okeeffe: 48
• february: 61
• sohl: 81
• AFTERWORDS: 98
• thermos: 105
• the ballad of isabelle eberhardt: 106
• corps de plane: 108
• babelfield: 113
• babelogue: 117
• 19771979: 119
• high on rebellion: 121
• the salvation of rock: 122
• hymn: 126
• munich: 128
• health lantern: 139
• penicillin: 140
• robert bresson: 142
• burning roses: 148
• thread: 149
• a fleet of deer: 150
• scream of the butterfly: 154
• Y: 159
• combe: 161
• wave: 164
• florence: 166
• wing: 170
• italy: 171
• true music: 177

About the author

Patti Smith was born in Chicago, Illinois on December 30, 1946. She is a singer-songwriter, writer and visual artist. She gained recognition in the 1970s for her revolutionary mergence of poetry and rock. Her album Horses has been hailed as one of the top 100 albums of all time. She has recorded twelve albums. In 2007, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She has written several books including Witt, Babel, Woolgathering, The Coral Sea, Auguries of Innocence, M Train, and Just Kids, which won the Nonfiction category of the National Book Award in 2010. Her drawings, photographs, and installations have been shown at numerous venues including the Andy Warhol Museum and the Fondation Cartier Pour l'Art Contemporain in Paris. In 2005, she was awarded the title of Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, which is the highest honor awarded to an artist by the French Republic.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Early Work 1970 To 1979; Literature Online - Twentieth-Century American Poetry
• Author: Patti Smith
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 1994
• ISBN: 0393313018, 9780393313017
• Length: 177 pages
• Subjects: Literary Collections / Essays; Literary Criticism / General; Poetry / American / General; Poetry / General