Devotion (Why I Write)

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Smith is telling it her way, but also in the ancient way. It's recognizable to readers for its mythic proportion, accessible to all kinds of people for its brevity and intensity--and yet, it's still distinctly Patti Smith."--Megan Volpert, PopMatters

Patti Smith’s “Devotion” — Not Devoted Enough Book Review: Patti Smith’s “Devotion” — Not Devoted Enough

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. Devotion. Why I Write. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press. 2017. ISBN 9780300218626. OCLC 989978146. Devotion at Google Books Most of the book’s first section describes Smith’s listless encounter with her Parisian publisher Gallimard, where she obliquely refers to conversations with journalists and takes a trip through the august publisher’s headquarters to do some high-culture tourism, seeing the place where Yukio Mishima once sat, the room where Camus once had an office, and tour a garden that only reminds her of OTHER gardens, including one where “Goethe was said to have planted a gingko tree.” We hear about her mornings at the Café de Flore, what she eats: “the eggs are perfectly round, set upon a perfectly round slab of ham” and what she thinks about what she eats: “I marvel how genius manifests, in a plate of eggs or the center of a rink.”

Benitez-Eves, Tina (November 14, 2022). "Bryan Adams, Patti Smith, R.E.M., Ann Wilson, Doobie Brothers Among 2023 Songwriters Hall of Fame Nominees". American Songwriter . Retrieved November 16, 2022. Poetic singer songwriter Joustene Lorenz also cites Patti Smith as a 'powerful influence' on her life and music. [101] Activism [ edit ] Smith in 2018 Lamb, Bill. "KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See". About.com. Archived from the original on July 22, 2009 . Retrieved March 25, 2009. In March 2003, ten days after Rachel Corrie's death, Smith appeared in Austin, Texas and performed an anti-war concert. She subsequently wrote "Peaceable Kingdom", a song which was inspired by and is dedicated to Corrie. [109] In 2009, in her Meltdown concert in Festival Hall, she paid homage to the Iranians taking part in post-election protests by saying "Where is My Vote?" in a version of the song "People Have the Power". [110] Stefanko, Frank (October 24, 2006). Patti Smith: American Artist. San Rafael: Insight Editions. ISBN 978-1-933784-06-9.

Patti Smith on gender ‘We have to fight for what is right’: Patti Smith on gender

Petrusich, Amanda (December 10, 2016). "A Transcendent Patti Smith Accepts Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize". The New Yorker. Murg, Stephanie (May 20, 2010). "Patti Smith doesn't disappoint at Pratt's commencement". Mediabistro. Archived from the original on July 21, 2010 . Retrieved July 15, 2011. Smith, Patti (October 17, 1997). "A conversation with singer Patti Smith". Charlie Rose (Interview: Video). New York: WNET. Archived from the original on January 21, 2011 . Retrieved January 12, 2011. Pope Francis invites Patti Smith to play at Vatican Christmas concert", Denham, Jess, The Independent, November 14, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2021.Margolis, Lynn (September 20, 2002). "Patti Smith Plays 'Messenger' ". Rolling Stone. New York City: Wenner Media. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017 . Retrieved September 24, 2017. In Devotion, [Smith] starkly shares and uncovers, through a spare, haunting prose, the reasons she is compelled to write; so evocative is Smith’s writing that we’re compelled to read it as her voices transfixes us with its bell-like clarity and ringing passion.”—Henry Carrigan, No Depression: The Journal of Roots Music Patti Smith to receive Washington University International Humanities Prize". The Source | Washington University in St. Louis. January 27, 2020 . Retrieved January 31, 2020. Costa Concordia was the set for a movie directed by Jean-Luc Godard". To Be A Travel Agent. Archived from the original on July 25, 2018 . Retrieved February 4, 2012.

Patti Smith Is a Beauty Icon, From Her Choppy Bob - Vogue Why Patti Smith Is a Beauty Icon, From Her Choppy Bob - Vogue

Perhaps what Devotion teaches us most easily is the virtue of hubris: “But slowly I discerned a familiar shift in my concentration. That compulsion that prohibits me from completely surrendering to a work of art, drawing me from the halls of a favored museum to my own drafting table. […] That is the decisive power of a singular work: a call to action. And I, time and again, am overcome with the hubris to believe I can answer that call” (92). It’s hubris to write a short story in answer to the call in one’s heart. It’s hubris moreover to analyze one’s own short story for signs of the writerly. Of course, as the critic, to comment on her commentary about her own story is a feat that takes place at a dizzying distance. In our human folly, we realize we have hardly any choice — for the world is right there around us, and how dare we not respond to it? Jury, Louise (September 9, 2006). "Patti Smith Rails Against Israel and US". The Independent. London: Independent Print Limited. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008 . Retrieved February 8, 2008.The process of boarding a plane without a book produces a wave of panic. The right book can serve as a docent of sorts, setting a tone or even altering the course of a journey.” 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. This is what Smith does to her devoted readers--she provokes memory, isolation, and the desire to make something out of the mundane. . . . Devotion, though a departure from her previous books, does not deviate from Smith's remarkable gift."--Jerilyn Jordan, Detroit Metro Times The middle of the book contains Smith’s first published piece of fiction, a long, dreamlike, and rather tedious short story entitled “Devotion” where the image of the ice skater and Simone Weil will improbably morph into a story about a feisty young woman who also skates and has a slightly creepy affair with a starchy older man. It’s supposed to represent passion overcoming reason, or something- –the billowing steam of pseudo-romantic clichés (“-I belong to no one, she said defiantly. -No one? He smiled, unbuttoning her sweater.”) bored me to wooziness. Any story written on a European train and apparently inspired by soaking up the ancient bohemian atmosphere of Paris and London ought to be way more alluring than this. Mirabelli, Manon L. (September 26, 2015). "Ralph Nader's American Museum of Tort Law opens in Winsted". New Haven Register . Retrieved October 19, 2015.