Book Description

Candid and revealing portraits of contemporary music's most successful and influential stars. ... Read more

Book Description

Loss and mourning loom over John Lennon's life and legacy.Sincehis tragic death in 1980, he has embodied our culture's feelings ofloss; he hasbecome an object of mourning, of fantasy, of desire. Lennon himselfcreated anaesthetic vocabulary for dealing with loss, pain, and loneliness that isunparalleled in modern times. His personal crises reflect coredimensions ofmodern social experience, in particular transformations affectingsexuality,masculinity, identity, and fatherhood. In this provocative account,AnthonyElliott places Lennon's life and career in its social context, examiningtheways the ex-Beatle has come to symbolize an entire culture's struggle tomourn. Elliott interweaves broad-ranging discussions of celebrity, pop music,politics,feminism, psychoanalysis, and postmodernism with in-depth analyses ofLennon'slife and art. Beginning with a brilliant reading of Albert Goldman'sbestsellingbiography, he moves to the loneliness and pain of Lennon's childhood,developinga powerful analysis of songs such as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "IAm theWalrus."From "Help" to "Mother" to "I'm Losing You," he contends thataconsistent exploration of pain and loss in the wider emotional andpoliticalworld is evident in the body of Lennon's works. Elliott explores the complex, contradictory role of love in Lennon'slife, witha particular focus on the themes of guilt and grief, sexuality anddesire. Hegives careful attention to Lennon's personal relationshipsfrom hismarriage toCynthia Powell to his extraordinary romance with Yoko Ono. Elliott alsooffers afresh consideration of Lennon's commitment to radical politics and worldpeace;a detailed account of his withdrawal from public life and his time as ahouse- husband in the late 1970s; and an examination of the postmodern, hi-tech"reunion" of The Beatles in 1994, in which John Lennon magicallyreturned fromthe dead for the recording of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." By exploring the ways we remember Lennonfrom the endless repackaging ofhismusic to the more serious reappraisals of his significance incontemporaryculturewe come to see this modern icon, as well as ourselves, in a newanddifferent light. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

GREAT
I read this book and I believe it is a great analysis on the life of John Lennon. I appreciate the fact that the first reviewer has their own opinion on the book but it is really not a waste of time. I highly recommend this book!!!!!

Impressive
Having read the two previous reviews, I got a chance to look at the book in the Cleveland Public Library. It is a great source, and a nice addition to the other Lennon books out on the market. It is well researched and gives a clear (although somewhat academic) portrait of an artist worthy of an indepth study. I would highly reccomend to other Lennonologists.

Moving.
This book is unlike any Lennon book I've read before. It is intuitive and emotionally vivid in its description of Lennon. Beyond the myth of Lennon's "Beatle John" image, The Mourning of John Lennon manages to give you a powerful sense of what his life was about - up close and personal. Fantastic.

This book is a waste of time
This book is a psychoanalysis of John Lennon's life and songs. It is a waste of time and one of the worst books I have ever read about John Lennon. Give me a break! ... Read more

Book Description

In "I Read the News Today", Fred Fogo examines the ways in which John Lennon's brutal killing in 1980 and the commentary on it are part of a larger context of social disturbance that calls into question fundamental social meanings and relationships and sets visibly into conflict forces of stability and change. Fogo analyzes the print media responses to Lennon's death in the theoretical contexts of anthropologist Victor Turner's paradigm of social drama and mass communication scholar James Carey's ritual view of mass communication. Fogo suggests that Present day conflicts may be understood better by examining the way a particular segment of American society, the sixties generation, has made sense of its collective experience and its relation to society in the process of attributing symbolic meaning to one of its major icons, John Lennon. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Book looks at Lennon's role as symbol of social change
Fogo perceptively explores why Lennon's death generated such an enormous outpouring of grief and journalistic commentary, lifting Lennon from the ranks of pop music heroes to the level of social archetype.Drawing onVictor Turner's idea that society evolves through social drama--a tear ordisruption of the social fabric followed by reintegration that creates newsocial forms--Fogo asserts that Lennon became a symbol of a generationalienated from "straight" society in the sixties and that hasbeen searching for reintegration ever since. Lennon's transformationfrom rebel-poet to house-husband and parent is viewed as representative ofa generation attempting to create a new definition of adulthood.Thisclearly-written book is important not so much because it shows Lennon'ssignificance ranged well beyond pop music, but because of itswell-thought-out analysis of ,the sixties cultural revolution and itsimpact on people's lives. ... Read more