A WRITER'S ODYSSEY
SMITH, Patti Devotion. New Haven: Yale University Press.2017.
4to. Original publisher's red cloth with black lettering to spine; black and white photographic dust jacket; pp. [xiv], 93, [7]; fine.
Signed first edition
Devotion is a unique and candid portrait of an artist's creative process; an intimate insight into the lineage of inspiraiton. From Simone Weil's grave in London to the South of France and the residence of Albert Camus, Patti Smith takes us, not only on a geographical odyssey, but also a tangential journey through the mind of a writer whilst asking what ingredients it takes to create a piece of work that can be considered 'timeless'.
As Smith asks the reader, "Why is one compelled to write? To set oneself apart, cocooned, rapt in solitude, despite the wants of others. Virginia Woolf had her room. Proust his shuttered windows. Marguerite Duras her muted house. Dylan Thomas his modest shed. All seeking an emptiness to imbue with words. The words that will penetrate virgin territory,, crack unclaimed combinations, articulate the infinite".
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