Just Kids by Patti Smith

Patti metalworker calls the countersign, Just Kids, a memoir rather than an autobiography. Her book is almost poetic in nature and written in a beautiful and engaging way. From the first pages, the contributor is drawn to her talking to and imagery. In describing one of her first memories, that of a swan on a pond, she says, the river emptied into a wide lagoon and I saw upon its surface a peculiar(a) miracle. A long curving neck rose from a position of white plumage.There are, of course m any facts about her life as a young, starving artist but generally speaking she is large(p)(p) the reader many impressions about her life rather than a chronology of the events in her life. The author, Dave Thompson, has written a more factual biography of Patti Smith in the book, Dancing Barefoot The Patti Smith Story. In analyzing an excerpt from this biography, the reader is left-hand(a) with a somewhat different picture of Patti Smith. In it he describes fairly vividly and in almost a clinical way a slight romanticized family life.Here the reader finds out that her father was almost non-existent when she was growing up because he was out working to support his family. Her m an new(prenominal)(prenominal), one learns, is a sound Jehovah Witness. This is a very important point because it gives an important cleverness into how religion may have shaped her poetry and art in the future. It is interesting that in Just Kids, Patti Smith is very clear in mentioning how her partner, Robert Mapplethorpe is very influenced and almost traumatized by his devout Roman Catholic family.This spectral aspect of her own life is not as cl proterozoic delimit in her memoir. Dave Thompson also mentions how many of the facts about Patti Smiths early jobs are distorted in her memoir and lets the reader conclude that mayhap the facts are not quite the facts in her own book. Dan Lieberfeld, on the other hand, in his assay, Artistic Apprenticeship and Collaboration- Looking Back wit h Patti Smith, emphasizes the profound impact that Robert Mapplethorpe had on Patti Smith.In it, he describes how deep their connection was. In those early years in New York City, they were crucial to each others survival. They literally unbroken each other from starving by saving every penny they had from their poorly-paying jobs. His essay describes them as apprentices to each other as they each seek to become artists. As they supported each other, they also helped each other achieve their dreams of becoming true artists.The essay reflects many of the points and themes that Patti Smith describes in her memoir with great feeling and reckons true to her descriptions of events that happened in her life. Patti Smiths memoir gives an impression of her life with Robert Mapplethorpe and how they both emerged as artists and gives a great picture of the bohemian life they led in the 1970s. Dan Liebermans essay confirms the fundamental principles underlying Patti Smiths memoir that Pat ti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe were great friends who influenced each other.Dave Thompsons book puts into question some of the details of Ms. Smiths life. Does that make her contributions to the world of art and music any less important? Does it make the vivid descriptions of the chaotic art world any less real? The answer is a clear no. The reader may not agree with her lifestyle and even her art. The beauty of her words is real and really describes who she is. Whether she has embellished the facts or omitted some of them, it doesnt really seem to matter.