"The publication date Patti Smith chose for her latest memoir, Bread of Angels, is not just happenstance: Nov. 4 is the day her husband Fred "Sonic" Smith died (in 1994), and the birthday of her comrade-in-arts, Robert Mapplethorpe (in 1946). Both men died in their 40s, "the love of my life and the artist of my life," the celebrated punk rock star and author writes."
"Bread of Angels is Smith's most straightforwardly autobiographical book to date. It touches on material she's written about before, but her focus this time is her trajectory from a working class childhood in Pennsylvania and south Jersey into her stage and recording career which she put on hiatus during her marriage and reignited during her widowhood. The title Bread of Angels refers to the "unpremeditated gestures of kindness" Smith has experienced along the way, which color her essentially optimistic attitude toward life."
Patti Smith selected Nov. 4 for its personal resonance: the date marks Fred "Sonic" Smith's death and Robert Mapplethorpe's birth. Both men died in their 40s and held central places in her life. Bread of Angels focuses on Smith's movement from a working-class upbringing in Pennsylvania and South Jersey into a stage and recording career that paused for marriage and resumed in widowhood. The title refers to unpremeditated gestures of kindness that shaped an optimistic outlook. Smith credits her parents for a stable childhood despite economic and health hardships, and she continues to interweave memories, photographs, and tributes to lost friends and lovers.
Read at www.npr.org
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