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ashtray-girl · 4 years

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could you recommend the books/poetry that inspired morrisseys writing?? i’m curious to read some but don’t know where i’d find that information. thank you!

Sure!

First of all, Oscar Wilde. Morrissey repeatedly namechecked him as his favourite author. Personally, I’ve only read “The Portrait of Dorian Gray”, “De Profundis” and “The Uncollected Oscar Wilde”. If you haven’t yet read anything of his, I’d suggest you start with Dorian Gray.

Then of course, Elizabeth Smart. I’ve previously talked about how Morrissey used her novella “By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept” as a source of inspiration for many of his songs. She also wrote a sequel called “The Assumption Of The Rogues & Rascals”, which I didn’t think was as good, but it’s still relatively short and you can easily read it in one sitting once you get used to her somewhat flamboyant writing style. I’ve also got a copy of her diaries, which is called “Necessary Secrets”, but I haven’t read it yet.

Next, we have Shelagh Delaney. In 1986, Morrissey said: “I’ve never made any secret of the fact that at least 50 per cent of my reason for writing can be blamed on Shelagh Delaney.“ The lyrics of This Night Has Opened My Eyes are a retelling of the plot of her play “A Taste of Honey“, with many direct quotes. She’s even on the cover of Louder Than Bombs! Unfortunately, I haven’t read any of her works.

Then we have A. E. Housman, a poet. I’ve talked about his role on Morrissey’s writing here.

No biographers (that I know of) ever mentioned him, and the connection might be tenuous, but I’m gonna include him anyway: W. H. Auden. Specifically, his poem “The Mirror and the Sea”. I’ve explained why here.

Then of course, Hermann Melville. Specifically “Billy Budd”, but also “John Marr and Other Poems”. You can check out his poem “John Marr and Other Sailors” here.

Radclyffe Hall. Specifically, her novel “The Well of Loneliness”, which is one of the best, most heartwrenching LGBT books I’ve ever read. I’m not gonna spoil the plot for you, but I urge you to read it if you have the chance.

Alan Bennett. I’ve wanted to read some of his stuff for years and quite a few people recommended him to me, but I’ve yet to get down to it. The line “That’s what tradition means” in I Started Something… was taken from his play “Forty Years On”, and the title Alsatian Cousin also comes from there, with the original line being: “I was distantly related to the Woolf family through some Alsatian cousins”. Also, and this is the most interesting part imo, his TV play “Me, I’m Afraid of Virginia Woolf”, which is about a subtle gay love story, contains the line “Nature has a language, you see, if only we’d learn to read it”, which was no doubt used by Morrissey as inspo for Ask. (”Nature is a language, can’t you read?”).

John Betjeman, another poet. I haven’t read anything of his, but it’s said that his poem “Slough” was the main source of inspiration for Everyday Is Like Sunday. Funfact: he was bi and a disciple of Oscar Wilde.

Jean Cocteau. French poet, writer, playwright, artist and filmmaker. The cover of This Charming Man was sourced from his film Orphée and the cover of Hatful of Hollow was taken from a special edition of the French newspaper Libération, commemorating the 20th anniversary of his death. I’ve been wanting to read “The White Book” for a while but I can’t find it anywhere, and I feel like it would be very interesting to get even further insight on Morrissey’s psyche.

Pier Paolo Pasolini. Italian writer, poet and filmmaker. I’m ashamed to say I’ve never read anything of his (I did visit his grave tho!). Anyway, Morrissey mentions him in You Have Killed Me and - indirectly - in Life Is A Pigsty, (the title probably coming from his movie Porcile, which is Italian for Pigsty). Definitely check him out if you have the chance, he lived a very interesting albeit tragic life and he’s still seen as an important, pioneering if not controversial figure here in Italy.

Popcorn Venus. This is a 1973 feminist film study by Marjorie Rosen. Morrissey used several films which the text refers to as song titles. Namely, The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, Little Man, What Now?, Angel, Ange, Down We Go [Together]. When talking about the 60s ‘beach-party’ genre (don’t ask me what that is, I literally have no idea), there’s a quote that goes: “How immediately can we be gratified? How soon is ‘now’?”, which Morrissey probably used as inspo for his eponymous song. Rosen also describes Anita Ekberg ‘reeling around the fountain’ in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.Other possible lyrical sources in the book may include: “Who would subjugate whom? Who would crack the whip?” (Handsome Devil), “Mine eyes have seen the glory of the flame of women’s rage” (These Things Take Time).

From Reverence To Rape. 1974 book by American film critic Molly Haskell.Morrissey borrowed several lines from it, including:“[she] double-crossed him, not once but twice.” (Miserable Lie)“But even then she knew where she had come from and where she belonged” (These Things Take Time)“Samantha Eggar who, as Terence Stamp’s captive, is pinned and mounted like one of his butterflies” (Reel Around The Fountain)“Films like Mr. Skeffington oscillate wildly in mood” (Oscillate Wildly)“Each woman will be half a person” (Half A Person).

Finally… I’ve kept this one for last because I just found out about it as I was writing this and I find it EXTREMELY interesting and revealing:

George Eliot. Born Mary Anne Evans, she chose a male pen name to be taken seriously by the 19th century male-dominated literary establishment.Morrissey quoted from her most famous work, Middlemarch, in How Soon Is Now?, adapting its line: “Born the son of a Middlemarch manufacturer, and inevitable heir to nothing in particular.”Now, here comes the part I find most interesting… I’m just gonna fully quote it from Mozipedia (which btw is where I found most of the info I collected here):“Eliot spent much of her adult life in a then scandalous relationship with critic and philosopher George Henry Lewes who, technically, was still married to another woman.The vinyl run-out-groove of Morrissey’s 1990 single Piccadilly Palare also contained the cryptic message that ‘George Eliot knew’.”… now, I don’t know about you, but I definitely have my own ideas of what exactly is that George Eliot ‘knew’ and why Morrissey thought it was important to let people know about it, but I digress.

Anyway, there you have it! Hope this was helpful!And let me know if you decide to read any of the books mentioned here!

#morrissey #the smiths #marrissey #answered

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