Overview

""An intimate, impressionistic Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man mode, interwoven with Mitchell myths and parallels.""-- New York Times Book Review ""An astonishing exploration of what it means to lead an artist's life--how to last, dig deep, change, to embrace one's voice while in conversation with your heroes.""--Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Hero of This Book ?From the celebrated novelist and memoirist, a gorgeous account of how Joni Mitchell's work has shaped his writing throughout his life. From the moment Paul Lisicky heard Joni Mitchell while growing up in New Jersey, he recognized she was that rarity among musicians--a talent whose combination of introspection, liberation, and deep musicality set her apart from any other artist of the time. As a young man, Paul was a budding songwriter who took his cues from Mitchell's mysteries and idiosyncrasies. But as he matured, he set his guitar aside and turned to prose, a practice that would eventually take him to the Iowa Writers' Workshop and into the professional world of letters. As the decades passed, Paul's connection to Mitchell's artistry only deepened. Joni's music was a constant, a guide to life and an artist's manual in one. As Paul navigated love and heartbreak and imaginative struggles and the vicissitudes of a creative career, he would return again and again to the lessons found in Joni's songs, to the solace and challenges that only her musicianship could give. Song So Wild and Blue is a gorgeously written, beautifully intimate, and unique tribute to the woman who shaped generations of creators and thinkers. Lisicky offers his own coming-of-adulthood as testimony to the power of songwriting and staying true to your creative vision. A guide to life that is part memoir, part biography, and part homage, Song So Wild and Blue is a joy for devoted Joni enthusiasts, budding writers, and artists of all stripes.

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9780063280373

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Reviews

""Exceptional, warmhearted ... Along with moving passages about his relationships and their challenges, Lisicky writes beautifully on mortality and death, including his parents' health struggles. ... A beautiful tribute to a legendary musician and the act of creation."" -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review) ""Passionate ... the musician's most devoted fans will enjoy this tribute from a fellow admirer."" -- Publishers Weekly ""An astonishing exploration of what it means to lead an artist's life--how to last, dig deep, change, to embrace one's voice while in conversation with your heroes. There is no writer more attentive than Lisicky, and to see him turn his brilliance to Joni Mitchell is a thrilling wonder. Some of us have been waiting for him to write a book about his relationship to her for years. This book exceeds all my extraordinarily high expectation--for its strangeness and honesty and beauty, and its ability to set the gossamer wings of song on the page. I loved it."" -- Elizabeth McCracken, author of The Hero of This Book ""An exquisite, subtle ode to the people we used to be, and their inextricable intertwinement with the artists who change us. Lisicky's love letter to Joni Mitchell is part coming-of-age story, part romance, part biography, and it left me aglow with recognition and wonder."" -- Melissa Febos, bestselling author of Girlhood, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism ""A luminous, soulful, dazzlingly original book. Every page throbs with Paul Lisicky's uncanny intelligence and unabashed avidity--for Joni, for music, for making a life in art, and for life itself. Song So Wild and Blue is truly a gift."" -- Claire Vaye Watkins, author of I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness

Author Information

Paul Lisicky is the author of seven books, including Later, The Narrow Door, Unbuilt Projects, The Burning House, Famous Builder, and Lawnboy. His work has appeared in The Atlantic, BuzzFeed, Conjunctions, The Cut, Fence, the New York Times, Ploughshares, and more. His honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the James Michener/Copernicus Society, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Rose Dorothea Award from the Provincetown Library. He is currently a professor of English in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Rutgers University-Camden, where he is the editor of StoryQuarterly. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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