Saturday, November 21, 2015

M Train

I just finished Patti's Smith's new book M Train, which continues where the critically acclaimed Just Kids left off, chronically memory and loss. A while back, I quoted writer Sarah Schulman's disappointment in Smith's reluctance to be properly reverent towards other female artists. She mentions all the "lesbian songs" Smith has written, which is patently untrue. Patti Smith periodically wrote or sang songs with a male narrator, which have been incorrectly read as being from a "lesbian perspective." (And shows an incredibly lack of insight.) More importantly her failure to place herself as part of a larger community of female artists, coupled with her sense of purpose and entitlement, is a turn off to feminists. It's understandable, but the same standards are never applied to male artists, even from those who call themselves feminists.