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Cosmic scholar : the life and times of Harry Smith / John Szwed.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023Edition: First editionDescription: 404 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), map ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9780374282240
  • 0374282242
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Harry Smith : an introduction -- A boy's life -- Dark they were, with golden eyes -- Harry the Hipster -- Harry Smith in New York -- The anthologist -- The parapsychologist -- The anthropologist -- Nights in Bohemia -- Mahagonny -- Lost and found -- A New York ending.
Summary: "A biography of filmmaker, anthropologist, and mystic Harry Smith"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, sat at the piano with Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, and argued film with Susan Sontag. He was always broke, always intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, 'the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.' In Cosmic Scholar, John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century's most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to living in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society. He was 'so devious,' said Ginsberg, and 'so saintly.' Exhaustively researched and energetically told, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue deification of an American icon.
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Shelving location Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library Biography In Case You Missed It SMITH, H. S998 ICYMI: Recently New Available 33111011318777
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Named one of the Best Books of 2023 by the New Yorker and The New York Times ' Dwight Garner

"The first comprehensive biography of this hipster magus . . . [John Szwed] allows different sides of Smith's personality to catch blades of sun. He brings the right mixture of reverence and comic incredulity to his task." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed presents the first biography of Harry Smith, the brilliant eccentric who transformed twentieth century art and culture.

He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, had a front-row seat to a young Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, was admired by Susan Sontag, and was one of the first artists funded by Guggenheim Foundation. He was always broke, generally intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, "the only person I met in my life that transcended everything."

In Cosmic Scholar , the Grammy Award-winning music scholar and celebrated biographer John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century's most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to his life in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society, or keep himself healthy or sober.

Exhaustively researched, energetically told, and complete with a trove of images, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue canonization of an American icon.

Includes black-and-white and color images

Includes bibliographical references (pages 361-386) and index.

"A biography of filmmaker, anthropologist, and mystic Harry Smith"-- Provided by publisher.

He was an anthropologist, filmmaker, painter, folklorist, mystic, and walking encyclopedia. He taught Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe about the occult, swapped drugs with Timothy Leary, sat at the piano with Thelonious Monk, lived with (and tortured) Allen Ginsberg, and argued film with Susan Sontag. He was always broke, always intoxicated, compulsively irascible, and unimpeachably authentic. Harry Smith was, in the words of Robert Frank, 'the only person I met in my life that transcended everything.' In Cosmic Scholar, John Szwed patches together, for the first time, the life of one of the twentieth century's most overlooked cultural figures. From his time recording the customs of Native American tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Florida to living in Greenwich Village in its heyday, Smith was consumed by an unceasing desire to create a unified theory of culture. He was an insatiable creator and collector, responsible for the influential Anthology of American Folk Music and several pioneering experimental films, but was also an insufferable and destructive eccentric who was unable to survive in regular society. He was 'so devious,' said Ginsberg, and 'so saintly.' Exhaustively researched and energetically told, Cosmic Scholar is a feat of biographical restoration and the long overdue deification of an American icon.

Harry Smith : an introduction -- A boy's life -- Dark they were, with golden eyes -- Harry the Hipster -- Harry Smith in New York -- The anthologist -- The parapsychologist -- The anthropologist -- Nights in Bohemia -- Mahagonny -- Lost and found -- A New York ending.

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