The basic theme isher devout relationship with the late Robert Mapplethorpe, who alteredphotography by crossing the line between static image and transcendent work ofart.
There is beauty inthe simplicity of her relationship with Mapplethorpe, and tremendous care inher descriptions of him, candid and yet loving. They began as young loverswanting to become famous artists. Her book’s evocative title suggests much ofthe story she will tell.
One anecdote followsanother in Just Kids, and each hasits individually touching as well as artful moment of distance. It’s hard toread this book and not feel as though it is the brightest novel of the year,and yet it is a history lesson cast in an intimate, emotional narrative from areal persona. One might compare this book to Bob Dylan’s autobiography, Chronicles, Volume One, for it takes usout of the writer’s expected medium and into another with professionalism,revelation and passion. Sincerity replaces hip. Truth reigns.
But where Dylan ismysteriously though honestly ambiguous, Smith is not; her writing is as preciseas her poetry is not, with concrete words that express human realities thatdefy precision. She opens up a world that impacted upon the worlds of allartists who were once just kids. Along with Mapplethorpe, the story ranges fromGregory Corso, who never hid his feelings in public and taught Smith the same,to Sam Shepard, disguised as Slim Shadow in the Holy Modal Rounders,interviewed by Smith for Crawdaddymagazine without revealing his true self. Another lesson learned by Smith: Onecan be the “Other” each and every day in small ways and large.
This leads us to thefamous Mapplethorpe photograph for the cover of Smith’s historic 1975 album, Horses. The unique and enduring image isthe ideal result of a young love affair resulting in fame for both. The ’70swas a different time. Today’s alternative rockers view commercial achievementas a sign of being inauthentic. In the Warhol Pop Culture environment throughwhich Smith passed, fame was good. The success of Horses began an ascent into stardom that climaxed with a hitsingle, “Because the Night.” Mapplethorpe ruefully but with pride remarked thatSmith achieved the fame they both sought ahead of his own.
This was anoncompetitive remark, and Mapplethorpe’s cultural fame was just around thecorner, as was his death from AIDS when Smith was married to Fred “Sonic” Smithand pregnant. Within this area of the book, with Smith about to give birth andworking on an album again after many years of just raising a family, come forththe most moving passages of enduring love for the man who was her first love.With innocence ripped away, even as new life is about to begin within family aswell as art, Patti is left alone sorting out Robert’s belongings.
Most reviewers willreport incidents involving the famous contained within the narrative, andjustifiably so, the most adoring being when a young Smith meets Allen Ginsbergfor the first time. He fronts her small change for a sandwich she can’t affordat an automat, thinking she is a boy and wanting to get a date. When he findsout she is a girl, she innocently asks if she can still keep the sandwich. Butit is the writing itself that is so alluring. Patti Smith is now among thegreat American writers of prose, essayists, novelistsall of them; she was oncejust a kid wanting to be a poet and a rock star, but she shines brightest withthis book. She is a brilliant humanist, scholar and memoirist. No kidding.
