On Bowie
By: Simon Critchley
Publisher: Serpent’s Tail
Published: 2016-04-07
Place of publication: London, England
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 207
ISBN-13: 9781781257456
Copyright date: 2014, 2016
Other titles: Bowie
Description: An appreciation of David Bowie – artist, lyricist, performer, icon

What made Bowie special? What made him the cultural icon he is today? And what made millions of people around the world tune into his peculiar wavelength and find exactly what they'd been looking for all along?

These are the questions asked by Simon Critchley in this keen-eyed, moving and textured tribute to Bowie. Each of the two dozen deceptively short chapters looks at Bowie from a new angle, slowly unfolding the enigma that was his artistic life into a celebration of what made him unique. From the author's earliest childhood exposure to the bizarre musical and sexual contours of Ziggy Stardust right through to the supernova glow of Blackstar, and covering everything in between, Critchley traces the development of Bowie's music and lyrics to tell the story of how he tapped into zeitgeist - and into our hearts.

Growing up in working-class suburban England, the young Critchley was instantly drawn to this creature from another planet, 'so sexual, so knowing, so strange'. Now a celebrated philosopher who Jonathan Lethem has called 'a figure of quite startling brilliance', Critchley draws on a plethora of cultural and philosophical touchpoints, as well as his own intensely personal response to the music, to paint an essential portrait of Bowie as songwriter, poet, performer and icon.

(Source: [Serpent’s Tail](https://serpentstail.com/work/on-bowie/))
Table of contents: title: MY FIRST SEXUAL EXPERIENCE
pagenum: 7; title: EPISODIC BLIPS
pagenum: 13; title: THE ART’S FILTHY LESSON
pagenum: 19; title: WONDERFUL
pagenum: 27; title: I AM A HEIDEGGERIAN BORE
pagenum: 31; title: UTOPIAN SOMETHING
pagenum: 39; title: A SEER IS A LIAR
pagenum: 43; title: HOLD ONTO NOTHING
pagenum: 51; title: HAMLET IN SPACE
pagenum: 59; title: DYSTOPIA — GET IT HERE, THING
pagenum: 65; title: LES TRICOTEUSES
pagenum: 73; title: THE MAJESTY OF THE ABSURD
pagenum: 81; title: ILLUSION TO ILLUSION
pagenum: 89; title: DISCIPLINE
pagenum: 99; title: DISAPPEARANCE
pagenum: 105; title: YEARNING
pagenum: 111; title: YOU SAY YOU’LL LEAVE ME
pagenum: 121; title: GIVING UP ON REALITY
pagenum: 127; title: PLAYING ON GOD’S GRAVE
pagenum: 137; title: NOTHING T0 FEAR
pagenum: 147; title: SUN, RAIN, FIRE, ME, YOU
pagenum: 155; title: SAYING NO BUT MEANING YES
pagenum: 165; title: WHERE THE FUCK DID MONDAY GO?
pagenum: 175; title: LAZARUS, NEWTON, GRACCHUS
pagenum: 185; title: SHEILA, TAKE A BOW
pagenum: 197