Devotion

In this stirring book, one of our culture's most inspiring artists offers an intimate account of her own creative process. Patti Smith presents an original and beautifully crafted tale of obsession : a young skater who lives for her art, a possessive collector who ruthlessly seeks his prize, a relationship forged of need both craven and exalted. A companion essay makes tangible the mysterious sources of this disquieting tale.
Illumination comes as Smith journeys to the south of France to Camus's house, tracks down Simone Weil's grave in an Ashford cemetery on the outskirts of London, and haunts the winding nameless streets of Patrick Modiano's Paris. Whether writing in a café or on a train, Smith generously opens her notebooks and lets us glimpse the alchemy of her work in this arresting book on writing and why we write.