Reader meet author

Friday 6 November 2009

A new book which argues that Morrissey is the greatest lyricist in the history of British popular music will be officially launched in Manchester this weekend (Saturday 7 November 2009).

The book, written by an academic from the University of St Andrews, will be launched to the sounds of leading tribute band The Smiths Indeed at a special Morrissey-themed event.  Appropriately, given the academic nature of the book and the singer’s famous bookishness, the event will be held at Blackwell’s University bookshop in the city’s Oxford Road.

Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart, by Dr Gavin Hopps, is the first academic study of the singer, and compares Manchester’s most famous son to literary luminaries such as Samuel Beckett, Philip Larkin, John Betjeman and Oscar Wilde, as well as comedy greats Frankie Howerd and George Formby. The book explores all the major subjects in Morrissey’s writing – such as love, melancholy, monstrosity and alienation – and is the first to examine the singer’s literary influences in any depth.

Dr Gavin Hopps, one of the few academic experts on the work of Morrissey and The Smiths, was one of the speakers at the first academic conference on the subject of the band, hosted appropriately by the University of Manchester.

An expert in British Romanticism and one of the founding trustees of the Scottish Byron Society, Dr Hopps is the author of a number of papers on poetry and pop music, including ‘Morrissey and the Light that Never Goes Out,’ ‘A Foreigner at Home: Morrissey and the Art of Embarrassment,’ ‘Celibacy, Abstinence and Rock ‘n’ Roll: Morrissey’s Deconstruction of Pop’.

During Saturday’s event, Dr Hopps will talk about his book and take questions from the audience.

Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart, by Gavin Hopps, will be launched at 4pm on Saturday 7 November, in the Manchester University branch of Blackwell (University Precinct Centre, Oxford Road).  The event is open to the public.

ENDS

NOTE TO EDITORS:

YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND THE LAUNCH (4-5.30pm) – THE AUTHOR GAVIN HOPPS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR INTERVIEW ON THE DAY.

NOTE TO PICTURE EDITORS:

IMAGES OF THE BOOK AND OF THE AUTHOR ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE PRESS OFFICE ON THE CONTACTS BELOW.

 

Issued by the Press Office, University of St Andrews
Contact Gayle Cook, Senior Communications Manager on 01334 467227 / 462529, mobile 07900 050 103, or email [email protected]

Ref:  Morrissey Manchester 061109
View the latest University press releases at www.st-andrews.ac.uk


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