Reviews for Female Scripture Biography

The average rating for Female Scripture Biography based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2010-03-31 00:00:00 Ken Vo Shall I start with my nits? Let me pick them (and may I say that I just realized how gross that expression is, ugh). First of all, if you were so inclined (and maybe Jarman would approve), you could get pretty drunk if you were a fast reader and you took a shot every time this book mentioned Warhol. I know Warhol is the elephant in the room of modern art, but I'm not 100% sure that this comparison was necessary. Second, except for a few people - Keith Collins, Jarman's parents - this biography isn't great at conveying relationships. Like, if you want a thorough analysis of friendships . . . I wouldn't go here. IDK, I guess that's fine? It's called Derek Jarman not Derek Jarman and His Friends, and How They Felt About Him, etc, and frankly it's kind of a big book! So in the interests of not drowning readers in words . . . an understandable choice. (And there's a weird dearth of letters! Especially weird because Peak mentions Jarman keeping all the letters he got or copying those he sent, after a certain point in his life. Maybe as a side-effect of the late twentieth century they were destroyed? Maybe there's an estate-privacy thing? Seems unlikely, since there are all those published journals with cruising tips, but whatever. Not a lawyer!) Also, if you are hoping for behind the scenes gossip - like, if you want to learn anything about Sean Bean? - this is not the place to go for that. BUT, what this biography is really good at is the whole "this is Derek Jarman, and who he was, and what he did, and why" thing. And it's admirably ready to point out problems with his attitude or decisions or art (I still love Caravaggio, Tony Peake! I don't think it's stale! But Wittgenstein is definitely the funniest one, you're right.), something biographers often don't venture to do - they'll say "oh, this was unsuccessful because the critics disliked x, y, z, but IN HINDSIGHT HOW BRILLIANT IS IT? SO BRILLIANT" and then you, the reader, are in a weird place because you want to point out that William Wellman's movies are slow and criminally dull and it doesn't matter if Louise Brooks is cross-dressing or not, really, his movies aren't any fun to watch! Sorry, I am projecting. But, anyway, despite Peake's readiness to examine Jarman from many angles, to point out inconsistencies in his approach to other people (like, particularly to people who might fund him), this isn't a life-and-works biography. Peake's not a film critic, or an art critic, so when he's like "well, Derek, really?" it's mostly on conceptual or psychological, as stupid as that sounds - actually, that's a very good way to go about the whole biographical project. But even if he's critical, he's never moralizing, which is good. I also like the way he highlights undercurrents of traditionalism in Jarman's work, life, and thought. Particularly Jarman's interest in and embodiment of the British Arcadian/pastoral tradition. Jarman's personal charm is a bit difficult to convey through biography, but if you listen to interviews with him (or maybe watch the Derek documentary?) it's palpable. He has a warm, engaging, lively presence. Some of his films are angry, or sad, or just weird, but then why not? Someone has to make movies (paintings? books?) that are those things, and he was 100% the Powell and Pressburger of the 80s and 90s - his visual imagination was so powerful and innovative, and he really cared about ~*BRITAIN*~. Anyway, recommended if you want to know about Jarman-the-person.

Review # 2 was written on 2019-08-22 00:00:00 Katie Smith A well written, well-researched, well-considered biography about Jarman.