WORLD
John Lennon letters to be published
Baku, April 12 (AZERTAC). John Lennon`s previously unpublished letters will finally appear in print. Yoko Ono, Lennon`s widow, has agreed to help compile a collection of the singer`s correspondence, including postcards and doodles, to be published in October 2012.
This is the first time that Ono has consented to publish his letters. The anthology will be edited by Hunter Davies, the official Beatles biographer, using Ono`s archive and letters from private collections. But Davies is aware that Lennon had many unknown pen pals over the years, fans or early friends whose correspondence with the singer is packed away in boxes.
As the book`s publisher points out, Lennon never sent an email. “Pen and ink were his medium,” Little, Brown explained. “John wrote letters and postcards all of his life; to his friends, family, strangers, newspapers, organizations, lawyers and the laundry - most of which were funny, informative, campaigning, wise, mad, poetic, anguished and sometimes heartbreaking.”
The Lennon Letters will be printed in chronological order “so that a narrative builds up”, and many will be reproduced exactly “in his handwriting or typing, plus the odd cartoon or doodle”. Davies has tracked down about 200 letters and postcards so far.
In 2003, a missive from Lennon to an art critic at the Syracuse Post-Standard sold for more than $38,000 (£23,243). “Society only likes dead artists,” Lennon wrote in the letter. “I`m afraid Yoko and myself cannot oblige.”