Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Dear fans,

I am personally outraged at the accusations Goldman makes about John Lennon as a person. He claims he was a vicious bully, racist, antisemite, misogynist, abuser etc. I know his book was under heavy attack, and Goldman has been rendered a charlatan. I would like to hear your thoughts.

The floor is yours,

Beatlesfan28

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Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

WELCOME Beatlesfan28!!
Hope you have fun here!You are among the Best Beatle fans in the World!!!

........Another BEATLELINKER!!!............

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Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Goldman has a reputation of trashing dead celebrities in his biographies of them. (I know he did this to Elvis as well as John; at the moment I can't think of any other bios he's written.) I don't think he interviewed any of the principal players in John's life; many of them spoke out against his book. He also had a nasty technique of speculating about things John could have done in such detail as to make the credulous reader believe they actually happened. Definitely an author on my "must-avoid" list.

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Author of "Move Over Ms. L." and the sequel "To Thine Own Self Be True,"
hosted at www.rooftopsessions.com

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Well, my own personal take is that everyone has more than one side to them... Elvis and John were not perfect angels, no matter what the mainstream bios say about them.

I have begun many books in my life, only to discard them when I see something similar come out. It's a personal vanity thing, I'm sure, but I can't stand to work on something someone else has already done, it's too much like plagiarizing.

There is one thing you can say about Goldman's biographies... they got attention precisely because they were NOT saying the exact same things every other biographer was saying.

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In Memory Of Robby
Our Lady's Psalter
Bearkat77's Beatlemaniac Page
Bearkat77's Tribute to John Lennon
Bearkat77's Tribute to Ringo Starr

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Even before reading AG's bio of John, I had already formed a strong picture of John being a grade-A asshole in private... but I could never point to a single line in a single bio to back myself up. AG interviewed people on the fringe of John's life... and got a different view of him than those who have a reason for keeping John's rep stainless...

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In Memory Of Robby
Our Lady's Psalter
Bearkat77's Beatlemaniac Page
Bearkat77's Tribute to John Lennon
Bearkat77's Tribute to Ringo Starr

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Sleepy - I have read a couple of your posts today that make me feel that you haven't posted enough lately. Good sense.

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'scan not a friend with a microscopic glass...'

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

Sleepy, I agree with you that John could be a jerk at times and that his image has been whitewashed since his death. However, you cannot remove whitewash from a painting by throwing dirt on it; you must strip away both dirt and whitewash to see what is really there. One way to do this in John's case is to read Anthony Elliott's The Mourning of John Lennon, which came out in 1999. It's a bit academic, but there's a great chapter in there where Elliott analyzes passages from Coleman and Goldman so you can see how each biographer uses language to slant their books.

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Author of "Move Over Ms. L." and the sequel "To Thine Own Self Be True,"
hosted at www.rooftopsessions.com

[This Message Has Been Edited By SF4-EVER On November 20, 2001 02:41 PM]

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By SF4-EVER:
Goldman has a reputation of trashing dead celebrities in his biographies of them. (I know he did this to Elvis as well as John; at the moment I can't think of any other bios he's written.) I don't think he interviewed any of the principal players in John's life; many of them spoke out against his book. He also had a nasty technique of speculating about things John could have done in such detail as to make the credulous reader believe they actually happened. Definitely an author on my "must-avoid" list.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well said SB-4EVER! Actually, the word around the campfire is that Goldman was working on a Jim Morrison biography, when he died in 1994 (I believe). To me, Goldman was just one of these spineless jellyfishes because he had a reputation for ripping on people, who were not around to defend themselves ("The Lives Of John Lennon" being case in point). The parts of the book I did read (I didn't read it all the way through because it was so negative) indicated to me that Goldman's writing, as well as his sources were suspect, to say the least.


BTW, welcome to Beatlelinks, beatlesfan28!
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"Turn off your mind. Relax and float downstream."
-The Beatles, 1966

[This Message Has Been Edited By Beatleboy On November 20, 2001 11:04 PM]

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Tahoma, Arial, Sans-Serif">Quote:</font><HR>Originally Posted By SF4-EVER:
Sleepy, I agree with you that John could be a jerk at times and that his image has been whitewashed since his death. However, you cannot remove whitewash from a painting by throwing dirt on it; you must strip away both dirt and whitewash to see what is really there. One way to do this in John's case is to read Anthony Elliott's The Mourning of John Lennon, which came out in 1999. It's a bit academic, but there's a great chapter in there where Elliott analyzes passages from Coleman and Goldman so you can see how each biographer uses language to slant their books.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I agree with what you just said 100%. John was neither a saint nor perfect; he was a man, a complex and interesting man. My chief complaint about Goldman (yeah, I read the book) is that Goldman appeared to have an agenda. He also appeared to have a vendetta against John.

The other thing that bothered me about the Goldman book is that he failed to do his homework thoroughly; a number of dates are incorrect. That too, throws questions on his credibility as an author.

Ray Coleman's Lennon bio on the other hand is an objective well researched work. It is highly regarded among the Beatle literati.



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Then we will remember things we said today. Yeah.
-- Beatles, 1964

BB1964

Re: Is Albert Goldman A Character Assasin?
 

One thing that I know for sure is that it is a thin-line between saint and sinner. We all have two sides that some call the dark and the light. Some people are just better at hiding what they don't want you to see. John was John 24/7. You had to take him or leave him. He said exactly what he thought and expressed what he was feeling at that moment.
He seemed to have thick-skin and some obvious chips on his shoulders (probably from childhood) which provided the "Edge" to the Man and his Music. I never really beleive what people write about other people because they are always trying to sell something and make a buck. I'll remember the Man's contribution to Music and Mankind, not his people skills.

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