The Mourning of John Lennon

In this account, Anthony Elliott places John Lennon's life and career in its social context, examining the ways the ex-Beatle has come to symbolize an entire culture's struggle to mourn. Elliott interweaves broad-ranging discussions of celebrity, pop music, politics, feminism, psychoanalysis, and postmodernism with in-depth analyses of Lennon's life and art.

Beginning with a reading of Albert Goldman's bestselling biography, he moves to the loneliness and pain of Lennon's childhood, developing an analysis of songs such as "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am the Walrus".

From "Help" to "Mother" to "I'm Losing You", he contends that a consistent exploration of pain and loss in the wider emotional and political world is evident in the body of Lennon's works. Elliott explores the complex, contradictory role of love in Lennon's life, with a particular focus on the themes of guilt and grief, sexuality and desire.

He gives attention to Lennon's personal relationships - from his marriage to Cynthia Powell to his romance with Yoko Ono.

Elliott also offers a consideration of Lennon's committment to radical politics and world peace; an account of his withdrawal from public life and his time as a house-husband in the late 1970s; and an examination of the postmodern, hi-tech "reunion" of The Beatles in 1994, in which John Lennon magically returned from the dead for the recording of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love".