Mr. Mojo Risin': Jim Morrison, the Last Holy Fool Dalton, David

Argues that Jim Morrison, the leader of the Doors, who died at the age of twenty-seven, was the last in a long line of "pop utopians"--such as Joplin, Kerouac, Hendrix, and Dean

Just 15 years before Morrison and his band the Doors set aflame the late 1960s rock scene, Enyalois , an ancient god of destruction described in hermetic scripts, reemerged in academic discussions. According to Rolling Stone contributor Dalton, the mythic Morrison, driven by whiskey demons and acid-laced visions of glory, seemed an avatar of this god whose name, loosely translated, meant "to render unto nothingness." Likewise, Dalton pictures Morrison as the embodiment of a tradition of doomed artists that includes Beat generation poets as well as modernist poets Arthur Rimbaud and Charles Baudelaire. Now 20 years after Morrison's death, Dalton discusses the two most interesting aspects of the so-called "Lizard King's" existence: his varied and lurid influences, and his original intention that the Doors be a performance art-based band. Doors fans will clamor for this original treatment, although Dalton's description of Morrison's demise is ordinary grist for the mill. Another recent book on Morrison is Dylan Jones's Dark Star (LJ 3/1/91).--Ed.
- Lauren Bielski, New York
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