In His Own Write is a 1964 nonsense book by the English musician John Lennon. Lennon's first book, it consists of poems and short stories ranging from eight lines to three pages, as well as illustrations.
After Lennon showed journalist Michael Braun some of his writings and drawings, Braun in turn showed them to Tom Maschler of publisher Jonathan Cape, who signed Lennon in January 1964. He wrote most of the content expressly for the book, though some stories and poems had been published years earlier in the Liverpool music publication Mersey Beat. Lennon's writing style is informed by his interest in English writer Lewis Carroll, while humorists Spike Milligan and "Professor" Stanley Unwin inspired his sense of humour. His illustrations imitate the style of cartoonist James Thurber. Many of the book's pieces consist of private meanings and in-jokes, while also referencing Lennon's interest in physical abnormalities and expressing his anti-authority sentiments.
The book was both a critical and commercial success, selling around 300,000 copies in Britain. Reviewers praised it for its imaginative use of wordplay and favourably compared it to the later works of James Joyce, though Lennon was unfamiliar with him. Later commentators have discussed the book's prose in relation to Lennon's songwriting, both in how it differed from his contemporary writing and in how it anticipates his later work, heard in songs like "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and "I Am the Walrus". Released amidst Beatlemania, its publication reinforced perceptions of Lennon as "the smart one" of the Beatles, and helped to further legitimise the place of pop musicians in society.
Since its release, the book has been translated into several languages. In 1965, Lennon released another book of nonsense literature, A Spaniard in the Works. He abandoned plans for a third collection and did not publish any other books in his lifetime. Victor Spinetti and Adrienne Kennedy adapted his two books into a one-act play, The Lennon Play: In His Own Write, produced by the National Theatre Company and first performed in June 1968 to mixed reviews.
Background
Earliest influences
John Lennon was artistic as a child, though unfocused on his schooling. He was mostly raised by his aunt Mimi Smith, an avid reader who helped shape the literary inclinations of both Lennon and his step-siblings. Answering a questionnaire in 1965 about which books made the largest impression on him before the age of eleven, he identified Lewis Carroll's nonsense works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, as well as Kenneth Grahame's children's book The Wind in the Willows. He added: "These books made a great impact and their influence will last for the rest of my life". He reread Carroll's books at least once a year, being intrigued by the use of wordplay in pieces like "Jabberwocky". His childhood friend Pete Shotton remembered Lennon reciting the poem "at least a few hundred times", and that, "from a very early age, John's ultimate ambition was to one day 'write an Alice himself". Lennon's first ever poem, "The Land of the Lunapots", was a fourteen-line piece written in the style of "Jabberwocky", using Carrollian words like "wyrtle" and "graftiens". Where Carroll's poem opens Twas brillig, and the...",, quoted in . Lennon's begins:T'was custard time and as I Snuffed at the haggie pie pie The noodles ran about my plunk Which rode my wrytle uncle drunk ...
From around the age of eight, Lennon spent much of his time drawing, inspired by cartoonist Ronald Searle's work in the St Trinian's School cartoon strips. He later enjoyed the illustrations of cartoonist James Thurber and began imitating his style around the age of fifteen. Uninterested in fine art and unable to create realistic likenesses, he enjoyed doodling and drawing witty cartoons, usually made with either a black pen or a fountain pen with black ink. Filling his school notebooks with vignettes, poetry and cartoons, he drew inspiration from British humorists such as Spike Milligan and "Professor" Stanley Unwin, including Milligan's radio comedy programme The Goon Show. He admired the programme's unique humour, characterised by attacks on establishment figures, surreal humour and punning wordplay, later writing that it was "the only proof that the WORLD was insane".: establishment figures, surreal humour; : admired, punning wordplay; , quoted in : "the only proof..." Lennon collected his work in a school exercise book dubbed the Daily Howl, later described by Lennon's bandmate George Harrison as "jokes and avant-garde poetry". Made in the style of a newspaper, its cartoons and ads featured wordplay and gags, such as a column reporting: "Our late editor is dead, he died of death, which killed him".
Despite Lennon's love of literature, he was a chronic misspeller, saying in a 1968 interview that he "never got the idea of spelling", finding it less important than conveying an idea or story. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn raises the possibility that Lennon had dyslexia – a condition that often went undiagnosed in the 1940s and 1950s – but counters that he exhibited no other related symptoms. Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, similarly wrote with uncertain spelling and displayed weak grammar in her writing. American professor James Sauceda contends that Unwin's use of fractured English was the foremost influence on Lennon's writing style, and in a 1980 interview with Playboy, Lennon stated that the main influences on his writing "were always Lewis Carroll and The Goon Show, a combination of that"., quoted in .
Art college and Bill Harry
Although most teachers at Quarry Bank High School for Boys were annoyed at Lennon's lack of focus, he impressed his English master, Philip Burnett, who suggested he go to art school at the Liverpool College of Art. In 2006, Burnett's wife, June Harry, recalled of Lennon's cartoons: "I was intrigued by what I saw. They weren't academic drawings but hilarious and quite disturbing cartoons." She continued: "Phil enjoyed John's slant on life. He told me, 'He's a bit of a one-off. He's bright enough, but not much apart from music and doing his cartoons interests him. Having failed his GCE "O" levels, Lennon was admitted into the Liverpool College of Art solely on the basis of his art portfolio. While attending the school he befriended fellow student Bill Harry in 1957. When Harry heard that Lennon wrote poetry he asked to see some, later recalling: "He was embarrassed at first... I got the impression that he felt that writing poetry was a bit effeminate because he had this tough macho image". After further pressing, Lennon relented and showed Harry a poem, who remembered it as "a rustic poem, it was pure British humour and comedy, and I loved it". Harry retrospectively stated that Lennon's writing style, especially his use of malapropisms, reminded him of Unwin. Harry described his poetry as displaying an "originality in its sheer lunacy", but found his sense of humour "absurdly cruel with its obsession with cripples, spastics and torture".
After Harry started the Liverpool newspaper Mersey Beat in 1961, Lennon made occasional contributions. His column "Beatcomber", a reference to the "Beachcomber" column of the Daily Express, included poems and short stories. He typed his early pieces with an Imperial Good Companion Model T typewriter. By August 1962, his original typewriter was either broken or unavailable to him. He borrowed an acquaintance's, spurring him to write more prose and poetry. He enjoyed typewriters, but found that his slow typing left him unmotivated to write for long periods of time and so he focused on shorter pieces. He left keystroke errors uncorrected to add further wordplay. Excited about being in print, he brought 250 pieces to Harry, telling him he could publish whatever he wanted of them. Only two stories were published, "Small Sam" and "On Safairy with Whide Hunter", because Harry's fiancée Virginia accidentally threw out the other 248 during a move between offices. Harry later recalled that after telling him about the accident, Lennon broke down in tears., quoted in .
Paul McCartney
Lennon's friend and bandmate Paul McCartney also enjoyed Alice in Wonderland, The Goon Show and the works of Thurber, and the two soon bonded through their mutual interests and similar senses of humour.: Alice in Wonderland and The Goon Show; : Thurber. Lennon impressed McCartney, who did not know anyone else that either owned a typewriter or wrote their own poetry. He found hilarious one of Lennon's earliest poems, "The Tale of Hermit Fred", especially its final lines:I peel the bagpipes for my wife And cut all negroes' hair As breathing is my very life And stop I do not dare.
Visiting Lennon's 251 Menlove Avenue home one day in July 1958, McCartney found him writing a poem and enjoyed the wordplay of lines like "a cup of teeth" and "in the early owls of the morecombe". Lennon let him help, with the two co-writing the poem "On Safairy with Whide Hunter", its title's origin likely the adventure serial White Hunter. Lewisohn suggests the renaming of the lead character at each appearance was probably Lennon's contribution, while lines that were likely McCartney's include: "Could be the Flying Docker on a case" and "No! But mable next week it will be my turn to beat the bus now standing at platforbe nine". He also suggests the character Jumble Jim was a reference to McCartney's father Jim McCartney. Lennon typically wrote his pieces by hand at home and would bring them when he and his band, the Beatles, were travelling in a car or van to a gig. Reading the pieces aloud, McCartney and Harrison would often make contributions of their own. Upon returning home, Lennon would type up the pieces, adding what he could remember of his friend's contributions.
Publication and content
In 1963, Tom Maschler, the literary director of Jonathan Cape, commissioned American journalist Michael Braun to write a book about the Beatles. Braun began following the band during their Autumn 1963 UK Tour in preparation for his 1964 book Love Me Do: The Beatles' Progress.: Began following during autumn tour; : Love Me Do: The Beatles' Progress. Lennon showed Braun some of his writings and drawings, and Braun in turn showed them to Maschler, who recalled: "I thought they were wonderful and asked him who wrote them. When he told me John Lennon, I was immensely excited." At Braun's insistence, Maschler joined him and the band at Wimbledon Palais in London on 14 December 1963. Lennon showed Maschler more of his drawings, mainly doodles made on scrap pieces of paper that had mostly been done in July 1963 while the Beatles played a residency in Margate.: "An awful lot of the material was written while we were on tour, most of it when we were in Margate"; : Margate residency from 8 to 13 July 1963. Maschler encouraged him to continue with his pieces and drawings, then selected the title In His Own Write from a list of around twenty prospects, the pick originally an idea of McCartney. Among the rejected titles were In His Own Write and Draw, The Transistor Negro, Left Hand Left Hand and Stop One and Buy Me.