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Sam Shepard: A Life
With more than fifty-five plays to his credit—including the 1979 Pulitzer Prize–winning Buried Child—an Oscar nod for his portrayal of Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff, and an onscreen persona that’s been aptly summed up as “Gary Cooper in denim,” Sam Shepard’s impact on American theater and film ranks with the greatest playwrights and actors of the past half-century.
Despite these accomplishments and more—five collections of prose, songwriting with Bob Dylan, filmmaking with Robert Frank and Michelangelo Antonioni, as well as romantic relationships with rocker Patti Smith and actress Jessica Lange—Shepard seems anything but satisfied. Sam Shepard: A Life details his lifelong bouts of insecurity and anxiety, and delves deeply into his relationship with his alcoholic father and his own battle with the bottle. Also examined for the first time in-depth are Shepard’s tumultuous relationship with Lange, and his decades-long adherence to the teachings of Russian spiritualist G. I. Gurdjieff.
Throughout this new biography, Winters gets to the heart of the enigma that is Sam Shepard, presenting a direct and comprehensive account of his life and work.
Despite these accomplishments and more—five collections of prose, songwriting with Bob Dylan, filmmaking with Robert Frank and Michelangelo Antonioni, as well as romantic relationships with rocker Patti Smith and actress Jessica Lange—Shepard seems anything but satisfied. Sam Shepard: A Life details his lifelong bouts of insecurity and anxiety, and delves deeply into his relationship with his alcoholic father and his own battle with the bottle. Also examined for the first time in-depth are Shepard’s tumultuous relationship with Lange, and his decades-long adherence to the teachings of Russian spiritualist G. I. Gurdjieff.
Throughout this new biography, Winters gets to the heart of the enigma that is Sam Shepard, presenting a direct and comprehensive account of his life and work.
480 pages, Hardcover
Published April 11, 2017
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March 12, 2021
Once upon a time, I shook hands with Sam Shepard.
I suppose that most people who remember Shepard remember him as a movie actor; but that was only one facet of his professional life – and it wasn’t even the most important. He first made his mark as a playwright and his talent led New York Magazine to call him the greatest playwright of his generation. In fact, three of his plays were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and one of them, Buried Child (1979), won. He also directed a number of plays.
He even co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan, Brownsville Girl. It was eleven minutes long. It was said that it was either Dylan’s longest song or Shepard’s shortest play.
He also wrote poetry and prose, prose that is difficult to categorize, because, as with many of his plays, it is experimental; also because Shepard admitted he found it easy to write dialogue, but struggled when it came to narration. All his life he was a rambling man and his prose which is always semi-autobiographical bears that out.
When he began acting he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of famed test pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). He didn’t win; the Oscar instead went to Jack Nicholson, who ironically played an ex-astronaut in Terms of Endearment.
During the years in which he was in great demand as an actor he continued to write plays, directed a couple of films, and wrote screenplays. His best script was for Paris, Texas (1984), a film that won three prizes, including first place, at the Cannes Film Festival.
All in all, “not bad for a Southern California kid whose greatest dream had once been to be ‘a veterinarian with a flashy station wagon, and a flashy blond wife, raising German shepherds in some fancy suburb.’”
Although he was uniquely someone who was simultaneously an accomplished playwright and movie star he once said, “I didn't go out of my way to get into this movie stuff. I think of myself as a writer.”
Furthermore, “being a writer is so great because you’re literally not dependent on anybody. Whereas, as an actor, you have to audition or wait for somebody else to make a decision about how to use you, with writing, you can do it anywhere, anytime you want. You don’t have to ask permission.”
However, he said that while nobody could make a living as a playwright he was able to make enough money from one movie that allowed him to spend a whole year concentrating on his writing and also be able to feed his horses.
Shepard placed a high premium on his privacy and guarded it with a vengeance and therefore refused to cooperate with Winters – or any other biographer. He did, however, leave a mother lode of written material that Winters was able to mine and that allowed him to accomplish his goal of revealing “the chasm that exists between the Shepard the public sees and thinks it knows, and the man himself.”
Some of what I have written I already knew before reading the biography. I knew that he was an important playwright, but I was much more familiar with his film career. That’s partly because we don’t have many opportunities in the Ozarks to take in plays staged by professionals. That’s an overstatement; we don’t have any opportunities.
If, however, I had known then what I now know after reading the book, I might have been in such a state of awe that I would have been unable to say anything to him.
It was in a coffee shop in Santa Fe in the fall of 2015 that I shook his hand. I was there with my son, who manages a well-known western hat store just off the plaza. Now, unlike me, my son is accustomed to seeing celebrities, since Santa Fe has become a magnet for actors, writers, and entertainers who want to escape the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. And sometimes they wander into his store.
I was at the coffee shop because I was in the middle of a road trip and had stopped for a couple of days to spend some time with my son and his family. It was a weekday and it was my son’s routine to go to this coffee shop each morning before going to work. It was a popular place that served good coffee and you had to stand in line to be waited on.
We’re standing in the line and my son nudges me in the ribs and whispers “Look, look.”
So I looked, but I didn’t see what he saw.
And then I heard him say, “Hello, Mr. Shepard.”
And I turned my head and Sam Shepard was standing in front of me.
My son knew more about Shepard than I did, especially about his literary career. And because he will talk to anyone and everyone, he was able to engage Shepard in a conversation that had not yet gotten around to his movies, which I could have commented on. But I noticed that Shepard was carrying a book, and I asked him what he was reading. It was Empire of the Summer Moon, a history of the last Comanche war chief, Quanah Parker, a book that I had read earlier in the year. So now I had something that I could add to the conversation, one that lasted a good half hour.
We were still standing in line, but people were stepping around us and finally Shepard said that he should be moving on, that he was keeping us from getting our coffee. We shook hands – and he left.
Less than two years later, he was dead.
The cause of his death was complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I had a friend who died from the disease so I know something about it. It is an insidious disease in which the mind outlives the body, with the victim living on the average two to four years after contracting the disease.
Although his handshake was firm and I didn’t notice that he was experiencing any difficulties in walking, in all likelihood Sam Shepard was already in the early stages of ALS, and yet he paused to pass the day with two of his admirers.
"I could go on and on about death. One of my favorite subjects — so long as you can keep it at arm’s length." – Sam Shepard
*****
Sam Shepard: A Life was published on March 15, 2017; Shepard died on July 27, 2017.
Here is a link to the song, “Brownsville Girl,” which was co-written by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mLlN...
I suppose that most people who remember Shepard remember him as a movie actor; but that was only one facet of his professional life – and it wasn’t even the most important. He first made his mark as a playwright and his talent led New York Magazine to call him the greatest playwright of his generation. In fact, three of his plays were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and one of them, Buried Child (1979), won. He also directed a number of plays.
He even co-wrote a song with Bob Dylan, Brownsville Girl. It was eleven minutes long. It was said that it was either Dylan’s longest song or Shepard’s shortest play.
He also wrote poetry and prose, prose that is difficult to categorize, because, as with many of his plays, it is experimental; also because Shepard admitted he found it easy to write dialogue, but struggled when it came to narration. All his life he was a rambling man and his prose which is always semi-autobiographical bears that out.
When he began acting he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of famed test pilot Chuck Yeager in The Right Stuff (1983). He didn’t win; the Oscar instead went to Jack Nicholson, who ironically played an ex-astronaut in Terms of Endearment.
During the years in which he was in great demand as an actor he continued to write plays, directed a couple of films, and wrote screenplays. His best script was for Paris, Texas (1984), a film that won three prizes, including first place, at the Cannes Film Festival.
All in all, “not bad for a Southern California kid whose greatest dream had once been to be ‘a veterinarian with a flashy station wagon, and a flashy blond wife, raising German shepherds in some fancy suburb.’”
Although he was uniquely someone who was simultaneously an accomplished playwright and movie star he once said, “I didn't go out of my way to get into this movie stuff. I think of myself as a writer.”
Furthermore, “being a writer is so great because you’re literally not dependent on anybody. Whereas, as an actor, you have to audition or wait for somebody else to make a decision about how to use you, with writing, you can do it anywhere, anytime you want. You don’t have to ask permission.”
However, he said that while nobody could make a living as a playwright he was able to make enough money from one movie that allowed him to spend a whole year concentrating on his writing and also be able to feed his horses.
Shepard placed a high premium on his privacy and guarded it with a vengeance and therefore refused to cooperate with Winters – or any other biographer. He did, however, leave a mother lode of written material that Winters was able to mine and that allowed him to accomplish his goal of revealing “the chasm that exists between the Shepard the public sees and thinks it knows, and the man himself.”
Some of what I have written I already knew before reading the biography. I knew that he was an important playwright, but I was much more familiar with his film career. That’s partly because we don’t have many opportunities in the Ozarks to take in plays staged by professionals. That’s an overstatement; we don’t have any opportunities.
If, however, I had known then what I now know after reading the book, I might have been in such a state of awe that I would have been unable to say anything to him.
It was in a coffee shop in Santa Fe in the fall of 2015 that I shook his hand. I was there with my son, who manages a well-known western hat store just off the plaza. Now, unlike me, my son is accustomed to seeing celebrities, since Santa Fe has become a magnet for actors, writers, and entertainers who want to escape the hustle and bustle of Los Angeles. And sometimes they wander into his store.
I was at the coffee shop because I was in the middle of a road trip and had stopped for a couple of days to spend some time with my son and his family. It was a weekday and it was my son’s routine to go to this coffee shop each morning before going to work. It was a popular place that served good coffee and you had to stand in line to be waited on.
We’re standing in the line and my son nudges me in the ribs and whispers “Look, look.”
So I looked, but I didn’t see what he saw.
And then I heard him say, “Hello, Mr. Shepard.”
And I turned my head and Sam Shepard was standing in front of me.
My son knew more about Shepard than I did, especially about his literary career. And because he will talk to anyone and everyone, he was able to engage Shepard in a conversation that had not yet gotten around to his movies, which I could have commented on. But I noticed that Shepard was carrying a book, and I asked him what he was reading. It was Empire of the Summer Moon, a history of the last Comanche war chief, Quanah Parker, a book that I had read earlier in the year. So now I had something that I could add to the conversation, one that lasted a good half hour.
We were still standing in line, but people were stepping around us and finally Shepard said that he should be moving on, that he was keeping us from getting our coffee. We shook hands – and he left.
Less than two years later, he was dead.
The cause of his death was complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig’s Disease. I had a friend who died from the disease so I know something about it. It is an insidious disease in which the mind outlives the body, with the victim living on the average two to four years after contracting the disease.
Although his handshake was firm and I didn’t notice that he was experiencing any difficulties in walking, in all likelihood Sam Shepard was already in the early stages of ALS, and yet he paused to pass the day with two of his admirers.
"I could go on and on about death. One of my favorite subjects — so long as you can keep it at arm’s length." – Sam Shepard
*****
Sam Shepard: A Life was published on March 15, 2017; Shepard died on July 27, 2017.
Here is a link to the song, “Brownsville Girl,” which was co-written by Bob Dylan and Sam Shepard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mLlN...
March 22, 2017
https://msarki.tumblr.com/post/158698...
Shepard’s most recent Oedipus-centered play, A Particle of Dread, was predictably unpopular and taxing to read. That is not to say this dramatic work offers proof of Shepard’s decline. His plays have generally been a bit annoyingly crude and sometimes obtuse. But for years Shepard has continued to suit up and show up, and he follows his muse wherever it takes him. A long career now of writing and acting has shared his life with other demanding physical movements including raising horses and playing music in a band. And because of what impels him to do what it is he does, Shepard’s personal life has often given sway. Taken as a whole, and after having read most everything Sam Shepard has written as well as viewing the bulk of his better ventures into acting, it is understandable that his powers would one day wane and be judged as “in decline”. But the seventy-two year old man remains a force to be reckoned with; a persona of American Midwest greatness and, in addition, a sad and angry Western cowboy bent on eventually breaking himself.
John Winters has written an honest and comprehensive account of Sam Shepard. This intensive look, both inside and outside, of a man’s long career and life, is obviously well-informed and researched. A necessary book added to a still-growing oeuvre. And for those interested, a serious attempt to understand a man who has remained for many an American enigma.
Shepard’s most recent Oedipus-centered play, A Particle of Dread, was predictably unpopular and taxing to read. That is not to say this dramatic work offers proof of Shepard’s decline. His plays have generally been a bit annoyingly crude and sometimes obtuse. But for years Shepard has continued to suit up and show up, and he follows his muse wherever it takes him. A long career now of writing and acting has shared his life with other demanding physical movements including raising horses and playing music in a band. And because of what impels him to do what it is he does, Shepard’s personal life has often given sway. Taken as a whole, and after having read most everything Sam Shepard has written as well as viewing the bulk of his better ventures into acting, it is understandable that his powers would one day wane and be judged as “in decline”. But the seventy-two year old man remains a force to be reckoned with; a persona of American Midwest greatness and, in addition, a sad and angry Western cowboy bent on eventually breaking himself.
John Winters has written an honest and comprehensive account of Sam Shepard. This intensive look, both inside and outside, of a man’s long career and life, is obviously well-informed and researched. A necessary book added to a still-growing oeuvre. And for those interested, a serious attempt to understand a man who has remained for many an American enigma.
July 8, 2017
This is a very good summary biography. Like many, I know Shepard most from his acting in movies like The Right Stuff. I don't know why I never realized he was a member of the eccentric-folk band Holy Modal Rounders: probably because I skipped their LP records. I'm looking forward to reading Shepard's plays.
I was sent a finished copy for review. Having sauntered through the book, I can recommend the author's love of his subject. Like many a good literary biography, it's sending me to the subject's writing.
Recommended.
I was sent a finished copy for review. Having sauntered through the book, I can recommend the author's love of his subject. Like many a good literary biography, it's sending me to the subject's writing.
Recommended.
August 1, 2019
Playwright, prose and poetry writer, actor and musician, Sam Shepard was an American talent that forged a unique place for himself in the arts. Though his image was that of the tall and lanky, silent cowboy type, he was devoted to improvising and experimenting with words and was insecure about his place in the world and his talent. He was restless, constantly in motion, more at home with animals (especially horses and dogs) than with people and inconstant in his relationships with women like Patti Smith and O-Lan Johnson, though he pursued one (Jessica Lange) through half a century of ups and downs. He was afraid of becoming an abusive alcoholic like his his father but his own relationships with his children were problematic and he was drawn to drugs and alcohol. He constantly strived for "authenticity" but his autobiography contained large portions of fiction. John J. Winters explores the mystery that was Sam Shepard with both clear-sighted honesty and a certain sympathy to give the clearest picture yet of an essential enigma. - BH.
June 20, 2017
This book was beyond difficult to get into. The author was over-analyzing a previous biography and Sam Shepard's own words and stories. He goes on and on about wether or not Shepard is Shepard the Third, the Seventh or the fifth in his family line. Who cares and what difference does it make???? I'm going to look for that other biography to read, I think Sam Shepard is an interesting person.
December 21, 2022
I hesitated on giving this at three. The writing was good however the author really dissected almost every play he wrote. There was not much written about his first wife Olan who was the mother of his child. More about Jessica & even then not much on her. Jessica Lange
Has admitted her depression and their life was rift with arguments and finally separation and divorce. I think that he was a troubled soul , Always having to do something go somewhere, he took a lot of drugs and in the end he was an alcoholic like his father which he desperately wanted not to follow in those footsteps.
Has admitted her depression and their life was rift with arguments and finally separation and divorce. I think that he was a troubled soul , Always having to do something go somewhere, he took a lot of drugs and in the end he was an alcoholic like his father which he desperately wanted not to follow in those footsteps.
May 9, 2017
This is a very thorough biography of Shephard. Writer, actor, rancher; all roles taken on with a great deal of introspection. Too much introspection if you ask me. And really, why does the reader need to know that Shephard had all his teeth pulled recently?
March 1, 2018
I was always curious about Sam Shepard. I had known of his work as a playwright and then, when his acting career began to take off, I thought he wasn’t getting much notoriety, at least in the popular culture, for someone so accomplished in so many different areas.
Since then, I’ve especially been interested in his fiction — the short story collections (Motel Chronicles, Cruising Paradise, Great Dream of Heaven, Day out of Days, Hawk Moon) and now his first novel, The One Inside. His fiction is deeply brooding and autobiographical, much like his acting and much like Paris, Texas, maybe his best known movie.
So I wondered about the person.
Winters’ biography certainly scratches that itch. He begins with Shepard’s family history, speculating, on the basis of Shepard’s own “musings”, back as far as the Mayflower. Winters pays special attention to Shepard’s father’s side of the family, setting up themes to trace later not only through Shepard’s real life relationship to his father, but also through so much of Shepard’s writing.
Shepard’s childhood story centers around his time growing up in Bradbury, California, near Pasadena. I have to admit to a little bit of surprise at how “normal” his childhood and teenage years appear. Winters even includes a photograph of Shepard (then known as “Steve Rogers”) as a yell leader in high school, and notes his participation in track and basketball, as well as the 4-H Club. There are certainly hints of his wavering from the straight and narrow — Shepard has said that he broke a high school track record while on Benzedrine.
Shepard also got involved in drama and theater in high school, in school plays and in acting lessons. In fact, he seems to have found numerous long-lived passions — animals, music, and theater — early in life. He received special encouragement in theater during his time at Mt. San Antonio College in California, writing his first play during that time.
But it’s his relationship with his father that provides the strongest running theme throughout the book. Shepard’s father was a violent alcoholic, who seemed to lose his way early in Sam’s life, after service in World War II as a pilot. The struggle in the relationship gets played and replayed throughout Shepard’s plays, so many of which explore broken versions of family life.
In his own life, Shepard is haunted by the fear that he will turn into his own father, and, at many points, he seems to have done exactly that. One great difference of course, is art. Unlike his father, Shepard plays that drama out in the theater for all to see.
His later years are still mired in that same tortuous play of alcohol, broken relationships, and the inner struggles that make Shepard a world champion at the brooding self-reflection we see in all his writings and even in his acting.
I enjoyed the book, mainly because of my own curiosity about Shepard, and how such a person as accomplished as he is, and as troubled as he is, came to be. People who choose the path of art, over more stable and secure professional lives, have always interested me — something must have driven them in that direction and kept them going, given the strong pull of “normalcy” back into the straight and narrow. Shepard seems unlikely to ever be pulled in.
The book does not flow as easily as some biographies. It is less thematic narrative than chronicle of events -- the themes do arise, but as a reader, your own curiosity has to compel you to find and savor them.
Since then, I’ve especially been interested in his fiction — the short story collections (Motel Chronicles, Cruising Paradise, Great Dream of Heaven, Day out of Days, Hawk Moon) and now his first novel, The One Inside. His fiction is deeply brooding and autobiographical, much like his acting and much like Paris, Texas, maybe his best known movie.
So I wondered about the person.
Winters’ biography certainly scratches that itch. He begins with Shepard’s family history, speculating, on the basis of Shepard’s own “musings”, back as far as the Mayflower. Winters pays special attention to Shepard’s father’s side of the family, setting up themes to trace later not only through Shepard’s real life relationship to his father, but also through so much of Shepard’s writing.
Shepard’s childhood story centers around his time growing up in Bradbury, California, near Pasadena. I have to admit to a little bit of surprise at how “normal” his childhood and teenage years appear. Winters even includes a photograph of Shepard (then known as “Steve Rogers”) as a yell leader in high school, and notes his participation in track and basketball, as well as the 4-H Club. There are certainly hints of his wavering from the straight and narrow — Shepard has said that he broke a high school track record while on Benzedrine.
Shepard also got involved in drama and theater in high school, in school plays and in acting lessons. In fact, he seems to have found numerous long-lived passions — animals, music, and theater — early in life. He received special encouragement in theater during his time at Mt. San Antonio College in California, writing his first play during that time.
But it’s his relationship with his father that provides the strongest running theme throughout the book. Shepard’s father was a violent alcoholic, who seemed to lose his way early in Sam’s life, after service in World War II as a pilot. The struggle in the relationship gets played and replayed throughout Shepard’s plays, so many of which explore broken versions of family life.
In his own life, Shepard is haunted by the fear that he will turn into his own father, and, at many points, he seems to have done exactly that. One great difference of course, is art. Unlike his father, Shepard plays that drama out in the theater for all to see.
His later years are still mired in that same tortuous play of alcohol, broken relationships, and the inner struggles that make Shepard a world champion at the brooding self-reflection we see in all his writings and even in his acting.
I enjoyed the book, mainly because of my own curiosity about Shepard, and how such a person as accomplished as he is, and as troubled as he is, came to be. People who choose the path of art, over more stable and secure professional lives, have always interested me — something must have driven them in that direction and kept them going, given the strong pull of “normalcy” back into the straight and narrow. Shepard seems unlikely to ever be pulled in.
The book does not flow as easily as some biographies. It is less thematic narrative than chronicle of events -- the themes do arise, but as a reader, your own curiosity has to compel you to find and savor them.
August 27, 2017
Sam Shepard was always someone I wanted to know more about. After first seeing him in “The Right Stuff” I learned he was a playwright of some repute. I saw “True West,” but other than the movies, I saw him in or read in People magazine and his relationship with Jessica Lange. I didn’t know much about him as either a person or an artist. It was something I put off until I heard about his death on July 27, 2017. My curiosity started getting the better of me and I started looking for a good biography, not some pop bio written in the heat of popular fandom, but something a little more substantial and for the most part found it in “Sam Shepard: A Life” by John J Winters.
“But you know, oddly, I wasn’t even fucking trying.” So Sam Shepard said in an interview late in his life about his career, and that’s how Winters makes it seem in his new biography “Sam Shepard: A Life.” Winters gives us the history of Shepard’s early years, his father as a military man, the moving around from posting to posting until his father becomes a teacher in semi-rural California, where Shepard leads a life filled with school, animals, eventually Shepard gravitates to theater in high school and makes early steps to an interest in art when an art house movie theater opens in his home town that he frequents. He’s given a copy of “Waiting For Godot” that he likes. After high school he joins a college theater group and finally a traveling theater group that is somewhat innovative. When Shepard goes to New York he quickly starts writing what are considered avant-garde plays. In one instance Shepard employed a subsonic oscillator to keep audiences on edge for the play. Then of course on to Shepard’s acting career, and relationship with Jessica Lange with the book ending around January 2016 with the author wondering what may lie in Shepard’s creative life in the future.
One of the consistent themes of Shepard’s life and career is a feeling of “lostness,” and that feeling is definitely transmitted in Winters book. So what’s missing? What’s missing is Shepard’s early influences. A writer is usually the sum of his influences. Where did he come up with the background to break the rules? A writer’s early life is usually spent reading. Where are the missing influences? Shepard grew up in a semi-rural area in the 50’s would reading have labeled Shepard a “sissie” or a “book-worm” (or worse) by his social group? After he got to New York did it play to his image as a “cowboy” to not acknowledge his reading? Or was Shepard what he claimed to be, spontaneously generated because he was ignorant of the rules, and he was unfettered enough to be able to write innovatively because he didn’t know any better? Or was he just lucky enough to be able to channel his anger into plays at a time when the surrounding society was in flux? That’s something left for the reader or perhaps a future biography that will fill in the holes better or explain the absence of influences better.
“But you know, oddly, I wasn’t even fucking trying.” So Sam Shepard said in an interview late in his life about his career, and that’s how Winters makes it seem in his new biography “Sam Shepard: A Life.” Winters gives us the history of Shepard’s early years, his father as a military man, the moving around from posting to posting until his father becomes a teacher in semi-rural California, where Shepard leads a life filled with school, animals, eventually Shepard gravitates to theater in high school and makes early steps to an interest in art when an art house movie theater opens in his home town that he frequents. He’s given a copy of “Waiting For Godot” that he likes. After high school he joins a college theater group and finally a traveling theater group that is somewhat innovative. When Shepard goes to New York he quickly starts writing what are considered avant-garde plays. In one instance Shepard employed a subsonic oscillator to keep audiences on edge for the play. Then of course on to Shepard’s acting career, and relationship with Jessica Lange with the book ending around January 2016 with the author wondering what may lie in Shepard’s creative life in the future.
One of the consistent themes of Shepard’s life and career is a feeling of “lostness,” and that feeling is definitely transmitted in Winters book. So what’s missing? What’s missing is Shepard’s early influences. A writer is usually the sum of his influences. Where did he come up with the background to break the rules? A writer’s early life is usually spent reading. Where are the missing influences? Shepard grew up in a semi-rural area in the 50’s would reading have labeled Shepard a “sissie” or a “book-worm” (or worse) by his social group? After he got to New York did it play to his image as a “cowboy” to not acknowledge his reading? Or was Shepard what he claimed to be, spontaneously generated because he was ignorant of the rules, and he was unfettered enough to be able to write innovatively because he didn’t know any better? Or was he just lucky enough to be able to channel his anger into plays at a time when the surrounding society was in flux? That’s something left for the reader or perhaps a future biography that will fill in the holes better or explain the absence of influences better.
June 7, 2021
For my money, Two Prospectors ultimately gives a much better, harder, colder look at the man. That said, plenty of compelling detail about Shepard's early life and works here. The second half is far weaker, though, and suffers greatly from the author's enchantment with his subject. Ending is a particular fizzle, especially given that Shepard died about four months after the book was published. Maybe it's morbid of me, but if I'd been his unofficial biographer, studying the man from afar (especially as Winters seems to predict Shepard's impending death, describing his physical deterioration onscreen), I would've held onto my manuscript for just a bit longer.
November 29, 2019
Expansive, curiously thorough biography. I loved it.
The joys of Shepard's life are mediated by the mundanities. Needing money, getting bored, feeling self-conscious.
His obsession with fate and heredity run through the book. Maybe bookending his life as well. A drunk father making his young life hell. A drunk Sam making his late life hell.
Well written, poignant but not sentimental. The ending is a little awkward, shoehorning Shepard's death (which occurred after the book was finished).
The joys of Shepard's life are mediated by the mundanities. Needing money, getting bored, feeling self-conscious.
His obsession with fate and heredity run through the book. Maybe bookending his life as well. A drunk father making his young life hell. A drunk Sam making his late life hell.
Well written, poignant but not sentimental. The ending is a little awkward, shoehorning Shepard's death (which occurred after the book was finished).
February 12, 2019
Sam lived one hell of a life. The themes of his plays certainly echo into his life. I guess the trick is to find a way to accept our heredity with grace. To own our past, where we come from without shame or resentment, and find a way to do the best we can with what time we have. Running from the father will only get to you your grave faster.
March 20, 2017
Shepard may be an even better actor than audiences realized. A more serious writer, too.
March 23, 2017
Advance copy. Publication in April. Shepard is an interesting man. I knew he was a playwright and author but have to admit being most familiar with his movie work, first seeing him in Country, filmed in my home state. Dedicated stage theater buffs (which I am not) should enjoy this one.
May 24, 2017
Excellent bio of a very interesting man. Well written and insightful. Enjoyed this book very much.
July 10, 2017
Extensively researched. A must-read for fans of "playwright" Sam Shepard.
May 27, 2018
Well considering the author did not have access to the subject matter, he has pulled together a lot of information from archives. I really enjoyed it.
July 5, 2020
As a Shepard enthusiast, reading anything about him is fascinating to me. There was interesting information but nothing like the intimacy of "Shepard and Dark". Good read
September 10, 2020
For a book without substantial cooperation or interviews from family, a very thorough and engaging look at Shepard's life and work.
April 28, 2017
An incredible story, extremely well written. This novel holds your attention from page one.
I highly recommend Sam Shephard: A Life
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
I highly recommend Sam Shephard: A Life
I won a copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews