This Tuesday, June 8, an expansive book of late Doors frontman Jim Morrison‘s writings called The Collected Works of Jim Morrison will be released, featuring the singer’s previously unpublished journals.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Morrison’s sister, Anne Morrison Chewning, who helped compile the book, discussed how it was put together and shared some interesting things revealed in the writings.
Chewning says she first read her late brother’s journals in 2009, after she and her other brother, Andrew, gained control of half of Jim’s estate following their father’s death.
“I didn’t realize how much we had,” Chewning notes. “It was very exciting because I’ve been wanting to see them forever. Then, of course, we had to decide what we were going to do with them.”
As she perused the notebooks, filled with the rock icon’s lyrics, thoughts, poetry and more, Anne found a page titled “Plan for Book” in which Jim laid out how he wanted his writings presented, so she basically followed that.
The writings are presented chronologically, and with no outside commentary.
“We wanted the reader to see the complete Jim, to see that he was a full writer in multiple areas,” Chewning notes. “I didn’t want an interpretation. I wanted this to be Jim and in Jim’s words.”
Some writings feature Morrison’s reflections and observations about his trial stemming from his arrest at a 1969 Miami concert, at which he was accused of indecent exposure.
In the writings, Morrison also expresses his weariness with performing, his “desire for family,” and his wish for “a chance to write my Paradise Lost.”
Jim, who died in Paris in July 1971 while on a break from The Doors, also envisions his life after music. “End w/fond goodbye & plans for future — not an actor, writer-filmmaker,” he writes.
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