The Who’s Pete Townshend will publish his debut novel, The Age Of Anxiety, via Hachette on November 5.
“Ten years ago I decided to create a magnum opus that would combine opera, art installation and novel,” Townshend explains. “Suddenly here I am with a completed novel ready to publish. I am an avid reader and have really enjoyed writing it. I am also happy to say the majority of the music is composed, ready to be polished up for release and performance. It’s tremendously exciting.”
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Publisher Mark Booth adds: “The Age of Anxiety is a great rock novel, but that is one of the less important things about it. The narrator is a brilliant creation – cultured, witty and unreliable. The novel captures the craziness of the music business and displays Pete Townshend’s sly sense of humour and sharp ear for dialogue. First conceived as an opera, The Age of Anxiety deals with mythic and operatic themes including a maze, divine madness and long-lost children. Hallucinations and soundscapes haunt this novel, which on one level is an extended meditation on manic genius and the dark art of creativity”.
Details about the accompanying opera, album and art installation will follow in due course.