https://www.theguardian.c...man-review

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Mention of the music critic Ian Penman might elicit a bemused “Huh?” from the majority, yet to his devotees he still represents a sort of literary-cultural secret handshake, a tip the wink that here was a voice and a style like no other. Penman always understood the pitfalls of nomenclature, as here in a consideration of Prince: “Most boys grow up with some kind of childish ambition to be king of this or that world, but what happens when a child is baptised Prince before he’s said or done a thing? Right from the start of his career, names and naming, signs and alphabets, seemed to matter deeply to Prince. But what is a name, when you get down to it? It isn’t something you can hold squarely in your hand like a lump of gold. It’s wholly immaterial. It can make you feel like a god before your time – but equally, maybe, a ghost in your own life.”

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Judging from that quote it is most likely the piece that was published a little over two months ago in the London Review of Books, which is discussed here: https://prince.org/msg/7/459806 .

Publisher's page: https://fitzcarraldoediti...ving-track

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Announcement: https://www.thebookseller...ars-954786

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Another review: https://thequietus.com/ar...ack-review

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