An essential reading list for any Joy Division fan
Joy Division irrevocably changed the post-punk landscape when they emerged in the latter half of the 1970s. Formed by Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner following their attendance at a Sex Pistols gig, the band soon became one of England’s most influential. Their legacy boils down to a moody, proto-gothic sound and vocalist Ian Curtis’ knack for writing evocative, ambiguous lyrics, leaving an indelible impact on the listener.
Sadly, Joy Division was a shortlived endeavour, with Curtis committing suicide in 1980 at 23. Still, in the band’s short career, which included two albums – Unknown Pleasures and Closer – they earned their place in alternative rock history due to their emotive, atmospheric take on the genre.
Curtis’ melancholic lyrics were vital to securing the band’s legacy, often channelling feelings of fear and isolation through his baritone voice. Naturally, to be a good writer, one has to be a well-versed reader, and Curtis was certainly no exception to the rule. From a young age, Curtis was obsessed with fiction, poetry and philosophy, reading plenty of classic works of literature in his short life.
In his wife Deborah Curtis’ memoir Touching From A Distance, she explained how important reading became to the singer’s writing process: “It wasn’t something he did as relaxation or for pleasure. His books would be on the floor next to his drafts”. She also compiled a list of books that inspired Curtis’ lyrics, with titles ranging from Arthur Rimbaud’s Illuminations, Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot.
Curtis’ tastes reflect a deep interest in classic literature with existentialist, absurdist and nihilistic themes, as well as several staples of the dystopian subgenre, like A Clockwork Orange and Brave New World.
Meanwhile, Hook has displayed a more varied taste in literature over the years, once giving Brooklyn Vegan a list of his essential tour reads. He cites books such as Jack Reacher: The Hard Way by Lee Child and The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris alongside classics such as Tender Is The Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald and music memoirs like Diary Of A Rock & Roll Star by Mott the Hoople’s Ian Hunter.
Discussing Tender Is The Night, Hook revealed that it had such a profound impact on him that it influenced some of his music. “It tuned into me, and I’ve actually used it to write two songs, ‘Leave Me Alone’ by New Order and ‘Tender Is The Night’ by Monaco, so that’s how much of an effect it had on me.”
Below we’ve compiled a list of essential reading for any Joy Division fans, including works of literature recommended by the band members.
A reading list for Joy Division fans:
Ian Curtis:
- Adrian Henri – Environments And Happenings
- Aldous Huxley – Brave New World
- Anthony Burgess – A Clockwork Orange
- Antonin Artaud – The Theatre And Its Double
- Arthur Rimbaud – A Season In Hell
- Arthur Rimbaud – Illuminations
- Dawn Ades – Dada And Surrealism
- Franz Kafka – In The Penal Colony
- Franz Kafka – The Castle
- Friedrich Nietzsche – The Antichrist
- Friedrich Nietzsche –Thus Spoke Zarathustra
- Friedrich Nietzsche – Twilight Of The Idols
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Great Short Works Of Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky – Notes From Underground
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky – The Idiot
- Hermann Hesse – Steppenwolf
- Hermann Hesse – The Glass Bead Game
- J.G. Ballard – High–rise
- J.G. Ballard –The Atrocity Exhibition
- Jean-Paul Sartre – Nausea
- John Heartfield – Photomontages Of The Nazi Period
- John Wilcock – The Autobiography And Sex Life Of Andy Warhol
- Ka–tzetnik 135633 [Yehiel De–nur] – The House Of Dolls
- Michael Green – The Art Of Coarse Acting
- New Worlds [British Science Fiction Magazine] Nik Cohn – Rock Dreams: Under The Boardwalk
- Nikolai Gogol – Dead Souls
- Oscar Wilde –The Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde
- Selected Poems by Thom Gunn & Ted Hughes
- Various – A Century Of Thrillers: From Poe To Arlen
- William S. Burroughs – Naked Lunch
- William S. Burroughs –The Third Mind
- William S. Burroughs – The Wild Boys
Peter Hook:
- John Irving – The World According To Garp
- F. Scott Fitzgerald – Tender Is The Night
- Heather Morris – The Tattooist of Auschwitz
- Lee Child – Jack Reacher: The Hard Way
- Tony Warren – The Lights of Manchester
- David Wellington – Monster Planet
- Peter Stringfellow – King Of Clubs
- Sandi Toksvig – Peas & Queues
- Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople) – Diary Of A Rock & Roll Star
- Peter Hook – Substance (Inside New Order)
Stephen Morris:
- Anything by Thomas Pynchon, Flann O’Brien, Philip K Dick or Margaret Atwood
