BOOKS

Buried Alive is more than a biography; it is an act of passion. No one could have failed to recognize the posthumous pathos of Janis Joplin, but at least two other writers (David Dalton, with the sloppy Janis and Peggy Caserta, who was apparently one of Janis" lovers and shooting partners, in the despicably filthy rip-off, Going Down With Janis) have tried and failed to make us believe that Janis" unhappiness was anything more than a whim the particular Sunday morning on which she died.