=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 11:45:24 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      Re: Regarding Last Words...

In-Reply-To:  <33EDF914.685F282F@cruzio.com>

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At 10:23 AM -0700 8/10/97, Leon Tabory wrote:

 

> >     http://www.bigtable.com/johnsons/

 

ah, finally found my way to this great site!

 

Found the Burroughs Memorial Service image

[http://www.bigtable.com/images/bill/prog1.gif], and on it there was

"Ulysses" by A.Tennyson (read by David Ohle).  Can someone please explain

why this was read and it's significance?  This story of one man's journey

seems to be everywhere....

 

> leon

 

Douglas

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 16:23:58 -0400

Reply-To:     Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Burroughs biographies

In-Reply-To:  <970810113307_886383406@emout15.mail.aol.com>

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Miles' biography is okay as far as a decent read and scan over Burroughs'

life.  Has a little too much literary analysis by Miles for my taste.  Go

for Literary Outlaw if you've got the time (its a hefty read).

 

------------------

Alex Howard  (704)264-8259                    Appalachian State University

kh14586@acs.appstate.edu                      P.O. Box 12149

http://www.acs.appstate.edu/~kh14586          Boone, NC  28608

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 23:08:24 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      Anthony Balch (1938-1980)

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Anthony Balch (1938-1980) was one of the key figures in British film

distribution in the 60s and 70s, especially because of his distribution of

European art-house and exploitation films under new, captivating titles.

Famous for having added a soundtrack to the classic silent-era documentary,

Benjamin Christensen's Hdxen (Witchcraft Through the Ages), with comments

by his friend William S Burroughs, he began his brief foray into directing

with Burroughs himself (Towers Open Fire, The Cut-Ups), and was still

obviously influenced by Burroughs in Secrets of Sex.

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 18:16:19 -0400

Reply-To:     SSASN@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Arthur Nusbaum <SSASN@AOL.COM>

Subject:      For Michael Stutz: Cutup Comments

Comments: cc: DAVIDSROSEN@compuserve.com

 

Michael:

 

I generally concur with your ideas and observations in your post to me from

97-08-06 17:23:51 EDT, & to Douglas Penn from 97-08-06 17:46:28 EDT.

 

You suggest that "further experiments could be made with his work" by

computer methods, etc.  This should be done, WSB has led the way and his

creations are not necessarily "the last word" (not to get into another hot

subject here lately), as I've mentioned in earlier (pre-shock) dispatches,

some of the works, such as THE SOFT MACHINE, are arranged and composed

differently in various printings.  NAKED LUNCH, he instructs us near the

end(?), can be read in any order, pick a page, any page.  WSB often left to

chance, or to the organizational efforts of others, the order and arrangement

of his works, NL accumulated on the floor of the Villa Muniria in Tangier for

3 years until Kerouac got to work on (and had nightmares over) it.  So, I am

certain he would approve of your ideas, there is no beginning, middle or end

to his theories or their applications, that's the point!  One of the many,

many realizations borne of grief that I've had over the last week is how WSB

recovers the magic in the seemingly simplist "realities"- for example, his

ideas about art.  The shooting of a panel opens onto a "Port of Entry" into a

further dimension, there is a glimpse of the universe ("black insect lusts

open out into vast, other-planet landscapes"-NL).  In the film biography

BURROUGHS, he states that "every particle of the universe contains the whole

of the universe", and that by cutting-up something he has cut-up, and

therefore subverted the pre-recorded inevitability of, the universe.  I'm

surprised that J. Edgar Hoover never caught up with WSB and arranged an

"accident", he was and is a far greater threat to our "National Security"

than those who "sell the ground from unborn feet forever" ever realized.  His

ideas about art are also a classic example of another realization that my

intense reflection on his life and work in the wake of his passing has

produced.  It is so, so easy at so many points to dismiss WSB altogether, he

has built a road almost as perilous as that which he describes in THE WESTERN

LANDS, with the odds set against most people making it far enough to

understand and appreciate what he's getting at.  "Come on, all he did was

shoot a door, all this supposed philosophy behind it is a joke he's played on

the public....", etc., I can imagine most people I know saying, or far worse.

 But he's completely right, completely in tune with the realities behind the

smokescreen of "realities" that keep us in line.  The same goes for the

cutups, the fact that "anyone can cut up & reorder texts" does not diminish

the significance of disrupting the universal order, if he can fling a door

open, why can't others?  He has left us with an idea to run with, and

precedents for its application.  The example you gave of the variations on

the letters that spell ALLEN GINSBERG are amazingly prescient and prove that

WSB wasn't kidding us or himself.  "Genres nag bill" encapsulates much of

what's discussed above and a key aspect of his life & work.  He fought and

won against established methods, categories and linear "realities".  AG, WSB

& JK all had "beginners gall", they were pioneers, it may be true as I said

above that anyone can fling the door open, but someone has to bravely do it

first for people to follow.  "Bells enraging", they were driven by inner

voices and demons, and their assimilations of roller coasters of experience,

away from and toward the pursuit of "IT", leaving us their testaments.  As

for the last 2 phrases you posted, they tell a lot about the personal

proclivities of AG, don't they?  It would be worth slogging through millions

of garbled, unintelligible variations (as you may have had to do to find

these, like panning for gold) to extract these DNA-like phrases. As you point

out, WSB and a few others in this waning century draw our attention to the

whole PROCESS of which a shot-up door, a cut-up text or all the combinations

of the letters of 1 name are a part.

 

In your post to DP, you wrote that "advertising is a now-necessary

energy-gathering tool for the Corporate Virus.  It was not always here, and

it will not always be."  I agree with the first sentence, but not completely

with the second.  I have seen evidence of early advertisements in the ruins

of ancient cities such as Ephasis, once part of the Roman Empire in what is

now Turkey.  Advertising, the commerce that it serves and war, which is

always good for the winners' economy, have been with us since the beginning

of our wondrous & appalling species.  The problem is that the ante has been

upped to levels that now threaten our imminent destruction, or at least

thinning out.  Sticks & stones have evolved into nuclear weapons that can

(still, despite the "end" of the cold war) destroy our fragile, precious

planet many times over.  Advertising has indeed become an "energy-gathering

tool for the corporate virus", it has cowed, hypnotized and subliminally

seduced our society into undergoing the mephistopholian metamorphoses from

citizens to consumers, now about to be consumed themselves.  To overlap with

another of our favorite topics, think of the auto ads that flood the tv

screen.  The newest model whatever is your "reward" after "you did your job,

you did it well....", the light at the end of the toilsome tunnel, parked

right on the beach or in an idyllic field next to a ride in the hay, or

zooming down an otherwise empty road amidst breathtaking natural scenery.

 But what is the reality behind the imagery?  The exact opposite of what it

promises- Orwell's prophecies fulfilled and then some.  Freedom is Slavery.

 (Include by reference here my New Urbanist diatribes with which you're

familiar).  And what about the brand of beer that will turn you into a

perfect specimen and get you laid according to the commercial?  Several

belches and pisses later, you're the same as you were before only a little

flabbier, depressed and resentful.  WSB and the other Greats (among which he

was the Greatest) saw right through the bullshit, played with it, stayed a

step ahead of it, fooled it.  Sometimes I think that his ideas about space,

that we are HERE TO GO and that we must evolve physically & mentally into

space, is partly an acknowledgement that we won't be able to overcome the

natures that first manifested themselves in rock-throwing exchanges, ads

carved into paving stones for brothels, etc.  We're not just ultimately here

to go, we'd better get out of here ASAP, before it's too late.

 

I should note, not necessarily in the right place, that in his complex

brilliance, WSB also shows the often tawdry reality in "magic".  Again, TWL

presents a cumbersome, impractical afterlife, based on his study of ancient

Egyptian concepts, arguably less fair even than the temporal life that

preceded it.

 

Enough for now.  Have you left for your adventure?  Unfortunately, it won't

include The Visit, but we who are left behind must continue the quest.

 

Regards,

 

Arthur

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 18:19:06 -0400

Reply-To:     Greg Elwell <elwellg@VOICENET.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Greg Elwell <elwellg@VOICENET.COM>

Subject:      Re: Burroughs biographies

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I've read "With William Burroughs: A Report from the Bunker."  It isn't a

 biography, per se, but it really let's you see Burroughs as a person.  It's a

 book full of conversations, conducted by Burroughs with others, including Allen

 Ginsberg.  I've never read the others, but I know that I like this one.

 

 

 

 

At 12:46 PM 8/10/97 -0400, Neil Hennessy wrote:

 

>On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

 

>

 

>> I prefer by far Literary Outlaw. I've known briefly both authors personally

 

>> so my favoritism is probably based on it. I've not read Miles', but I felt

 

>> that his biography of Ginsberg had to have been "authorized" . Morgan has

 

>> done a lot of other books, a biography of FDR, Somerset Maughan that are good

 

>> reads. Of course Barry Miles ran off with one of my old girlfriends so my

 

>> opinions are always skewed; although, some have said I can see right through

 

>> people.

 

>

 

>Not having had any significant others stolen by either authors involved,

 

>I'd have to say that Morgan is more thorough, which is probably

 

>proportional to the amount of bookshelf space it takes up, but Miles is

 

>more entertaining. Morgan employs a unique narrative strategy for a

 

>biography where he uses free indirect discourse to get you inside

 

>Burroughs' mind (all reconstructed from copious interviews and Burroughs'

 

>writing). You can tell when Burroughs' voice starts and Morgan's stops

 

>though; like Gysin said, when you read a Burroughs' word, you know

 

>it's his, because it eats through the page like acid. Miles is a better

 

>storyteller, and I find the literary criticism portions of his book more

 

>enlightening, especially when dealing with the influence of Jack Black

 

>and Denton Welch on the last trilogy. Miles is also essential for an

 

>understanding of the workings of the Ugly Spirit, whereas Joan's death is

 

>covered extensively in Morgan's. My suggestion is read'em both, I did.

 

>

 

>Neil

 

>

 

>

 

<center>--------------------------------------------------

 

Greg Elwell

 

elwellg@voicenet.com || elwellgr@juno.com

<<http://www.voicenet.com/~elwellg>

 

</center>   --------------------------------------------------

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 19:10:15 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Regarding Last Words...

Comments: To: babu@electriciti.com

 

As I remember, David prefaced his reading by saying it was one of Bill's

favorite poems.

cp

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 18:13:14 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: Regarding Last Words...

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Pamela Beach Plymell wrote:

>

> As I remember, David prefaced his reading by saying it was one of Bill's

> favorite poems.

> cp

 

as i recall he told a story saying that he was over at WSB's and they

were talking about "this and that" and WSB handed him the poem and asked

him to read it to him.

 

i think Charles is right that he said it was also one of WSB's

favourites.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 16:31:29 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      Re: Anthony Balch (1938-1980)

In-Reply-To:  <3.0.1.32.19970810230824.0068c1f0@pop.gpnet.it>

Mime-Version: 1.0

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At 2:08 PM -0700 8/10/97, Rinaldo Rasa wrote:

 

> with Burroughs himself (Towers Open Fire, The Cut-Ups), and was still

 

I love that movie!  Got a chance to see it during the Burroughs art exhibit

at Los Angeles County Museum of Art this last fall <?).  The direction is

wonderful!  The rest of the films were very good too, but "towers open

fire' was my favorite.

 

and I gotta tell ya, my girlfriend is on the road, well, I kinda think

she's AWOL, not OTR, but that's a different story.  So I got this letter in

the mail today from her.  Been sitting in my mailbox for a couple of days

at least.  I'm all excited, hoping to finally have some tidbits or news

regarding her journey.  And what does she send me in one letter?

 

a: "portland art museum northwest film center" film guide.  On the 17th,

"the life and times of allen ginsberg (1992)" and "pull my daisy (1959)".

Then on the 18th, 19th, we have "Kerouac (1984)" and "Burroughs (1984)".

 

and with all these pictures, there's this snippet from Ginsberg's "laughing

gas":

 

        O waves of probable

            and improbable

        Universes---

            Everybody's right

 

 

        I'll finish this poem

            in my next life.

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 07:34:40 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Big Sur

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I decided to get in one more Kerouac work, Big Sur, before we begin out

On the Road/Naked Lunch/Howl discussion.  I think this is my favorite

Kerouac book thus far.  Even though he is in despair and very much in the

tug of alcoholism at this point, I think he is much more honest about

where he is and what people are telling him about where he is.  He

reveals more about why he and Cody are so close and also, in his

conversations with Billie, you get, for once, the idea that people are

trying to help him and he simply says no because he doesn't feel worthy.

 There's really a pretty deep-seated self-hatred showing up at this point

and I always wonder where it came from, because he always talks about

having such a great childhood.  Not being a psychotherapist, however, my

own stab at this is the fact that maybe he always felt that he should of

died instead of Gerard because he and everyone seems to have felt that

his brother was so good.

 

In his conversations with Billie (btw does anyone know who Billie in Big

Sur refers to in actual life? Also Ruth Erickson, Ruth Heaper, and Julien

in Desolate Angels?) you actually get a sense of where his despair is in

terms of relationships.

 

>From Big Sur

"Jack: Billie I dont wanta get married, I'm afraid...

Billie: Afraid?

Jack: I wanna go home and die with my cat.  I could be a handsome thin

young president in a suit sitting in an old fashioned rocking chair, no

instead I'm the Phantom of the Opera standing by a drape among dead fish

and broken chairs--Can it be that no one cares who made me or why?

Billie: Jack, what's the matter, what are you talking about...

Jack: What have I done wrong?

Billie: What you've done wrong is withhold your love from a woman like me

and from previous women and future women like me--can you imagine all the

fun we'd have being married, putting Elliott to bed, going out to hear

jazz or even taking planes to Paris suddenly and all the things I have

to teach you and you teach me--instead all you've been doing is wasting

your life sitting around and wondering where to go and all time it's

right here fore you to take--

Jack: Suppose I don't want it...I'm a strange creepy guy you dont even

know."

 

He also talks about Cody--"And finally in the book I wrote about us ('On

the Road') I forgot to mention two important things, that we were both

devout little Catholics in our childhood, which gave us something in

common tho we never talk about it, it's just there in our natures, and

secondly, and most important that strange business where we shared

another girl...some kind of new thing in the world actually where men can

really be angelic friends and not be homosexual and not fight over

girls--But alas the only thing we ever fought about was money..."

 

I also really liked this next section, even though it also is pretty much

made up of despair.  What frustrates me is the fact that all the time he

is saying, why live if you are only going to die eventually? instead of

saying what more made up the beat philosophy, which is, live now because

you are going to die.

 

>From Big Sur, pgs. 182-183

"I suddenly remembered James Joyce and stare at the waves realizing All

summer you were sitting here writing the so called sound of the waves not

realizing how deadly serious our life and doom is, you fool, you happy

kid with a pencil, dont you realize you've been using words as a happy

game--all those marvelous skeptical things you wrote about graves and sea

death it's ALL TRUE YOU FOOLS! Joyce is dead! The sea took him! It will

take YOU! and I look down the beach and there's Billie wading in the

treacherous undertow, she's already groaned several times earlier (seeing

my indifference and also of course the hopelessness at Cody's and the

hopelessness of her wrecked apartment and wretched life) 'Someday I'm

going to commit suicide.' I suddenly wonder if she's going to horrify the

heavens and me too with a sudden suicide walk into those awful

undertows...Can it be I'm withholding from her something sacred just like

she says, or am I just a fool who'll never learn to have a decent

eternally minded deepdown relation with a woman and keep throwing that

away for a song at a bottle?--In which case my own life is over anyway

and there are the Joycean waves with there blank mothers saying 'Yes,

that's so,' and there are the leaves hurrying one by one down the sand

and dumping in--....

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 19:56:34 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: For Michael Stutz: Cutup Comments

Comments: To: SSASN@aol.com

 

The tawdry magic is a magic of is own. It's part of his "Carnival". That may

be, perhaps his closest genre. I go to cheap local carnivals up and down the

Appalachia. Pam can't stand it and wonders why I go. I go to visit Burroughs.

He has sprinkled his magic on me, and I liked it. Mainly because I know he

can back up my vision in that multi-faceted world of the pitch that bares the

elemental self of old American weirdness that has roamed this land for many

years. He is aslo a philosopher historian, an Herodotus, making sure to get

the anectdotal essence needed to grow in the text. The tapes of NL and J laid

the presence back on me, even in the hideous nightmare of the Interstate

landscapes of prosperous hell.

 

A line of Emerson keeps coming back. Many may think of it pertaining to

religion. I see it everywhere I look:  "There is a crack in everything God

has made."

 

Cp

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 19:20:33 -0500

Reply-To:     Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Subject:      (no subject)

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"I'll be back"

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 20:40:36 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: (no subject)

Comments: To: Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

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Patricia Elliott wrote:

>

> "I'll be back"

 

When, and as a "good gal" or a "bad gal"?

--

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

 

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 21:24:22 -0000

Reply-To:     jgh3ring <jgh3ring@IX.NETCOM.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         jgh3ring <jgh3ring@IX.NETCOM.COM>

Subject:      was it an open casket?

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I've come not to attend funerals knowing there is an open casket...Was

this the case with Burrough's funeral?

 

Jason "donutman" Helfman

Three-Ring Creations

=========================================================================

Date:         Sun, 10 Aug 1997 22:48:16 -0500

Reply-To:     Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Subject:      Re: (no subject)

Comments: To: CVEditions@aol.com

MIME-Version: 1.0

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CVEditions@aol.com wrote:

>

> Pat...Everything o.k.? Please post

> cp

Yes,I am ok. I have to work, I am presenting a seminar on deconstruction

for a EPA Brownsfield 97 Conference being held in KC,  and i was tooooo

inegmatic for words. the comments on the service thing for william was

the last words written in his diary on the 1st.  and rumor has it that

"I'll be back" was his last words leaving the house for the hospital, i

should not have said anything because it is rumor and not from a horses

mouth. It has been so emotional that i thought I should take a break

from posting..I am really looking forward to your posts, of on the road

east from lawrence.  I love your posts you know.

p

p

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 02:30:09 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: We'll miss you Bill

Comments: To: jgh3ring@ix.netcom.com

 

In a message dated 97-08-11 02:27:00 EDT, jgh3ring@ix.netcom.com (jgh3ring)

writes:

 

<< Subj:        Re: We'll miss you Bill

 Date:  97-08-11 02:27:00 EDT

 From:  jgh3ring@ix.netcom.com (jgh3ring)

 To:    CVEditions@aol.com

 

 laughing

 

 Jason "donutman" Helfman

 Three-Ring Creations

  >>

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 02:34:05 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Jackal laughing

Comments: To: jgh3ring@ix.netcom.com

 

In a message dated 97-08-11 02:27:00 EDT, you write:

 

<< Subj:        Re: We'll miss you Bill

 Date:  97-08-11 02:27:00 EDT

 From:  jgh3ring@ix.netcom.com (jgh3ring)

 To:    CVEditions@aol.com

 

 laughing

 

 Jason "donutman" Helfman

 Three-Ring Creations

  >>

Jump through all three of 'em, asshole!

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 10:25:35 -0400

Reply-To:     Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Subject:      Authorized Kerouac Bio

In-Reply-To:  <970811023405_-119290238@emout07.mail.aol.com>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

I heard recently that Douglas Brinkley, editor of the recently published

letters of Hunter S. Thompson, and author of "The Majic Bus" and a Carter

biography among other things, is writing the new "authorized" biography of

Jack Kerouac.

 

I guess this means Doug has been given the authorization and cooperation

of Jack's family (or his ex-wife's family to be more exact)   I'm not

sure there's anything new to be written about Kerouac at this point, the

bios already out there seem to cover his life pretty well (hard to

imagine Doug would be more thorough than Gerry Nicosia or the others

who've done Kerouac bios)

 

But since his Carter bio is going tobe like three volumes, its

conceivable that he could turn out something even more exhaustive than

Nicosia's "Memory Babe"  Doug Brinkley's a good writer who is passionate

about Kerouac so whatever he puts out on the subject is bound to be

worthwhile I s'pose.

 

RJW

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 11:12:20 -0400

Reply-To:     Tread37@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Jenn Fedor <Tread37@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: next reading project

 

i am definitely up for diane's suggestion!  i am just finishing On the Road

(for the first time!)  and would love to discuss it!  also, i intended to

make Naked Lunch my next project, since i have to admit i have never read

burroughs before and thought it would be a good place to start (being fairly

new at the beat thing!)  i have read Howl several times, but would love to

discuss!  i hope this idea passes!

 

jenn:)

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 11:14:49 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: Authorized Kerouac Bio

Comments: To: Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Richard Wallner wrote:

 

> I heard recently that Douglas Brinkley, editor of the recently

> published

> letters of Hunter S. Thompson, and author of "The Majic Bus" and a

> Carter

> biography among other things, is writing the new "authorized"

> biography of

> Jack Kerouac.

>

> I guess this means Doug has been given the authorization and

> cooperation

> of Jack's family (or his ex-wife's family to be more exact)   I'm not

> sure there's anything new to be written about Kerouac at this point,

> the

> bios already out there seem to cover his life pretty well (hard to

> imagine Doug would be more thorough than Gerry Nicosia or the others

> who've done Kerouac bios)

>

> But since his Carter bio is going tobe like three volumes, its

> conceivable that he could turn out something even more exhaustive than

>

> Nicosia's "Memory Babe"  Doug Brinkley's a good writer who is

> passionate

> about Kerouac so whatever he puts out on the subject is bound to be

> worthwhile I s'pose.

>

> RJW

 

  Gerry has said that whoever can gain the cooperation of the persons

who control of Jack's papers could write a "better" biography, assuming

that they could use the tapes that he recorded too.  But, with

revisionist history seeming to be the rage these days, it might not be

possible to tell the truth in an "authorized" biography.  The Jimi

Hendrix estate is hard at work trying to remake Jimi's life.  They are

claiming that he was "spiked" with LSD at Monterry Pop Festival and that

his management set him up for the drug bust in Toronto.  They also only

want "happy" pictures of Jimi and at one time thought about trying to

air brush some of his cigarettes out of pictures.  Well, I would

presume, though I do not know, that the keepers of the Kerouac flame

might have the same ideas in mind.  Only time and a published work will

tell.  Personally, I would love to see an authorized biography that used

Jack's notebooks and was done properly.  I do not think it would be

redundant.

 

 

 

--

 

Peace,

 

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 09:33:11 -0600

Reply-To:     "Derek A. Beaulieu" <dabeauli@FREENET.CALGARY.AB.CA>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Derek A. Beaulieu" <dabeauli@FREENET.CALGARY.AB.CA>

Organization: Calgary Free-Net

Subject:      Re: Authorized Kerouac Bio

Comments: To: "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

In-Reply-To:  <33EF2C69.217FB6C4@scsn.net>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

from what i understand from r.whitehead, d.brinkley in fact has been

picked to edit 2 volumes of jack kerouac's selected journals, and NOT a

new biography.

yrs

derek

 

On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, R. Bentz Kirby wrote:

 

>

> Richard Wallner wrote:

>

> > I heard recently that Douglas Brinkley, editor of the recently

> > published

> > letters of Hunter S. Thompson, and author of "The Majic Bus" and a

> > Carter

> > biography among other things, is writing the new "authorized"

> > biography of

> > Jack Kerouac.

> >

> > I guess this means Doug has been given the authorization and

> > cooperation

> > of Jack's family (or his ex-wife's family to be more exact)   I'm not

> > sure there's anything new to be written about Kerouac at this point,

> > the

> > bios already out there seem to cover his life pretty well (hard to

> > imagine Doug would be more thorough than Gerry Nicosia or the others

> > who've done Kerouac bios)

> >

> > But since his Carter bio is going tobe like three volumes, its

> > conceivable that he could turn out something even more exhaustive than

> >

> > Nicosia's "Memory Babe"  Doug Brinkley's a good writer who is

> > passionate

> > about Kerouac so whatever he puts out on the subject is bound to be

> > worthwhile I s'pose.

> >

> > RJW

>

>   Gerry has said that whoever can gain the cooperation of the persons

> who control of Jack's papers could write a "better" biography, assuming

> that they could use the tapes that he recorded too.  But, with

> revisionist history seeming to be the rage these days, it might not be

> possible to tell the truth in an "authorized" biography.  The Jimi

> Hendrix estate is hard at work trying to remake Jimi's life.  They are

> claiming that he was "spiked" with LSD at Monterry Pop Festival and that

> his management set him up for the drug bust in Toronto.  They also only

> want "happy" pictures of Jimi and at one time thought about trying to

> air brush some of his cigarettes out of pictures.  Well, I would

> presume, though I do not know, that the keepers of the Kerouac flame

> might have the same ideas in mind.  Only time and a published work will

> tell.  Personally, I would love to see an authorized biography that used

> Jack's notebooks and was done properly.  I do not think it would be

> redundant.

>

>

>

> --

>

> Peace,

>

> Bentz

> bocelts@scsn.net

> http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:11:28 -0400

Reply-To:     "Ted W. Nagy" <tnagy@PASS.WAYNE.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Ted W. Nagy" <tnagy@PASS.WAYNE.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Dangerous Writing

Comments: To: Eric Blanco <Chimera@WEBTV.NET>

In-Reply-To:  <199708072341.QAA28873@mailtod-101.bryant.webtv.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

The term "dangerous writing" immediately evokes, in my mind, the great

interpreter of politics, Hunter S. Thompson.  Is this the kind of work you

speak of?  He views the world from a distorted eye, and yet accomplishes

so much opinion.  He takes reality and makes it fiction, but who's to say

that reality isn't really an attempt at fiction anyway?  Let me know what

you think...

 

                -t

 

 

On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Eric Blanco wrote:

 

>           Hello everyone:

>           A while back someone posted

> a description of a work as "dangerous

> writing"-a great phrase and a high

> compliment, I'm sure.

>

>             My questions to the list are: what

> qualities does a writers' work have to have

> in order for it to be dangerous? What was

> dangerous about the beats' writings, and

> is it enough just to upset the status quo or

> does something else have to be present?

> Are there any dangerous writers today?

> Finally, is it possible to be mainstream

> (Anne Rice? Eric Lustbader?) and still be

> dangerous?

>

>                    I look forward to your

> feedback, either to the list or in private.

> I hope you've all had a great week and

> are looking forward to the weekend.

>

>                                     My best,

>

>                                      Chimera

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:22:37 EDT

Reply-To:     Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject:      Village Voice obit.

 

This week's issue of the Voice carried a full page obit on Burroughs

with articles by David Ulin and C. (I assume Lucien's son Caleb) Carr.

The last paragraph of Ulin's article addresses the question of

Burroughs' attitude towards death and God:

"In an interview last year, Burroughs addressed the subject of his own

death, noting that he was frightened at the prospect because 'we don't

know it.  We can't.'  At the same time, he took a philosophical view of

mortality. 'I believe in God,' he said, 'and always have. I don't know

how anyone could read my books and think otherwise. In the magical

universie, nothing happens unless some power or something wills it to

happen.  It's as simple as that.  It comes down to the Big Bang Theory.

Somebody triggered the Big Bang.'"

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:18:52 -0400

Reply-To:     "Ted W. Nagy" <tnagy@PASS.WAYNE.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Ted W. Nagy" <tnagy@PASS.WAYNE.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Last Words

Comments: To: Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.LNX.3.95.970807200043.11613D-100000@devel.nacs.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

I'm interested as well on last words.  Did you read the last poem (can't

remember the title...) Ginsberg put out that was published in the New

Yorker.  Very eery... The words of a man who knows that he's going to die.

I saw Ed Sanders read in Detroit and he was relating a story about

Ginsberg's last words to him.  Ed stood back, choked up, and told the

audience of how he had been summoned to Italy at this time.  He heard of

Ginsberg's death abroad and when he returned, heard his voice on the

answering machine.  I guess Ginsberg was making phone calls on his

deathbed saying goodbye. like he was going away for just a short while,

and returning.  Anyway, Ed said that he was all chipper and sincere-like

on the machine.  I can't remember the way that sanders said it(among the

tears caught in his throat), but he said goodbye, and laughed and said

that he'd see him later.  The words of a dead man inspire new life to us

all...

                -t

 

On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Michael Stutz wrote:

 

> On Thu, 7 Aug 1997, Neil Hennessy wrote:

>

> > Someone even wrote an essay about 10 years ago called "The Last Words of

> > William S. Burroughs", so I figure it's as valid an enquiry as any.

>

> Does anyone have a copy of this, or know where one exists? As many of you

> undoubtedly are, I'm interested in what William's parting shot was -- as

> well as Ginsberg's. I'd first heard it was "toodle-oo," but then I recall

> reading something else somewhere, so I ain't got no clue.

>

> bye,

>

> m

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:50:40 -0400

Reply-To:     Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Subject:      Re: Last Words

Comments: To: "Ted W. Nagy" <tnagy@pass.wayne.edu>

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SOL.3.93.970811121330.11181B-100000@pass.wayne.edu>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Ted W. Nagy wrote:

 

> I'm interested as well on last words.  Did you read the last poem (can't

> remember the title...) Ginsberg put out that was published in the New

> Yorker.  Very eery... The words of a man who knows that he's going to die.

 

Not only that, but those last few poems were sharp as hell, Ginsberg in top

form. A good way for a poet to go out.

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 13:56:02 -0400

Reply-To:     Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Subject:      Re: Authorized Kerouac Bio

Comments: To: "Derek A. Beaulieu" <dabeauli@FREENET.CALGARY.AB.CA>

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.A32.3.93.970811093157.37708F-100000@srv1.freenet.calgary.ab.ca>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

On Mon, 11 Aug 1997, Derek A. Beaulieu wrote:

 

> from what i understand from r.whitehead, d.brinkley in fact has been

> picked to edit 2 volumes of jack kerouac's selected journals, and NOT a

> new biography.

> yrs

> derek

>

 

One of the Burroughs obits I read quoted Brinkley and referred to him as

"who is writing the authorized Kerouac biography"

 

Maybe he'sdoing the bio and the journals?

 

RJW

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 14:18:05 EDT

Reply-To:     Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Organization: Brooklyn College Library

Subject:      Burroughs Obit

 

Attached is a Burroughs obit from this week's German magazine, Der

Spiegel. (http://www.spiegel.de)  I replaced the umlauted letters by

ae, oe, ue, etc. to make it readable.

 

Fred

 

 

 

 

NACHRUF

 

William S. Burroughs

 

1914 bis 1997

 

Natuerlich konnte man mit Bill Burroughs auch ueber Literatur

reden oder ueber Moebelpolitur oder Popmusik, denn er war ein

hoeflicher Mensch. Seine schleppende, monotone Stimme verriet

kultiviertes Desinteresse. Doch wenn das Gespraech auf Waffen

kam, gewann sie an Farbe.

 

Dann wurde klar: Nicht Doyen des amerikanischen Underground oder

Pate des Punks oder respektiertes Akademie-Mitglied, sondern

Marshall in Dodge City - das waere wohl seine Lieblingsrolle

gewesen. Das oder der Schurke am anderen Strassenende. Die

Grenzen zwischen Gut und Boese haben ihn ohnehin nie sonderlich

interessiert. Geistesgegenwart, darauf kam es ihm an.

 

William S. Burroughs wusste die eigenen Qualitaeten illusionslos

einzuschaetzen. "Mit Doc Holliday koennte ich es noch allemal

aufnehmen", sagte er bei einer Probeschiesserei auf seiner Ranch

in Kansas.

 

Bill Burroughs, die aeusserste Avantgarde, die sich die

amerikanische Literatur in diesem Jahrhundert leistete, war

gleichzeitig so amerikanisch wie Cornflakes. Er war Mitglied der

erzreaktionaeren "National Rifle Association" und fuehlte sich

wohl unter den Rednecks in Kansas, wo er vorvergangene Woche

83jaehrig an Herzversagen starb.

 

Er kannte die Mythen und Legenden um den O. K. Corral in- und

auswendig, und bevor er in die Tempel und Seminarraeume der

Literaturwissenschaftler einzog, bewohnte er den Kosmos der

Groschenhefte. Er war der Harvard-Zoegling mit Leidenschaft fuer

das Triviale. Der Kronprinz einer Industriellenfamilie, der in

den Fixerszenen von New Orleans, London und Tanger zu Hause war.

Er war ein merkwuerdig zugeknoepfter Reisender mit der Vorliebe

fuer Schmutz und Schund aller Art. Zudem war er schwul. Im Grunde

war Burroughs der Alptraum der amerikanischen Gesellschaft - weil

er aus ihrer innersten Mitte stammte.

 

In den Beatnik-Zirkeln um Ginsberg und Kerouac, die er Mitte der

vierziger Jahre kennenlernte, wirkte er wie ein Fremder. Es gibt

selbst in diesen fruehen Jahren kaum ein Foto, auf dem er

laechelt - und so blieb sein Gesicht eine unerschuetterliche

Buster-Keaton-Miene zum boesen Spiel des Jahrhunderts. Er

heiratete zweimal. Die erste Frau war eine deutsche Juedin, der

er mit der Ehe die Einwanderung ermoeglichte. Die zweite Frau

erschoss er waehrend einer drogenberauschten Party. Restlos

konnte nie geklaert werden, ob der Unfall tatsaechlich ein Unfall

war. Burroughs gab kurz nach der Tat ein Gestaendnis ab, das er

spaeter widerrief.

 

Der Skandal jedoch verlieh ihm jenen duesteren Glanz, der ihn

spaeter zur schwarzromantischen Pop-Ikone machte: Er war der

schriftstellernde Outlaw, der Revolverheld mit der

Schreibmaschine, der sich um die Gesetze nicht sonderlich

kuemmerte, weder um die des Lebens noch um die der Literatur.

 

Schon als Junge hatte Burroughs von einer literarischen Karriere

aus absolut ausserliterarischen Gruenden getraeumt. Er wollte

schreiben, "weil Schriftsteller reich und beruehmt waren, in

Singapur und Rangun herumhingen, gelbe Seidenanzuege trugen und

Opium rauchten oder Haschisch in den Vierteln der Einheimischen

von Tanger und dabei eine zahme Gazelle streichelten".

 

Er hat es gehabt, das Rauschgift und die Gazellen und spaeter den

Ruhm und den Reichtum, doch es war ein langer Weg dahin, und zu

den erstaunlichsten Leistungen Burroughs' gehoert wohl seine

schiere Langlebigkeit. Jahrzehntelang hing er an der Nadel, er

stieg aus und wieder ein und wieder aus und stieg um auf andere

Drogen und strapazierte seinen Koerper bis an die Grenze. Doch

als er starb, hatte er die meisten seiner Weggefaehrten

ueberlebt, Ginsberg und Neal Cassady und Timothy Leary und

Kerouac sowieso.

 

Sein Debuet-Roman "Junkie" erschien 1953 als billiges Paperback,

ein Hoellenbuch ueber die Logistik der Drogenbeschaffung, den

Horror der kalten Entzuege, wohl sein lesbarstes Buch. Beruehmt

wurde er jedoch durch die Phantasmagorien aus "Naked Lunch"

(1959), diesem obszoenen, halluzinogenen Groschenroman um Dr.

"Fingers" Schafer, "Lobotomy Kid" und William Lee, der zugleich

eine ueberbordende Gesellschaftssatire ist.

 

Ueber die Erfindung der darin zum ersten Male angewandten

beruehmten Cut-up-Methode sind verschiedene Versionen im Umlauf,

und eine davon, nicht die unwahrscheinlichste, ist banal. Im

Drogendaemmer, inmitten zerfledderter Manuskriptseiten, soll er

in einem Hotelzimmer auf seine Fuesse gestarrt haben, als

Ginsberg ihn aufstoeberte und die Texte wahllos zusammenstapelte.

Spaeter fand Burroughs die Zufallsreihung hoechst interessant.

Daraufhin zerschnitt er die Seiten und puzzelte sie neu zusammen.

 

"Naked Lunch" wurde wegen seiner pornographischen Passagen zum

Skandalerfolg und wegen seiner Neologismen und

Hieronymus-Bosch-Visionen zum Steinbruch fuer Popgruppen, die aus

ihm und den Folgeromanen ihre Namen entliehen, "Steely Dan" oder

"Soft Machine", und andere Gruppen nannten ihre Musik "Heavy

Metal".

 

Doch Burroughs interessierte sich kaum fuer das ganze

Rocktheater. Er war kein Weltverbesserer wie Ginsberg, kein

dionysischer Schwaermer wie Kerouac. Tief im Innersten hielt er

die Beatnik-Pose und das nachfolgende Pop-Getue wohl fuer

Kinderkram.

 

Seine letzten Jahre lebte er diszipliniert. Er stand frueh auf,

fuetterte die Katzen, schrieb. Den ersten Wodka genehmigte er

sich nie vor vier Uhr nachmittags. Ab und zu besuchte er seinen

alten Waffenbruder Fred, um zu schiessen.

 

Er war der Deputy-Marshall, und er hat sich lang gehalten, bis es

ihn endlich doch noch erwischte.

 

DER SPIEGEL 33/1997

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 20:45:59 +0200

Reply-To:     paul caspers <caspers@WORLDONLINE.NL>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         paul caspers <caspers@WORLDONLINE.NL>

Subject:      kerouac letters

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Hello you,

 

does anyone know if another volume of kerouac's letters will be published ??

also, was -my education- wsb' last book or not ??

3) how many pages does wsb' penguin paperback edition of the selected

letters run ??

it's hard to get in holland...

 

please reply personally also, since i'm off the beat list !!

thanks,

p a u l

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 15:49:15 -0400

Reply-To:     Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Michael Stutz <stutz@DSL.ORG>

Subject:      Re: (no subject)

Comments: To: Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

In-Reply-To:  <33EE8B80.2818@sunflower.com>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Patricia Elliott wrote:

 

> the comments on the service thing for william was

> the last words written in his diary on the 1st.

 

i take it his diary was where the "he wrote most every day" work all went

into, where most of his recent writings (past several years? decade? more?)

went. i may be asking a little early but has anyone heard if this will be

published any time soon?

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 15:09:53 -0500

Reply-To:     Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Subject:      Re: (no subject)

Comments: To: Michael Stutz <stutz@dsl.org>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Michael Stutz wrote:

>

> On Sun, 10 Aug 1997, Patricia Elliott wrote:

>

> > the comments on the service thing for william was

> > the last words written in his diary on the 1st.

>

> i take it his diary was where the "he wrote most every day" work all went

> into, where most of his recent writings (past several years? decade? more?)

> went. i may be asking a little early but has anyone heard if this will be

> published any time soon?

 

I have no idea,

p

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 19:17:38 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      Re: Authorized Kerouac Bio

Comments: To: "Derek A. Beaulieu" <dabeauli@FREENET.CALGARY.AB.CA>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Derek A. Beaulieu wrote:

 

> from what i understand from r.whitehead, d.brinkley in fact has been

> picked to edit 2 volumes of jack kerouac's selected journals, and NOT

> a

> new biography.

> yrs

> derek

 

I'll take that.  In fact it might even be a better project than another

biography.

 

> <snip>

 

 

 

--

 

Peace,

 

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 16:25:11 -0700

Reply-To:     "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Subject:      Black Rider (The Freeshooter)

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

I guess Burroughs wrote a musical called the Black Rider.  I'm wondering

what Jolson numbers are in it.

 

I saw this article in the South China Morning Post

 

________

 

Friday  August 8  1997

 

                Arts

                 The rider in the storm

 

 

                VICTORIA FINLAY

                When William Burroughs died earlier this week at

                the age of 83, the question many people asked was

                not why he died, but why he lived so long.

 

                Burroughs, born in St Louis in 1914, was a

                non-conformist who said "yes" to drugs, and was

                known for a reckless, dangerous anarchism that

                was as much a part of his life as of his writing.

 

                Perhaps his most publicised, and certainly his most

                tragic, stunt, was his fatal attempt to re-enact the

                legend of William Tell at a party above a bar in

                Mexico City in 1951. The writer, drunk, pulled out

                a gun and a glass. Placing the latter on the head of

                his wife, Joan, he asked fellow partiers to imagine it

                was an apple, and fired. He missed the glass and

                killed Joan.

 

                The Mexican police did not press charges. It was

                rumoured money was paid.

 

                Four decades on, with the collaboration of director

                Robert Wilson and singer-composer Tom Waits,

                Burroughs wrote a musical.

 

                It was based partly on Weber's Der Freischutz

                ("the free shooter") about a man who made a pact

                with the devil to become the marksman his girlfriend

                dreamed of. But it was based mainly on his own

                experience above that Mexican bar.

 

                The Black Rider will be one of the highlights of the

                Hong Kong Arts Festival next February.

 

                This is not, we can be sure, a musical after the

                tradition of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron

                Mackintosh. And it is certainly not of the pastel

                school of The Sound of Music which played to

                mixed reactions at the Academy for Performing

                Arts this summer.

 

                The Black Rider, with its illuminated rifle that floats

                and flies, its avant-garde lighting effects (a Wilson

                trademark), and its black humour, has instead been

                given many labels, including "hallucinatory", "almost

                unclassifiable" and "a masterpiece".

 

                Plenty of bloody cadavers, black boxes, and

                rousing Al Jolson numbers at the tragic turns of the

                plot.

 

                While, with Los Angeles Opera's Salome the Arts

                Festival has gone for a more classical operatic

                choice next year, they can already be commended

                for continuing in a series of daring musical theatre

                that began in 1996 with Robert Lepage's

                Bluebeard's Castle, and continued this year with

                Tan Dun's Marco Polo.

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 19:04:17 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      We've had the builders in...

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Here's another forward from Gerald Houghton.  Seems to be an intelligent

man with lots in the know department.  Anybody know about the U2 video and

Burroughs??

 

Douglas

 

 

<< start of forwarded material >>

 

 

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 23:22:11 +0100

To: runner <babu@electriciti.com>

From: houghtong@globalnet.co.uk (Gerald Houghton)

Subject: We've had the builders in...

 

I shall look around there and see what I shall see. It's irritating the way

that the death is annouced and then...nothing. It's like you don't get the

sense of closure to the story. Only when the great Derek Jarman died did we

get the end we needed.

 

One of the things that irritated me most in the obits for WSB was the

singular lack of any acknowledgement that his work was at all FUNNY. Lots of

reverence about cut-up techniques (often mis-credited, as per usual) and the

rest, but nothing about how funny a book like 'Naked Lunch' is, or something

like 'Just Say No To Drug Hysteria'. His contributions to spoken word were

equally ignored. You can't say it all maybe, but...

 

Here's a question - it was heavily reported that WSB appeared in the latest

U2 video. I saw a picture of him on the set with them in a magazine. But

every time the videos on TV it's cut-off before, I assume, he appears. Any

idea if he really is in there?

 

 

>

>>

>>

>> Gerald Houghton

>> e-mail: houghtong@globalnet.co.uk

>> The Edge magazine homepage:

>> http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~houghtong/edge1.htm

 

 

<< end of forwarded material >>

 

 

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 19:08:20 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      I'm not paranoid but...

Comments: cc: houghtong@globalnet.co.uk

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Another snip of a message from Gerald Houghton of the JG Ballard list.

Sorry to have inundated you folx with messages from other lists, but I find

it fascinating to hear the round-all concerning WSB.   I'd be interested in

hearing/reading about the Ralph Steadman collaboration too.  Anybody have

any news?

 

Douglas

 

<< start of forwarded material >>

 

Date: Sun, 10 Aug 1997 23:12:14 +0100

To: runner <babu@electriciti.com>

From: houghtong@globalnet.co.uk (Gerald Houghton)

Subject: I'm not paranoid but...

 

<snip>

 

WSB's death came as a real shock last Sunday dinnertime when it was annouced

on Radio 4 over here. One of those deaths you just never expected - like

when film-maker K. Kieslowski died last year.

 

They spoke to artist Ralph Steadman about his collaboration with WSB.

Steadman also wrote an excellent piece in 'The Guardian' this past week

about meeting/working with Burroughs.

 

There have also been two cartoons about his death too. One in - yup, 'The

Guardian' - about arresting suspected drug addicts for waring suits and a

trilby. And another about him being buried, um, up the butt of a giant

centipede...

 

I collected all the obits for the man I could find - odd how they

contridicted each other over Joan's death and how not one mentioned the book

of letters published the other year that I (and I believe author Will Self)

think of as his true masterpiece. All the obits were at least sympathetic

except for 'The Times' which seemed to grudgingly admit he merited coverage

but thought he was essentially crap. Noticeably no one put their name to the

piece. Go figure.

 

 

Gerald Houghton

e-mail: houghtong@globalnet.co.uk

The Edge magazine homepage:

http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~houghtong/edge1.htm

 

 

<< end of forwarded material >>

 

 

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 19:29:11 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Re: Harry Anslinger Rides Again

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Beat-L folks.

 

This is not directly related to Beat topics, but those of you who have

been arguing drug and freedom of chemical choice issues may want to

watch the way in which Att. Gen. Reno and the Clinton troops are doing

their best imitation of the great marijuana-phobe Harry Anslinger with

regard to GHB.  This substance, which is present in every cell of your

body, and which used to be sold in health food stores in the US and is

still available over the counter in most of Europe is being demonized as

a "date rape" drug and great pressure is being exerted to schedule it as

a Class 1 or Class 2 substance.  Since the FDA could not win in court

they have turned the battle to the media and state legislatures.  The

great "date rape" drug has historically been booze.    But the drug

haters and the drug companies have a terrible problem with any compound

that some people find fun, which tends to relax a person and is helpful

for inducing sleep.  Legal sanctions help keep law enforcement

entertained and the jails full.

 

For more info those interested might check this site from the Cognitive

Enhancement Research Institute.

 

J. Stauffer

 

http://www.ceri.com/feature.htm

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 23:16:40 -0700

Reply-To:     mike@buchenroth.com

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael L. Buchenroth" <mike@BUCHENROTH.COM>

Organization: Buchenroth Publishing Company

Subject:      Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------69E1B112370"

 

This is a multi-part message in MIME format.

 

--------------69E1B112370

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Last Saturday morning (Friday night) I read an article / bio / slam /

insulting and frightening propaganda bullshit narrowly filtered opinion

in the "Wall Street Journal" about Burroughs and the Beats, etc.

***

This Roger Kimball guy has eaten Fruity Pebbles everyday of his life

since his 4th birthday when his great grandmother, A. Puritan, gave him

his first box as a gift. He measures precisely 1/2 cup of 2% each day.

And all this time, he has used the same licked-worn spoon too. He likes

to lick the tarnish from that clad silver plated zink, lead, and steel

alloy spoon. Ole Roger seems just a few licks short of bacon and eggs.

Roger so loves his Fruity Pebbles...

-Mike

***

This piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Friday August 8, 1997 .

. .

Read it and weep!

The Dark Ages Lurk, yet!

 

The Death of Decency

 

By ROGER KIMBALL

It has been a bad year for famous drugabusing literary charlatans. In

April, the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg-author of "Howl" (1956) and

innumerable other paeans to pharmacological and sexual excess-died of

liver cancer at the age of 70. On Aug. 2, the Beat novelist William S.

Burroughs succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 83. Considering the

way they abused themselves - especially Burroughs, who was addicted to

heroin for some 15 years-it is hard not to admire their robust

constitutions.

        It is even harder, though, to admire anything else about the life or

work of either. Both specialized in pretentious, proselytizing

pornography: Ginsberg of an incense-burning, pseudo-Whitmanesque sort,

Burroughs of a much grittier, sadomasochistic variety. There are few

poems by Ginsberg that could be quoted whole in this newspaper; I doubt

whether any page of "Naked Lunch," Burroughs's celebrated 1959 fantasy

about a violent, drugridden sexual underworld, could be. A generous

person might be tempted to describe the accumulated literary value of

both writers as null. But that would be grossly unfair to nullity. The

poet Edith Sitwell came closer to the truth when she described "Naked

Lunch" as "psychopathological filth."

        How, then, can we explain the extent to which Ginsberg and Burroughs

have been lionized by the media and the academic literary establishment?

Anyone who read the obituaries these men received-especially Ginsberg,

who got lavish, front-page treatment almost everywhere-might be tricked

into thinking that they were important literary figures. In the early

1990s, Stanford University paid $1 million for Ginsberg's papers. His

works are published by prestigious houses and are studied in classrooms

across the country. Ditto for Burroughs. The word "genius" is routinely

applied to both. So is "transgressive"--a term that, tellingly, has

emerged as a favorite word of praise among addicts of the "cutting

edge."

        I agree that Ginsberg and Burroughs were "transgressive." But is that a

good thing? After all, Saddam Hussein is "transgressire" too. The

obituary of Burroroughs in The New York Times informed readers that "he

spent years experimenting with drugs as well as with sex, which he

engaged in with men, women, and children." Note the word

"experimenting," as if Burroughs were engaged in some sort of of

scientific inquiry rather than straight-foraward abuse of hard drugs and

sordid sexual debauchery.

        Burroughs committed his most clearly transgressive act in Mexico in

1951. Although predominantly homosexual, he had married and fathered a

son. Drunk at a party, he took out a handgun and announced to his wife

that it was time for their William Tell act. When he tried to shoot a

glass off her head, he missed and killed her. As one obituary put it,

"the circumstances of the killing were never fully investigated, and

Burroughs fled Mexico City for South America rather than stand trial."

        Burroughs is often praised for his "humor." But as far as I can tell,

there is only one genuinely funny sentence in "Naked Lunch," and its

humor is inadvertent. "Certain passages in the book that have been

called pornographic," Burroughs wrote in a preface, "were written as a

tract against Capital Punishment in the manner of Jonathan Swift's

'Modest Proposal.'"

        Burroughs wasn't alone in invoking the author of "Gulliver's Travels."

Burroughs's fellow Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote that his friend was

"the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift." In 1963, the

critic and novelist Mary McCarthy solemnly said there were "many points

of comparison" between the two, and concluded that, "like a classical

satirist, Burroughs is dead serious--a reformer."

        But McCarthy was wrong. Burroughs was not a reformer. Unlike Swift, he

had no ideal to oppose to the degradation his books depicted. On William

Burroughs the contrary, he was a cynical opportunist who realized that

calling his work "satire" could help exempt it from legal action. An

obituary in The Village Voice described Burroughs as "utterly paranoid

and utterly moral." That is exactly half right.

        It is significant that the careers of both Ginsberg and Burroughs began

with an obscenity trial, Ginsberg with "'Howl" in 1957, Burroughs with

"Naked Lunch" in 1962. Ira Silverberg, a publicist for Burroughs, is

quoted as saying that "William Burroughs opened the door for supporters

of freedom of expression." In fact, Burroughs helped open the door on

the public acceptance and academic adulation of violent, dehumanizing

pornography as a protected form of free speech.

        As Rochelle Gurstein pointed out in "The Repeal of Reticence," her

astute book about free speech and obscenity, "it is a sign of our time

that this ready-made plea for freedom of choice, and the dismissal of

standards as a form of cultural imperialism, is automatically offered

not only on behalf of commercial entertainment but also for obscene art

and pornography."

        As Ms. Gurstein shows, it was not until the 1950s that the question of

obscenity was cast as a First Amendment issue. Until then, free speech

had been explicitly excluded by the courts as a defense for trafficking

in obscene materials. The problem was not defining obscenity--about

which there was wide agreement--but in assessing the degree of public

harm the circulation of certain materials might be expected to cause.

"Obscenity was successfully regulated," she notes, "because there was

broad consensus about indecency, rooted in the old standards of the

reticent sensibility."

        That consensus has long since dissolved, along with the moral

sensibility that supported it. In this sense, Allen Ginsberg, William

Burroughs. and the rest of the Beats really do mark an important moment

in American culture, not as one of its achievements, but as a grievous

example of its degeneration. The Village Voice observed that, when it

came to appreciating his nihilism, "the culture had finally caught up

with" Burroughs. Sadly, that couldn't be more accurate.

 

    Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion.

 

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

 

Peter R. Kann                       Kenneth L. Burenga

Chairman & Publisher                President

 

Paul E. Steiger                         Robert L. Bartley

Managing Editor                         Editor

Byron E. Calame                         Daniel Hemfinger

Daniel Hertzberg                        Deputy Editor,

Deputy Managing Editors                 Editorial Page

 

                      Vice Presidents

Danforth W. Austin                       General Manager

Paul C. Atkinson                         AdVertising

William E. Casey Jr.                     Circulation

Michael F. Sheehan                       Production

Charles F. Russell                       Technology

F, Thomas Kull Jr.                       Operations

 

Published since 1889 by

 

DOWJONES & COMPANY

 

Peter R. Kann, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer; Kenneth L. Burenga,

President & Chief Operating

Officer; CEO, Dew Jones Markets.

Senior Vice Presidents: James H. Oftaway Jr.,

Chairman, Ottaway Newspapers, President,

Magazines; Peter G. Skinner, General Counsel,

President, Television; Carl M. Valenti, Teetmology &

Affiliates, President/Publisher, Newswires.

Vice Presidents/Operating Groups: Karen Elliott House, President,

International; Dorothea Cocoeli Palshe, President, Interactive

Publishing.

 

Vice Presidents: Kevin J. Roehe, Chief Financial Officer; Julian B.

Childs, Markets; Paul J. Ingrassia, Richard J. Levino, Newswires; James

A. Scaduto, Employee Relations; David E. Moran, Law.

 

EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTEES: 200 Liberty

Street, New York, N.Y. 10281. Telephone (212) 416-2000.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Call 1-800-JOURNAL, or see

 

--------------69E1B112370

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; name="Asshole.txt"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Content-Disposition: inline; filename="Asshole.txt"

 

This piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Friday August 8, 1997 . . .

Read it and weep!

The Dark Ages Lurk, yet!

 

The Death of Decency

 

By ROGER KIMBALL

It has been a bad year for famous drugabusing literary charlatans. In April, the

 Beat poet Allen Ginsberg-author of "Howl" (1956) and innumerable other paeans

 to pharmacological and sexual excess-died of liver cancer at the age of 70. On

 Aug. 2, the Beat novelist William S. Burroughs succumbed to a heart attack at

 the age of 83. Considering the way they abused themselves - especially

 Burroughs, who was addicted to heroin for some 15 years-it is hard not to

 admire their robust constitutions.

        It is even harder, though, to admire anything else about the life or work of

 either. Both specialized in pretentious, proselytizing pornography: Ginsberg of

 an incense-burning, pseudo-Whitmanesque sort, Burroughs of a much grittier,

 sadomasochistic variety. There are few poems by Ginsberg that could be quoted

 whole in this newspaper; I doubt whether any page of "Naked Lunch," Burroughs's

 celebrated 1959 fantasy about a violent, drugridden sexual underworld, could

 be. A generous person might be tempted to describe the accumulated literary

 value of both writers as null. But that would be grossly unfair to nullity. The

 poet Edith Sitwell came closer to the truth when she described "Naked Lunch" as

 "psychopathological filth."

        How, then, can we explain the extent to which Ginsberg and Burroughs have been

 lionized by the media and the academic literary establishment? Anyone who read

 the obituaries these men received-especially Ginsberg, who got lavish,

 front-page treatment almost everywhere-might be tricked into thinking that they

 were important literary figures. In the early 1990s, Stanford University paid

 $1 million for Ginsberg's papers. His works are published by prestigious houses

 and are studied in classrooms across the country. Ditto for Burroughs. The word

 "genius" is routinely applied to both. So is "transgressive"--a term that,

 tellingly, has emerged as a favorite word of praise among addicts of the

 "cutting edge."

        I agree that Ginsberg and Burroughs were "transgressive." But is that a good

 thing? After all, Saddam Hussein is "transgressire" too. The obituary of

 Burroroughs in The New York Times informed readers that "he spent years

 experimenting with drugs as well as with sex, which he engaged in with men,

 women, and children." Note the word "experimenting," as if Burroughs were

 engaged in some sort of of scientific inquiry rather than straight-foraward

 abuse of hard drugs and sordid sexual debauchery.

        Burroughs committed his most clearly transgressive act in Mexico in 1951.

 Although predominantly homosexual, he had married and fathered a son. Drunk at

 a party, he took out a handgun and announced to his wife that it was time for

 their William Tell act. When he tried to shoot a glass off her head, he missed

 and killed her. As one obituary put it, "the circumstances of the killing were

 never fully investigated, and Burroughs fled Mexico City for South America

 rather than stand trial."

        Burroughs is often praised for his "humor." But as far as I can tell, there is

 only one genuinely funny sentence in "Naked Lunch," and its humor is

 inadvertent. "Certain passages in the book that have been called pornographic,"

 Burroughs wrote in a preface, "were written as a tract against Capital

 Punishment in the manner of Jonathan Swift's 'Modest Proposal.'"

        Burroughs wasn't alone in invoking the author of "Gulliver's Travels."

 Burroughs's fellow Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote that his friend was "the

 greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift." In 1963, the critic and

 novelist Mary McCarthy solemnly said there were "many points of comparison"

 between the two, and concluded that, "like a classical satirist, Burroughs is

 dead serious--a reformer."

        But McCarthy was wrong. Burroughs was not a reformer. Unlike Swift, he had no

 ideal to oppose to the degradation his books depicted. On William Burroughs the

 contrary, he was a cynical opportunist who realized that calling his work

 "satire" could help exempt it from legal action. An obituary in The Village

 Voice described Burroughs as "utterly paranoid and utterly moral." That is

 exactly half right.

        It is significant that the careers of both Ginsberg and Burroughs began with an

 obscenity trial, Ginsberg with "'Howl" in 1957, Burroughs with "Naked Lunch" in

 1962. Ira Silverberg, a publicist for Burroughs, is quoted as saying that

 "William Burroughs opened the door for supporters of freedom of expression." In

 fact, Burroughs helped open the door on the public acceptance and academic

 adulation of violent, dehumanizing pornography as a protected form of free

 speech.

        As Rochelle Gurstein pointed out in "The Repeal of Reticence," her astute book

 about free speech and obscenity, "it is a sign of our time that this ready-made

 plea for freedom of choice, and the dismissal of standards as a form of

 cultural imperialism, is automatically offered not only on behalf of commercial

 entertainment but also for obscene art and pornography."

        As Ms. Gurstein shows, it was not until the 1950s that the question of

 obscenity was cast as a First Amendment issue. Until then, free speech had been

 explicitly excluded by the courts as a defense for trafficking in obscene

 materials. The problem was not defining obscenity--about which there was wide

 agreement--but in assessing the degree of public harm the circulation of

 certain materials might be expected to cause. "Obscenity was successfully

 regulated," she notes, "because there was broad consensus about indecency,

 rooted in the old standards of the reticent sensibility."

        That consensus has long since dissolved, along with the moral sensibility that

 supported it. In this sense, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs. and the rest of

 the Beats really do mark an important moment in American culture, not as one of

 its achievements, but as a grievous example of its degeneration. The Village

 Voice observed that, when it came to appreciating his nihilism, "the culture

 had finally caught up with" Burroughs. Sadly, that couldn't be more accurate.

 

    Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion.

 

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

 

Peter R. Kann                       Kenneth L. Burenga

Chairman & Publisher                President

 

Paul E. Steiger                         Robert L. Bartley

Managing Editor                         Editor

Byron E. Calame                         Daniel Hemfinger

Daniel Hertzberg                        Deputy Editor,

Deputy Managing Editors                 Editorial Page

 

                      Vice Presidents

Danforth W. Austin                       General Manager

Paul C. Atkinson                         AdVertising

William E. Casey Jr.                     Circulation

Michael F. Sheehan                       Production

Charles F. Russell                       Technology

F, Thomas Kull Jr.                       Operations

 

Published since 1889 by

 

DOWJONES & COMPANY

 

Peter R. Kann, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer; Kenneth L. Burenga, President

 & Chief Operating

Officer; CEO, Dew Jones Markets.

Senior Vice Presidents: James H. Oftaway Jr.,

Chairman, Ottaway Newspapers, President,

Magazines; Peter G. Skinner, General Counsel,

President, Television; Carl M. Valenti, Teetmology &

Affiliates, President/Publisher, Newswires.

Vice Presidents/Operating Groups: Karen Elliott House, President, International;

 Dorothea Cocoeli Palshe, President, Interactive Publishing.

 

Vice Presidents: Kevin J. Roehe, Chief Financial Officer; Julian B. Childs,

 Markets; Paul J. Ingrassia, Richard J. Levino, Newswires; James A. Scaduto,

 Employee Relations; David E. Moran, Law.

 

EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTEES: 200 Liberty

Street, New York, N.Y. 10281. Telephone (212) 416-2000.

SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Call 1-800-JOURNAL, or see

 

 

 

--------------69E1B112370--

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 06:00:57 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

 

>Return-Path: <bofus@fcom.com>

>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 06:34:48 -0800

>From: bofus? <bofus@fcom.com>

>To: bofus@fcom.com

>Subject: q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

>

>William Burroughs I-View (w/Lee Ranaldo)

>

>9 April 1997

>

>TAPE TRANSCRIPTION

>

>

>

>Loud dial tone and faint "Hello, hello?"

>

>Silence

>

>Touch tone phone tones

>

>ringing 5 or 6 times

>

>WSB:  eh, Hello?

>

>LR:  Is this William?

>

>WSB:  Yeh.

>

>LR:  Hi William, this is Lee Ranaldo in New York City.

>

>WSB:  Yeah.

>

>LR:  How are ya?

>

>WSB:  Oh  okay.

>

>LR:  Well you sound pretty good.

>

>WSB:  Uh-huh (TECHNICAL GLITCH-garbled)

>

>LR:  Good. (static) Okay, I hope that my recording equipment is all in

>good form here

>

>LR:  So I wanted to talk to you, for just a few minutes this afternoon,

>about Morocco, if you would

>

>WSB:  Just a moment, I gotta get my drink

>

>LR:  Okay. 25 sec silence

>

>LR:  Hello? loud buzzing

>

>LR:  Hello? rattling

>

>WSB:  OK.

>

>LR:  Okay, first off, William, I'd like to say that I was very sad to

>hear about Allen I know you guys have been friends for the longest time

>

>WSB:  Yes. Yes, well he knew, he knew it. He faced it.

>

>LR:  It seems like he faced it in a very good way, actually.

>

>WSB:  Yep, he told me "I thought I'd be terrified but I'm not at all"

>

>LR:  He did?

>

>WSB:  Yes "I'm exhillerated!"

>

>LR:  Well, I suppose if anyone had the right, uh, frame about them to go

>out that way, it was probably him. I was hoping to get one more visit in

>with him before he uh, he went, uh he passed on, but that was not meant

>to be, I'm sure a lot of people felt the same.

>

>WSB:  mumbles

>

>LR:  When was the last time you saw him?

>

>WSB:  Los Angeles. At my show there.

>

>LR:  I wanted to talk to you about Morocco a little bit.

>

>WSB:  Yeh.

>

>LR:  I've recently been to the country, a few times, and done some

>exploring around, and I know you spent quite a bit of time in Tanger. I

>just wanted to pick yr brain about that a little bit. You went to Tanger

>for the first time in 1953, 1954?

>

>WSB:  Nineteen  Fifty four, I believe.

>

>LR:  Yeah. What what how did you end up in Morocco? What was it about

>the place that drew you there? I mean, today there are a lot of

>different romantic associations with the coast of North Africa

>

>WSB:  There were a lot more then than there are now, I can tell you

>that.

>

>LR:  Really?

>

>WSB:  Well, you'll notice more subdivisions now  as it's modernized and

>is no longer cheap

>

>LR:  Right. But we have the stories of yr time there, and Paul Bowles'

>time there, and such things as Lawrence of Arabia, and it's built up in

>a very romantic way

>

>WSB:  In other words for one thing, it was very cheap.

>

>LR:  It was very cheap?

>

>WSB:  Yeah, man, I lived like a king for $200 a month.

>

>LR:  Really?

>

>WSB:  Yeh.

>

>LR:  Did it have the same sort of appeal, then, that Berlin had in the

>70's, of being a sort of international zone, where anything goes?

>

>WSB:  Pretty much so. It was an anything goes place, and that's another

>plus.

>

>LR:  Yeah. And that was pretty available knowledge, when you went there?

>

>WSB:  Oh sure.

>

>LR:  Had you known Paul Bowles, or known about him, before you went

>there?

>

>WSB:  I'd read his books.

>

>LR:  You did?

>

>WSB:  Yes. I didn't know him.

>

>LR:  Did you meet him fairly quickly after you were there?

>

>WSB:  Mmm, I'd been there for some time, I'd met him very slightly. Then

>later we became quite good friends but that was later, some years later.

>

>LR:  Right. Did you pretty much exist within an expatriate community

>there, or did you have a lot of contact with the local people? Was is

>easy to have contact?

>

>WSB:  The local people umm, I don't speak a fuckin' word of Arabic, but

>I speak a little Spanish y'know, they all spoke Spanish in the Northern

>Zone.

>

>LR:  Yeah.

>

>WSB:  My relations were mostly with the Spanish. Spanish boys. And, of

>course, otherwise in the expatriate side.

>

>LR:  Right, but you didn't frequent the Barbara Hutton crowd?

>

>WSB:  Nooo.

>

>LR:  Did you do much travelling around Morocco while you were there, or

>did you pretty much just stick in Tanger?

>

>WSB:  I'm ashamed to say, not much. I went to Fes, I went to Marrakech,

>and passed through Casablance. Some of the places there I forget the

>names of the coastal towns  and I've been to Jajouka!

>

>LR:  Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about that I'm friendly with Bachir

>Attar, and the last time we were there I went to Jajouka as well

>

>WSB:  Oh did ya?

>

>LR:  I saw your inscriptions in his big scrapbook, and hear some

>stories

>

>WSB:  Yeah.

>

>LR:  What was your impression of that place? How did you end up there?

>Was it through Brion Gysin and the 1001 Nights?

>

>WSB:  More or less, yes.

>

>LR:  What did you make of that place? What did you make of the music?

>

>WSB:  Great, great. Love it. Magic It really has a magical quality that

>you can't find anymore, anywhere. It's dying our everywhere, that

>quality

>

>LR:  It seems to be still there when they play (today), I don't know if

>you've heard them recently

>

>WSB:  Not recently, but I've hear the recordings, some  of the

>recordings. Ornette Colemanmade some, you know. I was there when he made

>those.

>

>LR:  Excuse me?

>

>WSB:  I was there.

>

>LR:  You were there when he made those (Dancing in Your Head)

>recordings?

>

>WSB:  That's right.

>

>LR:  Oh, gee, wasn't that in the 70's?

>

>WSB:  Yeah, it was, '72, I think.

>

>LR:  When was the last time you were back in Morocco?

>

>WSB:  When in the hell was it? I went there with the last time I went

>with Jeremy Thomas and David Cronenberg, apropos of possibly getting

>some shots, y'know

>

>LR:  Oh, for the movie (Naked Lunch)

>

>WSB:  Yeah, for the sets.

>

>LR:  Yeah.

>

>WSB:  Well, we just were there a couple of days.

>

>LR:  Was it anything like you remembered? Had it changed incredibly?

>

>WSB:  Not incredibly but considerably. There's been a lot of building

>up, a lot of sort of sub-divisions, it's gotten more westernized there

>used to be a lot of good restaurants there, now there's only one, and

>that's in the Hotel Minza.

>

>LR:  Right.

>

>WSB:  These people I was with were saying "Oh show me to a little place

>in the native quarter where the food is good " and I said: There aren't

>no such places! Right here in your best food in Morocco, or in Tanger

>anyway, right in the Hotel Minza. Well, they went out and they ate in an

>awful, greasy Spanish restaurant. After that they believed me!

>

>LR:  (laughs)They had to find out the hard way

>

>LR:  What about the 1001 Nights? Were the Jajouka musicians playing in

>there?

>

>WSB:  Well, various musicians. They had dancing boys in there, too.

>

>LR:  Yeah?

>

>WSB:  Yes Oh, but I didn't know Brion too well I was only there a couple

>of times.

>

>LR:  Oh really.

>

>WSB:  I didn't know him then.

>

>LR:  You became friendly with him in Paris, later?

>

>WSB:  That's right.

>

>LR:  The place where you spent a lot of your time there (in Tanger), the

>Muneria?

>

>WSB:  The Hotel Mouneria, yes.

>

>LR:  Was it a hotel or a boarding house?

>

>WSB:  It was a hotel.

>

>LR:  That's where you wrote a lot of the routines that became Naked

>Lunch?

>

>WSB:  Quite a few of them, yes.

>

>LR:  And is that where Kerouac, and Ginsberg, those guys came to visit

>you? Where you living there at that time?

>

>WSB:  I was living there at that time, yes. The didn't there wasn't a

>place in the Mouneria, but they found various cheap places around very

>near there.

>

>LR:  I heard Kerouac had nightmares from typing up your stuff at that

>time

>

>WSB:  (pauses) Well, he said

>

>LR:  Was he the first one to actually sit down and type a buch of that

>stuff up?

>

>WSB:  No, he was by no means the first. Alan Ansen did a lot of typing,

>and of course Allen Ginsberg. I don't know who was first but it wasn't

>Jack.

>

>LR:  Those guys came and went pretty quickly, compared to your time in

>Morocco I guess they weren't as enamoured of the place

>

>WSB:  Well they were settled somewhere else. Now for example, Jack

>didn't like any place outside of America he hated Tanger.

>

>LR:  I wonder why?

>

>WSB:  He hated Paris because they couldn't understand is French.

>

>LR:  His French ws a dialect

>

>WSB:  Those French Canadians got themselves into a language ghetto.

>Evnet he French people don't speak their language. Anyway, he'd been to

>Mexico quite a lot, more than many other places.

>

>LR:  He liked it there

>

>WSB:  Fairly well.

>

>LR:  But he didn't like it very much in Tanger?

>

>WSB:  No no, not at all.

>

>LR:  I'd like to hear your impressions of the kif smoking there, and the

>majoun

>

>WSB:  Sure. Well, the kif smoking was, y'know, anywhere and everywhere.

>There were no laws

>

>LR:  They sort of smoke it the way people have a drink here, don't they?

>

>WSB:  Well, not exactly the same way. In the first place it's pretty

>much confined to men, thought i suppose the women get to smoke on their

>own. but anyway, of course majoun is just a cany mad from kif the kif,

>you see, is mixed with tobacco

>

>LR:  Right.

>

>WSB:  I can't smoke it.

>

>LR:  Nope.

>

>WSB:  So I'd always get those boys with the tobacco, I'd tell 'em: "I

>don't want the tobacco in it". So I rolled my own, and made my own

>majoun. It's just a candy, it's pretty much like a Christmas Pudding any

>sort of candy is good, works, fudge or whatever.

>

>LR:  And how did you find it? Was it a high that was pretty pleasing?

>

>WSB:  Very very very much. It was stronger than pot.

>

>LR:  Were you smoking a lot of that, or taking a lot of that, when you

>were writing some of the routines?

>

>WSB:  Yeah, sure. It helped me alot.

>

>LR:  Was Tanger a violent place then?

>

>WSB:  It was never a violent place that I know of.

>

>LR:  No?

>

>WSB:  Never good god I walked around in Tanger at all hours of the day

>and night, never any trouble.

>

>LR:  Really?

>

>WSB:  Yeah, there's always stuff about, the idea that you go into the

>native quartier you immediately get stabbed laughs it's nonsense!

>

>LR:  Well, people do bring back those stories now and again

>

>WSB:  Well, occasionally it happens, but it is much less dangerous that

>certain areas of New York my God!

>

>LR:  That's exactly how I likened it, when I was there if you can walk

>down the streets of New York you're in pretty good stead.

>

>WSB:  Yeah, that's right, you're much better in Tanger than in New York.

>

>LR:  There was a description, In Barry Miles book, wehre he said that

>when you got there you felt very lonely and cut off, being sort of

>isolated in this corner of North Africa

>

>WSB:  It wasn't the corner of North Africa, it was the fact that I

>hadn't made many friends there.

>

>LR:  Was that a strange time for you? Living there without really

>knowing anyone?

>

>WSB:  Not particularly, I've visited many times, many places.

>

>LR:  Do you think that the gereral tenor of life in Morocco influenced

>the way ou were writing at that point? The daily life coming out in some

>of the routines?

>

>WSB:  Probably. The more I was in that surrounding the more I liked it.

>More and more.

>

>LR:  More and more as you stayed?

>

>WSB:  Yeah it was cheap and then, I met this guy Dave Ulmer (?), who

>was, Barnaby Bliss, he was at work for the man who did a column for

>their Tanger paper English paper run by an old expatriate named Byrd,

>William Byrd, an old Paris expat.

>

>LR:  Were there many tourists in Morocco then?

>

>WSB:  Not many at all.

>

>LR:  That must have been nice.

>

>WSB:  It was nice. In the summer of course you had sometimes quite a few

>Scandinavians, Germans   laughs Brian Howard said about the Swedes, I

>thik it was: "You're all ugly, you're all queer, and none of you have

>any money!"

>

>LR:  Well, you know, that was another quote in Miles book, from you,

>saying that you'd "never seen so many people in one place without any

>money or the prospect of any money "  I guess you could live pretty

>cheaply there?

>

>WSB:  You could live pretty cheaply there, yes.

>

>LR:  At that time did Americans have to register with the police to live

>there?

>

>WSB:  f course not, nothing, they had to do nothing. Well, they put in

>various regulations in town you had to get a card. By the time we got

>our goddamn cards and stood in line and had to take all that crap I had

>to get one of those in France, too well, anyway, by that time they had

>another idea (laughs), so your card that you had aquired was worthless

>

>LR:  Were you involved much in the music there? Did you hear a lot of

>music while you were in Tanger did it make any strong impression on you?

>

>WSB:  Well, I like the Moroccan music very much

>

>LR:  It seems to be a very big part of the lifestyle

>

>WSB:  Yes, it is, indeed.

>

>LR:  A lot of music, a lot of kef smoking, a lot of contemplation, in a

>way

>

>WSB:  Yes, well the music in omnipresent. I'd be sitting at my desk and

>hear it outside. It was all around you.

>

>LR:  William, that about covers the subjects I'd wanted to get at you

>with, on there

>

>WSB:  Sure

>

>LR:  I guess your friendship with Bowles started a bit later

>

>WSB:  Yes, it did.

>

>LR:  Do you enjoy his writing?

>

>WSB:  Very much, very much.

>

>LR:  He's got a very interesting style

>

>WSB:  Very particular style particularly in the end of Let It Come Down,

>that's terrific, terrific, and then The Sheltering Sky is almost a

>perfect novel

>

>LR:  Yeah.

>

>WSB:  The end of that, oh man, that quote: "well you turned, stopped it

>was the end of the line " great!

>

>LR:  Did you know Jane (Bowles)?

>

>WSB:  Oh yes, quite well.

>

>LR:  What'd you think of her?

>

>WSB:  Oh she was incredible

>

>LR:  I've heard incredible things about her she lived quite an

>interesting life herself, although I guess in general, in Tanger and

>Morocco, women were very much invisible, in a certain way. Native women.

>

>WSB:  It's a very complicated situation, very complex, and I don't

>pretend to know much about it. Jane Bowles was sort of known for her

>strange behavior. In New York they invited her to some party where all

>these powerful ladies were, and they asked her, "Mrs. Bowles, what do

>you think of all this?", and she said "Oh" and fell to the floor in

>quite a genuine faint.

>

>LR:  That was her answer?

>

>WSB:  That was her answer. She had no (unintelligible).

>

>LR:  Are you still in touch with Bachir?

>

>WSB:  No, not really.

>

>LR:  You were in touch with his father, I suppose

>

>WSB:  Yes, I knew the old man, sure, I remember him.

>

>LR:  He was the leader of the group back then?

>

>WSB:  Yeah.

>

>LR:  How many musicians would you say were in the group back then?

>

>WSB:  Oh, I don't know, it would vary, I'd say about 12, 15.

>

>LR:  That's about how many there still are now.

>

>LR:  Okay William, I think that that's gonna be good.

>

>WSB:  Well fine.

>

>LR:  I appreciate your talking to me, it's a great pleasure to talk to

>you.

>

>WSB:  Well, it's my pleasure too.

>

>LR:  Okay, I hope to get another chance to come out and say hellow to

>you out there in Lawrence

>

>WSB:  Fine.

>

>LR:  Y'know, I have one last question for you

>

>WSB:  Good.

>

>LR:  Is that, uh, typewriter still growing out in your garden?

>

>WSB:  (puzzled) What typewriter?

>

>LR:  Last time we were there you had a typewriter growing in your garden

>amongst all the plants and things

>

>WSB:  Oh, just one I threw away I guess

>

>LR:  Yeah, it was a very beautiful image there, with the weeds coming up

>through the keys

>

>WSB:  (laughs) I guess so I don't remember the typewriter I've gone

>through so many typewriters wear 'em out and throw 'em away.

>

>LR:  Do you generally write with a computer these days?

>

>WSB:  I have no idea how to do it. No, I don't.

>

>LR:  Typewriter or longhand?

>

>WSB:  Typewriter or longhand, yes. These modern inventions! James has

>one, but I just don't.

>

>LR:  Okay, well listen William, I thank you very much. Please tell both

>Jim and James thanks for their help as well.

>

>WSB:  I certainly will.

>

>LR:  Okay, you take care.

>

>WSB:  You too.

>

>LR:  Bye bye.

>

>WSB:  Bye bye.

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 00:16:44 -0400

Reply-To:     Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Subject:      Re: We've had the builders in...

In-Reply-To:  <l03020905b015746d985b@[198.5.212.48]>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

Burroughs is only in the U2 video for 2 or 3 seconds at least.  Right at

the end when the band arrives at the scene of the apocalyptic white light

it is revealed that the light is eminating from a shopping cart with a

spotlight lying in it being pushed by the illustrious William S.

Burroughs wearing dark oldmanwraparound sunglasses.  Video ends with a

freeze on his face and fade out.  A pretty lackluster video all around.

Nothing to get in a fuss over.

 

------------------

Alex Howard  (704)264-8259                    Appalachian State University

kh14586@acs.appstate.edu                      P.O. Box 12149

http://www.acs.appstate.edu/~kh14586          Boone, NC  28608

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 21:19:38 -0700

Reply-To:     "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

Comments: To: mike@buchenroth.com

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

I saw this obit posted to the alt.books.beat-generation newsgroup so had

read it.  But thanks to you for posting it here for everyone to read.

 

One thing I find interesting is this obit in light of an earlier post by

runner who presented comments by someone name Houghton.  Houghton wrote:

"One of the things that irritated me most in the obits for WSB was the

singular lack of any acknowledgement that his work was at all FUNNY."

 

Of note is that this WSJ piece did mention this and the comparisons to Swift

that were made about Burroughs (one by Kerouac).  So in other words here is

an example of an obit that acknowledged that he was funny (or at least that

he was considered funny by his admirers).

 

Believe it or not I think this writer was more familiar and understood

Burroughs work much better than the other obit writers (with exceptions I am

sure) who seemed to have some details and know he was supposed to be

important.  This guy knew who Burroughs was and knew why he was significant.

It's a free country and no one has to like the writings of someone else.

 

 

And on a side note, I like the Chocolate Pebble much more than Fruity ones

but I wouldn't be putting down fruity pebbles.

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 00:34:35 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: U2 universal laugh off ramp

Comments: To: babu@electriciti.com

 

In a message dated 97-08-11 22:00:24 EDT, you write:

 

<< Here's another forward from Gerald Houghton.  Seems to be an intelligent

 man with lots in the know department.  Anybody know about the U2 video and

 Burroughs?? >>

 

Yes..U2 in Kansas City with  B pushing a shopping cart in a traffic jam. He

was on his way there last I saw him. THE FOUR OFF RAMPS OF THE APOCALYPSE

He signed a copy of WL for my son who had been in Missuola, Montana.  B.

     recalled  his fishing there with his father.

Like a true Johnson, he shared his last stuff with me. "It will kick in about

the time you get to Kansas City" and vaya con dios to me and billy as we

drove off.

 

That was early this spring.

 

And yes of course, His midwestern dry wit and humour. Really! if you haven't

had a helluva laugh with B you and readin him.That's what he was all about.

Actually,I heard a lots of things again in his rcorded voice. The old

rounder,  con man, etc.; took 'em into reality and space and then some. He

was part of them,too. As we were looking at one of his mobils, it was

hallucenitory magic of the carny. I felt my experiences upon seeing the great

masters.

 

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 00:52:24 -0400

Reply-To:     Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Billie, Ruth and Ruth...for Diane

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Diane,

 

        Just got my box of goodies (books, CD and Expos's hat!) from Howard

Park and included was the "Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac"

with a very complete map of who's who at the back and a geneology of his

texts.   ...City Lights bookmark too!

 

        Ruth Heaper was Helen Weaver, a girlfriend of Jack's in NYC; Ruth

Erickson was Helen Elliot, a roommate of Helen Weaver's. Billie is Jackie

Gibson Mercier, a mistress on Neal's from San FRancisco and lover of Jack's

during Big Sur. She had a son and wanted Jack to marry her, thus the passage

you quoted.

 

        Couldn't find any reference to Julien, although he used Julien to

refer to Lucien Carr on several in two other books...anyone else know the

answer?

 

                Antoine

 Voice contact at  (514) 933-4956 in Montreal

 

     "An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do!"

                        -- Norman Navrotsky and Utah Phillips

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 00:52:25 -0400

Reply-To:     Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Who the hell is Roger Kimball and what is The New Criterion???

 

Antoine

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 21:53:33 -0700

Reply-To:     "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

In-Reply-To:  <3.0.1.32.19970812060057.00688d50@pop.gpnet.it>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

Thank you, Rinaldo Rasa, for posting your telephone chat with Burroughs -

I had always imagined calling him. WSB sounds a mite tired, but there's

a moment where the old spirit can be heard:

 

On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Rinaldo Rasa wrote:

 

<snip>

 

> WSB:  Well, you'll notice more subdivisions now  as it's modernized

> and is no longer cheap

 

Sharp as a razor.

 

 

 

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

  Michael R. Brown                        foosi@global.california.com

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

 

  "Wittgenstein said that if the universe is pre-recorded, the only thing

   not pre-recorded is those recordings themselves. In my work,

   the cut-ups and all, I attempt to get at the substance of the

   recordings."

                                - William S. Burroughs

                                  (quoted from memory)

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 01:00:19 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Interstate Hell.

Comments: To: babu@electriciti.com

 

Well hell, haven't you noticed the NYT Newmorality speak? Except for science

and research, the language is virtually being replace. Most people in this

country are illiterate anyway (as in reading between the lines). No

inferences 'ferinstance are needed in the Bible, only emotive symbolism of

magical notions, such as the Holy Trinity, etc. So my point is: Who the hell

 they think they're controlling information for...Anyhow? Well, their bodies

are what they still need. Someone's gotta clean the shithouse as it's

exploding. Part of it might be just putting a face on it, y'know 'cause know

one wants to see it. It's pyschotic now, anyhow, out there, I'll tell you. I

just got off an Interstate through hell  How could one live in Scranton, for

example. Toxic behaviorism burning?

C. plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 01:08:44 -0400

Reply-To:     Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Rinaldo,

 

        Where did you get that terrific intervew between Lee Ranaldo and

Burroughs? Ranaldo has done some music by himself away from Sonic Youth that

I really like. The interview was terrific with all the references to Bowles

and the others.

 

        Thanks

 

                Antoine

 Voice contact at  (514) 933-4956 in Montreal

 

     "An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do!"

                        -- Norman Navrotsky and Utah Phillips

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 01:10:29 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Harry Anslinger Rides Again

Comments: To: stauffer@pacbell.net

 

In a message dated 97-08-11 22:28:45 EDT, you write:

 

<< For more info those interested might check this site from the Cognitive

 Enhancement Research Institute.

 

 J. Stauffer

  >>

 

What the hell, they took over my research area for a lousy cover. Bastards!

 

Some day I would like to testify in one of those drug hearings. After letting

them speak the dead language  with their  wooden puppet mouths, I  would lite

up a big reefer and say, "Gentlemen, Watch me get high. Let me know if or

when you see something wrong with me. And when you leave this room, look in

the mirror"

Charles Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 01:18:02 -0400

Reply-To:     Neil Hennessy <nhenness@undergrad.math.uwaterloo.ca>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Neil Hennessy <nhenness@UNDERGRAD.MATH.UWATERLOO.CA>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

In-Reply-To:  <33EFFFC8.5258@buchenroth.com>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

> The Death of Decency

>

> By ROGER KIMBALL

 

> There are few poems by Ginsberg that could be quoted whole in this

> newspaper; I doubt whether any page of "Naked Lunch," Burroughs's

> celebrated 1959 fantasy about a violent, drugridden sexual underworld,

> could be.

 

As if I needed another reason not to read it.

 

> A generous person might be tempted to describe the accumulated literary

> value of both writers as null. But that would be grossly unfair to

> nullity. The poet Edith Sitwell came closer to the truth when she

> described "Naked Lunch" as "psychopathological filth."

 

>From "A Review of the Reviewers":

 

"This reviewer is very tired of so-called critics who would substitute for

criticism invective and insults strung together like so many gibbering

maniacs in an asylum."

 

(Burroughs does fall into the same name-calling here, but in the context

of the essay it comes across as ironic: using their word weapons against

them. In the essay it appears after a similar comment made in a review of

Eterminator!)

 

>         I agree that Ginsberg and Burroughs were "transgressive." But

> is that a good thing? After all, Saddam Hussein is "transgressire" too.

 

See Burroughs via Korzybski on semantics and the all around

meaninglessness of calling someone a "fascist", for instance. This is the

silliest syllogism I've seen in all my life.

 

> Although predominantly homosexual, he had married and fathered a

> son.

 

He married and fathered a son? Wow, I'm my own grandma.

 

>         But McCarthy was wrong.

 

Now which McCarthy is he referring to here? I better check my John Birch

manual.

 

> Burroughs was not a reformer. Unlike Swift, he

> had no ideal to oppose to the degradation his books depicted.

 

Where was the ideal Swift proposed? Must be an apocryphal text that our

esteemed Mr. Kimball is in possession of, unless he figures those wacky

Hhouhynyms (egregiously misspelt) were the ideal.

 

Hmm, he also obviously hasn't read Burroughs' trilogy beginning with

"Cities": Burroughs' exploration of utopian possibities. Burroughs

eventually gives up, but he has a go at it. I guess he failed to notice

the passage in Naked Lunch (I may be making an erroneous assumption here

that Mr. Kimball has read past the atrophied preface he quotes from) which

details the first germination of a possible utopia amongst the carny world

of dystopias:

 

"A cooperative... can live without the state. That is the road to follow.

The building up of independent units to meet the needs of the people who

participate in the functioning of the unit." Naked Lunch pg 154.

 

Sounds rather ideal to me. Of course Burroughs does not develop this idea

at all until we see a glimmer of it in The Wild Boys, and its ultimate

manifestation in Port Roger from Cities. But alas, the Articulated were

doomed because there were just too many shits.

 

> On William

> Burroughs the contrary, he was a cynical opportunist who realized that

> calling his work "satire" could help exempt it from legal action.

 

I seem to recall that Burroughs refused to testify or participate in the

trial on principle, but apparently Mr. Kimball is better acquainted with

Burroughs' defense. I can't remember him calling his own work satire

either. "Picaresque" he has used, in The Adding Machine, and elsewhere,

but that's the closest you'll find to Burroughs' personal genre

classification (unless one counts the "A Fiction in the Form of a Film

Script" appended to the 2nd edition of Dutch Schultz, or "A Novel", the

subtitle of Exterminator!).

 

> Ira Silverberg, a publicist for Burroughs, is

> quoted as saying that "William Burroughs opened the door for supporters

> of freedom of expression." In fact, Burroughs helped open the door on

> the public acceptance and academic adulation of violent, dehumanizing

> pornography as a protected form of free speech.

 

So are we to believe that the people who call Burroughs' writing

"literature" merely read it, but the people like our Mr. Kimball

who call it "pornography" masturbate to it?

 

> "Obscenity was successfully regulated," she notes, "because there was

> broad consensus about indecency, rooted in the old standards of the

> reticent sensibility."

 

Ah, why can't we return to good ole Queen Victoria, so that all the incest

and sado-masochism goes back behind closed doors where it can be ignored.

Anyone here read The Pearl: The Underground Magazine of Victorian

England? Grove published all of them together in one volume; great

look at what went on behind closed doors at Thornfield Hall:

 

Jane: No! No! Rochester sir, I'm the governess, it's a shame to punish me

      so, Oh! Oh! Oh! My God sir, have mercy I beg you!

 

Rochester: You'll learn the mercy of the rod and the birch before I'm

           finished with you, Ms. Eyre, now be silent you impudent hussey.

 

I imagine Mr. Kimball will take on the Oxford English Dictionary next for

including this pornographic entry:

 

   gamahuche ('gaem&schwa.hu:S), v. slang. Also gamaruche. [ad. Fr.

   gamahucher.] trans. To practise fellatio or cunnilingus (with);

   also intr. Also as sb. Hence gamahucher.

   1879-80 Pearl 271 "You may frig and gamahuche and try every plan,

   But fair fucking's the pride of an Englishman."

 

All those pornographers at Oxford and their vulgar pornography... I can

see them now, in their academic robes with the ole John Thomas standing at

attention for all the schoolboys to admire...

 

> THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

> SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Call 1-800-JOURNAL, or see

 

Somebody remind me to renew my subscription.

 

Although this particular obituary writer may come off as possessing a tad

more knowledge than the sum of nil of which the others are in possession,

he is far from accurate in many places, Timothy.

 

In any case, when those of you who are reading The Western Lands get to

the part about the reviewer, you can join me in wishing a door dog on

Roger Kimball.

 

Cheers,

Neil

 

PS I haven't read any newspapers, and have shied away from the slanderous,

misinformed posts on r.m.d. because I just can't help responding,

but defending him against shits really is no way to honour Burroughs'

memory. With that, I end any responses to inaccurate invective.

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 01:36:25 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

Comments: To: foosi@global.california.com

 

In a message dated 97-08-12 01:01:05 EDT, you write:

 

<<  WSB:  Well, you'll notice more subdivisions now  as it's modernized

 > and is no longer cheap

 

 Sharp as a razor. >>

 

In every direction we look....

 

C.Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 23:09:01 -0700

Reply-To:     "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

Comments: To: CVEditions@aol.com

In-Reply-To:  <970812013625_1848781656@emout01.mail.aol.com>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

On Tue, 12 Aug 1997 CVEditions@aol.com wrote:

 

> In a message dated 97-08-12 01:01:05 EDT, you write:

 

> > > WSB:  Well, you'll notice more subdivisions now  as it's

> > > modernized and is no longer cheap

 

> >  Sharp as a razor.

 

> In every direction we look....

 

And in vain. "He was a man. Take him all in all, and all for all, we shall

not see his like again."

 

 

 

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

  Michael R. Brown                        foosi@global.california.com

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

 

  "Wittgenstein said that if the universe is pre-recorded, the only thing

   not pre-recorded is those recordings themselves. In my work,

   the cut-ups and all, I attempt to get at the substance of the

   recordings."

                                - William S. Burroughs

                                  (quoted from memory)

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 23:33:59 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

In-Reply-To:  <33EFFFC8.5258@buchenroth.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

At 11:16 PM -0700 8/11/97, Michael L. Buchenroth wrote:

 

 

>         How, then, can we explain the extent to which Ginsberg and Burroughs

> have been lionized by the media and the academic literary establishment?

 

 

 

                what to do with a drunken sailor

                a drunken sailor

                a drunken sailor

                        early in the morning

 

 

???

 

Douglas

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 23:47:24 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      Re: Interstate Hell.

Comments: To: CVEditions@aol.com

In-Reply-To:  <970812010017_806067399@emout04.mail.aol.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

At 10:00 PM -0700 8/11/97, CVEditions@aol.com wrote:

 

 

> example. Toxic behaviorism burning?

 

am gonna have to think about that one cp

toxic behaviorism burning....

watching this television show tonight

hell, everynight

the charles grodin show, but hosted by E. Jean Carrol

discussion on sex and gender; da ladies da men

 

very funny overall, enlightening in parts

realizing that all the action is in connections

yes, who are they saving information for?

well themselves, of course

 

information wants to be free

men wanna humpback the world

ladies wanna nice dinna

who knows?  yeah, I know

 

 

 

> C. plymell

 

Douglas

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 03:20:42 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: afterlife press conference

Comments: To: babu@electriciti.com, jwhite333@sprintmail.com

 

Could we have an afterlife press conference? (well, wouldn't you?) I've been

up half the night with candle burning, insense too. B's farewell card over my

shoulder...

 

I'd like to ask Mr. Burroughs: How universal is pain?

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 11:20:56 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      (FWD) How the beats beat the First Amendment

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

>Return-Path: <bofus@fcom.com>

>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 11:27:32 -0800

>From: bofus? <bofus@fcom.com>

>To: bofus@fcom.com

>Subject: How the beats beat the First Amendment

>

>How the beats beat the First Amendment

>

>

>N.Y. Times News Service

>

>(August 11, 1997 11:58 a.m. EDT) - The last year has been pretty much

>the end of the road for the Beat Generation, with the deaths of Herbert

>Huncke, the hustler who gave Jack Kerouac the word "beat," Allen

>Ginsberg, who gave poetry "Howl," and, on Aug. 2, William S. Burroughs,

>who gave the world, ready or not, "Naked Lunch."

>

>The beats' defiance of authority and their experimentation with drugs

>and sex helped set a generation on course for the counterculture of the

>1960s. Not that censors didn't see what was coming. In 1957 Ginsberg

>overcame an obscenity prosecution for "Howl," which celebrated

>homosexuality and eroticism. In 1965 "Naked Lunch," in which Burroughs

>opened the doors to hallucinatory visions of American society, was ruled

>obscene in Massachusetts.

>

>For Burroughs' American publisher, Grove Press, this was good news. When

>it first came out in France in 1959, "Naked Lunch" wasn't even reviewed.

>After 1965, it was a cause celebre.

>

>Better yet, before the Massachusetts Supreme Court heard Grove's appeal

>in 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court set a new precedent in a case involving

>"John Cleland's Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure" -- Fanny Hill. Its

>ruling meant that to be found pornographic, "Naked Lunch" would have to

>be "utterly without redeeming social value."

>

>The result was a literary trial that elevated the least upbeat of the

>beats (Burroughs had a dim view of humanity) to cult status. Grove

>rushed out a new edition that included testimony. In it, the

>uncertainties on both sides of the wavering cultural divide showed. To

>get along, even the beats had to play along. Excerpts from that edition

>follow. -- GEORGE JUDSON

>

>Burroughs, a former drug addict with a pharmacologist's knowledge of

>narcotics, had tried to inoculate "Naked Lunch" against challenges with

>an introduction describing a high purpose:

>

>I awoke from The Sickness at the age of forty-five, calm and sane, and

>in reasonably good health except for a weakened liver and the look of

>borrowed flesh common to all who survive The Sickness. . . . I have no

>precise memory of writing the notes which have now been published under

>the title "Naked Lunch." The title was suggested by Jack Kerouac. I did

>not understand what the title meant until my recent recovery. The title

>means exactly what the words say: NAKED Lunch -- a frozen moment when

>everyone sees what is on the end of every fork.

>

>The Sickness is drug addiction and I was an addict for fifteen years. .

>. .

>

>So "Naked Lunch" was a brief for eliminating heroin use by treating

>junkies rather than punishing them. Burroughs made his case:

>

>Dope fiends are sick people who cannot act other than they do. . . .

>Assuming a self-righteous position is nothing to the purpose unless your

>purpose is to keep the junk virus in operation. And junk is a big

>industry." . . .

>

>The junk virus is public health problem number one of the world today

>(emphasis his). Since "Naked Lunch" treats this health problem, it is

>necessarily brutal, obscene and disgusting.

>

>What about the lurid sex scenes that include, among many activities,

>hangings? He explained:

>

>Certain passages in the book that have been called pornographic were

>written as a tract against Capital Punishment in the manner of Jonathan

>Swift's "Modest Proposal." These sections are intended to reveal capital

>punishment as the obscene, barbaric and disgusting anachronism it is.

>

>The dodge didn't work; a judge ruled "Naked Lunch" was hard-core

>pornography. As the appeal moved along, other novels with legal troubles

>included "Candy" by Terry Southern and "Last Exit to Brooklyn" by Hubert

>Selby Jr. Norman Mailer testified for Burroughs:

>

>There is a kind of speech that is referred to as gutter talk that often

>has a very fine, incisive, dramatic line to it; and Burroughs captures

>that speech like no American writer I know. He also . . . has an

>exquisite poetic sense. His poetic images are intense. They are often

>disgusting; but at the same time there is a sense of collision in them,

>of montage that is quite unusual.

>

>Mailer also found deep meaning:

>

>William Burroughs is in my opinion -- whatever his conscious intention

>may be -- a religious writer. There is a sense in "Naked Lunch" of the

>destruction of soul, which is more intense than any I have encountered

>in any other modern novel. It is a vision of how mankind would act if

>man was totally divorced from eternity. . . .

>

>Just as Hieronymus Bosch set down the most diabolical and blood-curdling

>details . . . so, too, does Burroughs leave you with an intimate,

>detailed vision of what Hell might be like, a Hell which may be waiting

>as the culmination, the final product, of the scientific revolution.

>

>Allen Ginsberg testified, too:

>

>The concept of addiction is carried out to include, in Burroughs'

>phrase, "control addicts," or people who are habituated or pushing other

>people around. What it boils down to: controlling them sexually,

>politically, socially. . . . there are almost scientific expositions

>given by the author of techniques of mass brainwash and mass control,

>and theories of modern dictatorships, theories of modern police states.

>. . .

>

>I think he is laconically, satirically analyzing them and presenting

>evidences of these activities in our modern culture, now and then in a

>science-fiction style, projecting them into the future, nightmare

>situations if control addicts took over.

>

>Ginsberg, a homosexual and former lover of Burroughs, was asked to sort

>out the political parties portrayed in "Naked Lunch." Who, satirically,

>was whom? "The Divisionists (one party in the book) are the

>homosexuals?" the court asked. There seemed likely to be a correct

>answer:

>

>Yes. The Divisionist is a parody of a homosexual situation also; but

>Burroughs is (Ginsberg's emphasis) attacking the homosexuals in this

>book also.

>

>The court then asked, "Do the conservatives fall into any particular sex

>class in this book?" Ginsberg replied:

>

>Well, I think the conservatives, if we consider the Factualist (another

>party) to be conservative, I think they have a feeling of laissez-faire,

>whatever is natural, whatever does no harm will be acceptable. . . .

>

>A justice put in:

>

>"Lest anyone take this seriously, of course, obviously it is a fantasy."

>

>But the justice soon returned to homosexuality:

>

>"Let me ask again. Do you think he is seriously suggesting that some

>time in the future that a political party will be in some way concerned

>with sex? (Grove's lawyer tried to speak.) Excuse me. When I say,

>"Concerned with sex," I don't mean in an attempt to reform perversion. .

>. . what he is trying to portray here, is that some time in the future

>there will be a political party, for instance, made up of homosexuals?

>

>Ginsberg replied:

>

>Well, I think, saying that, this has already happened in a sense, -- or

>of sex perverts -- and we can point to Hitler, Germany under Hitler.

>

>In a 4-2 decision, the court found that "Naked Lunch" "may appeal to the

>prurient interest of deviants and those curious about deviants. To us,

>it is grossly offensive and is what the author himself says, 'brutal,

>obscene and disgusting.' "

>

>But applying the new federal test, the court stated, "we cannot ignore

>the serious acceptance of it by so many persons in the literary

>community. Hence, we cannot say that 'Naked Lunch' has no 'redeeming

>social importance.' "

>

>"Naked Lunch" passed. And the obscenity test has since been revised; it

>now requires a "reasonable person" to find that a work is prurient,

>violates contemporary community standards and, taken as a whole, "lacks

>serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."

>

>Ginsberg concluded his testimony with a poem, "On Burroughs' Work." It

>ends:

>

>A naked lunch is natural to us, we eat reality sandwiches. But

>allegories are so much lettuce. Don't hide the madness.

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 11:19:11 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      (FWD) Burroughs' last thoughts on death, drugs, Gingrich

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

>Return-Path: <bofus@fcom.com>

>Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 11:25:45 -0800

>From: bofus? <bofus@fcom.com>

>To: bofus@fcom.com

>Subject: Burroughs' last thoughts on death, drugs, Gingrich

>

>William Burroughs' journals reveal last thoughts on death, drugs,

>Gingrich

>

>

>The Associated Press

>

>NEW YORK (August 11, 1997 11:58 a.m. EDT) -- Until the end, William S.

>Burroughs shuddered at the thought of a world without drugs and railed

>against the politicians trying to ban them.

>

>The latest issue of "The New Yorker," which hits newsstands Monday,

>contains excerpts from journals kept by the Beat Generation author and

>former heroin addict in which he criticizes Newt Gingrich and other

>politicians he blamed for trying to make American life "banal."

>

>"That vile salamander Gingrich, squeaker of the House, is slobbering

>about a drug-free America by the year 2001," Burroughs wrote about two

>months before his Aug. 2 death at age 83.

>

>"What a dreary prospect! ... No dope fiends, just good, clean-living

>decent Americans from sea to shining sea," he wrote on May 31. "How I

>hate those who are dedicated to producing conformity."

>

>The author of "Naked Lunch" also praised Beat poet Allen Ginsberg for

>struggling against censorship to challenge the mores of American

>society.

>

>"Allen made holes in the Big Lie not only with his poetry but with his

>presence, his self-evident spiritual truth," he wrote on May 25.

>

>Ginsberg's death April 5 caused him to think about the end of his own

>life.

>

>"I thought I would be terrified, but I am exhilarated," Burroughs

>recalled his friend saying.

>

>The day before Burroughs died, he wrote his last entry, which was

>printed on cards and distributed among the 250 mourners at his funeral

>in Lawrence, Kan.

>

>"Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller. What there is. LOVE."

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 22:19:18 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

> Antoine Maloney wrote:

>

> Who the hell is Roger Kimball and what is The New Criterion???

>

> Antoine

 

It seems to be a literary journal for people who have extremely bad

taste.  They seem to be a literary version of Jessie Helms. My question

is: How wide a distribution do they have? Are they in every university

library across the country?  And does anyone take them seriously? If so,

I think we should start writing letters to the editor to the media that

are publishing their crap.

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Mon, 11 Aug 1997 22:25:13 -0700

Reply-To:     Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Naked Lunch

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The first paragraph of the introduction to Naked Lunch begins, "I awoke

from The Sickness at the age of forty-five, calm and sane, and in

reasonably good health except for a weakened liver and the look of

borrowed flesh common to all who survive The Sickness."

 

Does Burroughs ever articulate what caused him, after 15 years of drug

use, to suddenly wake up one morning and think, I'm not going to do this

anymore?

DC

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:37:38 -0400

Reply-To:     Tony Trigilio <atrigili@LYNX.DAC.NEU.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Tony Trigilio <atrigili@LYNX.DAC.NEU.EDU>

Subject:      Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

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BEAT-Lers:  sorry if I'm posting this twice.  I'm trying a new email

reader/sender.  I'm making every possible email-mistake this morning.

 

Tony

 

***********************************************

 

Diane Carter wrote:

>> Antoine Maloney wrote:

>>

>> Who the hell is Roger Kimball and what is The New Criterion???

>>

>> Antoine

>

>It seems to be a literary journal for people who have extremely bad

>taste.  They seem to be a literary version of Jessie Helms. My question

>is: How wide a distribution do they have? Are they in every university

>library across the country?  And does anyone take them seriously? If so,

>I think we should start writing letters to the editor to the media that

>are publishing their crap.

>DC

 

*The New Criterion* is an ugly old standard of the right wing, and is

distributed widely in universities, bookstores, and, here in Boston, even in

Tower Records.  The tone of the journal can be so smarmy that the editors

might actually welcome response letters from BEAT-L:  such letters might be

seen perversely as a sign that the journal rattled Beat readers (a sort of

"Nyaah, nyaah, we took your lunch money at recess!" that is so popular among

the right wing at the moment).

 

Yours, so pained by an infected cat scratch on my thumb that I barely can

tap the space bar,

Tony

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 07:43:21 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      WSB, so long!

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again, cribbed from the patti smith list

props to Dan for doing all he did below

wish I coulda been there - Douglas

 

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

From: Dan Whitworth <dan@pint.com>

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:04:36 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: WSB, so long!

 

A free concert in San Diego's Balboa Park on Saturday, August 9 included a

tribute to William S. Burroughs. A friend of mine was DJ'ing between bands

so we put something together. We kicked it off with Burroughs reading

'Uranian Willy' (aka 'Towers Open Fire') from "Call Me Burroughs." Then I

said a few words about WSB, quoted from JG Ballard's Burroughs obituary, and

introduced local poet Marc Kockinos. After Marc read some of his own

material, not WSB-specific but very appropriate, I read portions of "The

Western Lands." This started with the book's opening paragraphs about The

Old Writer, segued into the last chapter's section about the cat Smoker

whose return coincided with The Old Writer's death by coronary, and ended

with the book's final paragraph: "Hurry up, please. It's time."

 

At the time, I had no idea that WSB's cat Fletch had died two weeks before

WSB himself. I chose this text because the image of the mysterious black cat

as an emissary or embodiment of loving death seemed appropriate. (My own cat

Gandy had died the night before, just a few months short of 15 years, but I

had already chosen the text before that.) To top it all off, a beloved aunt

of mine had died a few weeks earlier, so I felt as if I was reading not just

for Burroughs but for all who have gone, all who are mourning. Through some

oversight, I was never introduced to the audience, but that was fine by me:

I felt more comfortable just being some anonymous guy, reading for the dead.

 

After I read, we played 'The Western Lands (a dangerous road mix)' from

Material's recently reissued "Seven Souls" and other Burroughs recordings,

some with music, some without. Some people in the sparse (and somewhat

random) crowd obviously didn't know who WSB was, but quite a few of them

really enjoyed hearing him read. 'The Lexington Narcotic Hospital' got quite

a few laughs ("Doctor, when you die I wanna be buried in the same coffin

with you!" ---   "Ask me what the American flag means to me, doc, and I'll

tell ya-- soak it in heroin and I'll suck it!"). A watched some women in the

front row at the Organ Pavilion who kept asking each other 'What is this?'

but they were obviously getting into it, particularly Dr. Benway's attempted

apendectomy in "Twilight's Last Gleaming."

 

When the next band, Wormhole Effect, came on, my friend continued to DJ,

having become their official provider of additional sound textures some time

back; he included some more Burroughs reading throughout their set.

 

As this was going on, a teenager approached me and asked "Where did you get

the phonographs of the great poet?" I wrote down the titles of some

Burroughs recordings that are still in print and he walked away happy.

Another fellow, closer to my age (but probably on the farther side of forty)

spotted my t-shirt, which features a repeating pattern of Burroughs' face

and a foreground image of a smiling WSB with pistol and fedora. "Great

shirt," he said, in almost awe-struck tones. Then he surprised me by putting

his hands on my shoulders and sadly contemplating Burroughs' face! "I used

to live in St. Louis," he told me ruefully as he raised his face to mine. "I

know his house." As he walked away, he murmeured, "I can't believe he's gone."

 

Well, who can?

 

- --Dan Whitworth

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 07:58:03 -0700

Reply-To:     runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      Re: afterlife press conference

In-Reply-To:  <970812032041_-1706655616@emout01.mail.aol.com>

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At 12:20 AM -0700 8/12/97, CVEditions@aol.com wrote:

 

> Could we have an afterlife press conference? (well, wouldn't you?) I've been

> up half the night with candle burning, insense too. B's farewell card over my

> shoulder...

>

> I'd like to ask Mr. Burroughs: How universal is pain?

 

Well, the man told me

that all life is pain and suffering

that we'll be lucky to get off this wheel

and that people only learn thru pain

 

I argued of course

in a high whisper

"no, daddy, people are good"

but he was right

 

dreamt last night I was with friends

new found friends, friends I didn't know

we were at this mall, flying around

went to watch a movie, with our backpacks

et al. it turned out to be an indoor/outdoor

amplitheatre [toothpaste dripping out my mouth now

 

of course I felt alone

alone in the seats with my family

alone up there on stage

alone with my friends

 

so pain?  how universal?

I can't speak for Burroughs

though I'ld like to hear someone try

but my answer would be:

 

as universal as cotton candy

 

douglas  [[hell, I don't know :: you ok CP?

 

 

http://www.electriciti.com/babu/        |   0   |

step aside, and let the man go thru     |  { -  |

        ---->  let the man go thru      |  /\   |

super bon-bon (soul coughing)           =========

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:30:27 -0500

Reply-To:     RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         RACE --- <race@MIDUSA.NET>

Subject:      Re: WSB, so long!

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runner wrote:

>

> again, cribbed from the patti smith list

> props to Dan for doing all he did below

> wish I coulda been there - Douglas

>

> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

> From: Dan Whitworth <dan@pint.com>

> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 1997 12:04:36 -0700 (PDT)

> Subject: WSB, so long!

>

>

> At the time, I had no idea that WSB's cat Fletch had died two weeks before

> WSB himself. I chose this text because the image of the mysterious black cat

> as an emissary or embodiment of loving death seemed appropriate.

 

on the way back from the Re-Play celebration after the memorial service

on Vermont Street somewhere between where Bogart's used to be some years

ago and where the post office is still on the East side of the road

walking down the sidewalk i met this mysterious black cat.  i paused.

it paused.  i looked into its eyes.  It looked into my eyes.  We

acknowledge-communicated-whatever you wish to call such connections and

then the cat turned and walked in the direction of the Celebration and i

continued towards the post office and my car.

 

david rhaesa

salina, Kansas

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 08:55:15 -0700

Reply-To:     "Shannon L. Stephens" <shanstep@CS.ARIZONA.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Shannon L. Stephens" <shanstep@CS.ARIZONA.EDU>

Subject:      who's who?

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I'm still working on "On the Road," and have a character question.

Don't jump all over me for this...if it screams ignorance...chalk it up

to unfamiliarity. Who is Remi...and subsequently Lee Ann?

 

-shannon

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 09:29:45 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

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Tim wrote:

 

><<I saw this obit posted to the alt.books.beat-generation newsgroup so had

read it.  But thanks to you for posting it here for everyone to read.>>

 

>yes, thanx for sending.

>

><<Believe it or not I think this writer was more familiar and understood

>Burroughs work much better than the other obit writers (with exceptions I am

>sure) who seemed to have some details and know he was supposed to be

important.  This guy knew who Burroughs was and knew why he was

>significant. It's a free country and no one has to like the writings of

someone else.>>

 

Yes, and we should all have critics like this one.  <<really>>  Not

quite in the same vein as Larry Flynt and whatshisface Farrel, but an

opposition that gives good definition.  Such critiques provide fuel and

inspiration.  Kinda like how Burroughs wrote through it, his pain, I

suppose.  Kinda like all the obsenity trials and public outrage that

surrounds certain books/authors.  just more fuel to the fire.  <<a

>defining purpose results>>

>

and it goes to show that if you can't keep a good dog down in life, you

sure can kick em a few times in death.  fuck the new york times.

>

>Douglas

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 09:42:39 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) Burroughs' last thoughts on death, drugs, Gingrich

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yep, cottoncandy.  most certainly.

 

>----------

>From:  Rinaldo Rasa[SMTP:rinaldo@GPNET.IT]

>Sent:  Tuesday, August 12, 1997 2:19 AM

>To:    BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

>Subject:       (FWD) Burroughs' last thoughts on death, drugs, Gingrich

>

>>The day before Burroughs died, he wrote his last entry, which was

>>printed on cards and distributed among the 250 mourners at his funeral

>>in Lawrence, Kan.

>>

>>"Love? What is it? Most natural painkiller. What there is. LOVE."

>>

>>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 12:45:40 -0400

Reply-To:     Greg Elwell <elwellg@VOICENET.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Greg Elwell <elwellg@VOICENET.COM>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

Comments: To: mike@buchenroth.com

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To tell the truth, I think that the author of this article is just jealous

 because he isn't as good as Burroughs or Ginsberg!

 

 

At 11:16 PM 8/11/97 -0700, Michael L. Buchenroth wrote:

 

>Last Saturday morning (Friday night) I read an article / bio / slam /

 

>insulting and frightening propaganda bullshit narrowly filtered opinion

 

>in the "Wall Street Journal" about Burroughs and the Beats, etc.

 

>***

 

>This Roger Kimball guy has eaten Fruity Pebbles everyday of his life

 

>since his 4th birthday when his great grandmother, A. Puritan, gave him

 

>his first box as a gift. He measures precisely 1/2 cup of 2% each day.

 

>And all this time, he has used the same licked-worn spoon too. He likes

 

>to lick the tarnish from that clad silver plated zink, lead, and steel

 

>alloy spoon. Ole Roger seems just a few licks short of bacon and eggs.

 

>Roger so loves his Fruity Pebbles...

 

>-Mike

 

>***

 

>This piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Friday August 8, 1997 .

 

>. .

 

>Read it and weep!

 

>The Dark Ages Lurk, yet!

 

>

 

>The Death of Decency

 

>

 

>By ROGER KIMBALL

 

>It has been a bad year for famous drugabusing literary charlatans. In

 

>April, the Beat poet Allen Ginsberg-author of "Howl" (1956) and

 

>innumerable other paeans to pharmacological and sexual excess-died of

 

>liver cancer at the age of 70. On Aug. 2, the Beat novelist William S.

 

>Burroughs succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 83. Considering the

 

>way they abused themselves - especially Burroughs, who was addicted to

 

>heroin for some 15 years-it is hard not to admire their robust

 

>constitutions.

 

>        It is even harder, though, to admire anything else about the life or

 

>work of either. Both specialized in pretentious, proselytizing

 

>pornography: Ginsberg of an incense-burning, pseudo-Whitmanesque sort,

 

>Burroughs of a much grittier, sadomasochistic variety. There are few

 

>poems by Ginsberg that could be quoted whole in this newspaper; I doubt

 

>whether any page of "Naked Lunch," Burroughs's celebrated 1959 fantasy

 

>about a violent, drugridden sexual underworld, could be. A generous

 

>person might be tempted to describe the accumulated literary value of

 

>both writers as null. But that would be grossly unfair to nullity. The

 

>poet Edith Sitwell came closer to the truth when she described "Naked

 

>Lunch" as "psychopathological filth."

 

>        How, then, can we explain the extent to which Ginsberg and Burroughs

 

>have been lionized by the media and the academic literary establishment?

 

>Anyone who read the obituaries these men received-especially Ginsberg,

 

>who got lavish, front-page treatment almost everywhere-might be tricked

 

>into thinking that they were important literary figures. In the early

 

>1990s, Stanford University paid $1 million for Ginsberg's papers. His

 

>works are published by prestigious houses and are studied in classrooms

 

>across the country. Ditto for Burroughs. The word "genius" is routinely

 

>applied to both. So is "transgressive"--a term that, tellingly, has

 

>emerged as a favorite word of praise among addicts of the "cutting

 

>edge."

 

>        I agree that Ginsberg and Burroughs were "transgressive." But is that a

 

>good thing? After all, Saddam Hussein is "transgressire" too. The

 

>obituary of Burroroughs in The New York Times informed readers that "he

 

>spent years experimenting with drugs as well as with sex, which he

 

>engaged in with men, women, and children." Note the word

 

>"experimenting," as if Burroughs were engaged in some sort of of

 

>scientific inquiry rather than straight-foraward abuse of hard drugs and

 

>sordid sexual debauchery.

 

>        Burroughs committed his most clearly transgressive act in Mexico in

 

>1951. Although predominantly homosexual, he had married and fathered a

 

>son. Drunk at a party, he took out a handgun and announced to his wife

 

>that it was time for their William Tell act. When he tried to shoot a

 

>glass off her head, he missed and killed her. As one obituary put it,

 

>"the circumstances of the killing were never fully investigated, and

 

>Burroughs fled Mexico City for South America rather than stand trial."

 

>        Burroughs is often praised for his "humor." But as far as I can tell,

 

>there is only one genuinely funny sentence in "Naked Lunch," and its

 

>humor is inadvertent. "Certain passages in the book that have been

 

>called pornographic," Burroughs wrote in a preface, "were written as a

 

>tract against Capital Punishment in the manner of Jonathan Swift's

 

>'Modest Proposal.'"

 

>        Burroughs wasn't alone in invoking the author of "Gulliver's Travels."

 

>Burroughs's fellow Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote that his friend was

 

>"the greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift." In 1963, the

 

>critic and novelist Mary McCarthy solemnly said there were "many points

 

>of comparison" between the two, and concluded that, "like a classical

 

>satirist, Burroughs is dead serious--a reformer."

 

>        But McCarthy was wrong. Burroughs was not a reformer. Unlike Swift, he

 

>had no ideal to oppose to the degradation his books depicted. On William

 

>Burroughs the contrary, he was a cynical opportunist who realized that

 

>calling his work "satire" could help exempt it from legal action. An

 

>obituary in The Village Voice described Burroughs as "utterly paranoid

 

>and utterly moral." That is exactly half right.

 

>        It is significant that the careers of both Ginsberg and Burroughs began

 

>with an obscenity trial, Ginsberg with "'Howl" in 1957, Burroughs with

 

>"Naked Lunch" in 1962. Ira Silverberg, a publicist for Burroughs, is

 

>quoted as saying that "William Burroughs opened the door for supporters

 

>of freedom of expression." In fact, Burroughs helped open the door on

 

>the public acceptance and academic adulation of violent, dehumanizing

 

>pornography as a protected form of free speech.

 

>        As Rochelle Gurstein pointed out in "The Repeal of Reticence," her

 

>astute book about free speech and obscenity, "it is a sign of our time

 

>that this ready-made plea for freedom of choice, and the dismissal of

 

>standards as a form of cultural imperialism, is automatically offered

 

>not only on behalf of commercial entertainment but also for obscene art

 

>and pornography."

 

>        As Ms. Gurstein shows, it was not until the 1950s that the question of

 

>obscenity was cast as a First Amendment issue. Until then, free speech

 

>had been explicitly excluded by the courts as a defense for trafficking

 

>in obscene materials. The problem was not defining obscenity--about

 

>which there was wide agreement--but in assessing the degree of public

 

>harm the circulation of certain materials might be expected to cause.

 

>"Obscenity was successfully regulated," she notes, "because there was

 

>broad consensus about indecency, rooted in the old standards of the

 

>reticent sensibility."

 

>        That consensus has long since dissolved, along with the moral

 

>sensibility that supported it. In this sense, Allen Ginsberg, William

 

>Burroughs. and the rest of the Beats really do mark an important moment

 

>in American culture, not as one of its achievements, but as a grievous

 

>example of its degeneration. The Village Voice observed that, when it

 

>came to appreciating his nihilism, "the culture had finally caught up

 

>with" Burroughs. Sadly, that couldn't be more accurate.

 

>

 

>    Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion.

 

>

 

>THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

 

>

 

>Peter R. Kann                       Kenneth L. Burenga

 

>Chairman & Publisher                President

 

>

 

>Paul E. Steiger                         Robert L. Bartley

 

>Managing Editor                         Editor

 

>Byron E. Calame                         Daniel Hemfinger

 

>Daniel Hertzberg                        Deputy Editor,

 

>Deputy Managing Editors                 Editorial Page

 

>

 

>                      Vice Presidents

 

>Danforth W. Austin                       General Manager

 

>Paul C. Atkinson                         AdVertising

 

>William E. Casey Jr.                     Circulation

 

>Michael F. Sheehan                       Production

 

>Charles F. Russell                       Technology

 

>F, Thomas Kull Jr.                       Operations

 

>

 

>Published since 1889 by

 

>

 

>DOWJONES & COMPANY

 

>

 

>Peter R. Kann, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer; Kenneth L. Burenga,

 

>President & Chief Operating

 

>Officer; CEO, Dew Jones Markets.

 

>Senior Vice Presidents: James H. Oftaway Jr.,

 

>Chairman, Ottaway Newspapers, President,

 

>Magazines; Peter G. Skinner, General Counsel,

 

>President, Television; Carl M. Valenti, Teetmology &

 

>Affiliates, President/Publisher, Newswires.

 

>Vice Presidents/Operating Groups: Karen Elliott House, President,

 

>International; Dorothea Cocoeli Palshe, President, Interactive

 

>Publishing.

 

>

 

>Vice Presidents: Kevin J. Roehe, Chief Financial Officer; Julian B.

 

>Childs, Markets; Paul J. Ingrassia, Richard J. Levino, Newswires; James

 

>A. Scaduto, Employee Relations; David E. Moran, Law.

 

>

 

>EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTEES: 200 Liberty

 

>Street, New York, N.Y. 10281. Telephone (212) 416-2000.

 

>SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Call 1-800-JOURNAL, or see

 

>This piece appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Friday August 8, 1997 . . .

 

>Read it and weep!

 

>The Dark Ages Lurk, yet!

 

>

 

>The Death of Decency

 

>

 

>By ROGER KIMBALL

 

>It has been a bad year for famous drugabusing literary charlatans. In April,

 the

 

> Beat poet Allen Ginsberg-author of "Howl" (1956) and innumerable other paeans

 

> to pharmacological and sexual excess-died of liver cancer at the age of 70. On

 

> Aug. 2, the Beat novelist William S. Burroughs succumbed to a heart attack at

 

> the age of 83. Considering the way they abused themselves - especially

 

> Burroughs, who was addicted to heroin for some 15 years-it is hard not to

 

> admire their robust constitutions.

 

>        It is even harder, though, to admire anything else about the life or

 work of

 

> either. Both specialized in pretentious, proselytizing pornography: Ginsberg

 of

 

> an incense-burning, pseudo-Whitmanesque sort, Burroughs of a much grittier,

 

> sadomasochistic variety. There are few poems by Ginsberg that could be quoted

 

> whole in this newspaper; I doubt whether any page of "Naked Lunch,"

 Burroughs's

 

> celebrated 1959 fantasy about a violent, drugridden sexual underworld, could

 

> be. A generous person might be tempted to describe the accumulated literary

 

> value of both writers as null. But that would be grossly unfair to nullity.

 The

 

> poet Edith Sitwell came closer to the truth when she described "Naked Lunch"

 as

 

> "psychopathological filth."

 

>        How, then, can we explain the extent to which Ginsberg and Burroughs

 have been

 

> lionized by the media and the academic literary establishment? Anyone who read

 

> the obituaries these men received-especially Ginsberg, who got lavish,

 

> front-page treatment almost everywhere-might be tricked into thinking that

 they

 

> were important literary figures. In the early 1990s, Stanford University paid

 

> $1 million for Ginsberg's papers. His works are published by prestigious

 houses

 

> and are studied in classrooms across the country. Ditto for Burroughs. The

 word

 

> "genius" is routinely applied to both. So is "transgressive"--a term that,

 

> tellingly, has emerged as a favorite word of praise among addicts of the

 

> "cutting edge."

 

>        I agree that Ginsberg and Burroughs were "transgressive." But is that a

 good

 

> thing? After all, Saddam Hussein is "transgressire" too. The obituary of

 

> Burroroughs in The New York Times informed readers that "he spent years

 

> experimenting with drugs as well as with sex, which he engaged in with men,

 

> women, and children." Note the word "experimenting," as if Burroughs were

 

> engaged in some sort of of scientific inquiry rather than straight-foraward

 

> abuse of hard drugs and sordid sexual debauchery.

 

>        Burroughs committed his most clearly transgressive act in Mexico in

 1951.

 

> Although predominantly homosexual, he had married and fathered a son. Drunk at

 

> a party, he took out a handgun and announced to his wife that it was time for

 

> their William Tell act. When he tried to shoot a glass off her head, he missed

 

> and killed her. As one obituary put it, "the circumstances of the killing were

 

> never fully investigated, and Burroughs fled Mexico City for South America

 

> rather than stand trial."

 

>        Burroughs is often praised for his "humor." But as far as I can tell,

 there is

 

> only one genuinely funny sentence in "Naked Lunch," and its humor is

 

> inadvertent. "Certain passages in the book that have been called

 pornographic,"

 

> Burroughs wrote in a preface, "were written as a tract against Capital

 

> Punishment in the manner of Jonathan Swift's 'Modest Proposal.'"

 

>        Burroughs wasn't alone in invoking the author of "Gulliver's Travels."

 

> Burroughs's fellow Beat writer Jack Kerouac wrote that his friend was "the

 

> greatest satirical writer since Jonathan Swift." In 1963, the critic and

 

> novelist Mary McCarthy solemnly said there were "many points of comparison"

 

> between the two, and concluded that, "like a classical satirist, Burroughs is

 

> dead serious--a reformer."

 

>        But McCarthy was wrong. Burroughs was not a reformer. Unlike Swift, he

 had no

 

> ideal to oppose to the degradation his books depicted. On William Burroughs

 the

 

> contrary, he was a cynical opportunist who realized that calling his work

 

> "satire" could help exempt it from legal action. An obituary in The Village

 

> Voice described Burroughs as "utterly paranoid and utterly moral." That is

 

> exactly half right.

 

>        It is significant that the careers of both Ginsberg and Burroughs began

 with an

 

> obscenity trial, Ginsberg with "'Howl" in 1957, Burroughs with "Naked Lunch"

 in

 

> 1962. Ira Silverberg, a publicist for Burroughs, is quoted as saying that

 

> "William Burroughs opened the door for supporters of freedom of expression."

 In

 

> fact, Burroughs helped open the door on the public acceptance and academic

 

> adulation of violent, dehumanizing pornography as a protected form of free

 

> speech.

 

>        As Rochelle Gurstein pointed out in "The Repeal of Reticence," her

 astute book

 

> about free speech and obscenity, "it is a sign of our time that this

 ready-made

 

> plea for freedom of choice, and the dismissal of standards as a form of

 

> cultural imperialism, is automatically offered not only on behalf of

 commercial

 

> entertainment but also for obscene art and pornography."

 

>        As Ms. Gurstein shows, it was not until the 1950s that the question of

 

> obscenity was cast as a First Amendment issue. Until then, free speech had

 been

 

> explicitly excluded by the courts as a defense for trafficking in obscene

 

> materials. The problem was not defining obscenity--about which there was wide

 

> agreement--but in assessing the degree of public harm the circulation of

 

> certain materials might be expected to cause. "Obscenity was successfully

 

> regulated," she notes, "because there was broad consensus about indecency,

 

> rooted in the old standards of the reticent sensibility."

 

>        That consensus has long since dissolved, along with the moral

 sensibility that

 

> supported it. In this sense, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs. and the rest

 of

 

> the Beats really do mark an important moment in American culture, not as one

 of

 

> its achievements, but as a grievous example of its degeneration. The Village

 

> Voice observed that, when it came to appreciating his nihilism, "the culture

 

> had finally caught up with" Burroughs. Sadly, that couldn't be more accurate.

 

>

 

>    Mr. Kimball is managing editor of The New Criterion.

 

>

 

>THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

 

>

 

>Peter R. Kann                       Kenneth L. Burenga

 

>Chairman & Publisher                President

 

>

 

>Paul E. Steiger                         Robert L. Bartley

 

>Managing Editor                         Editor

 

>Byron E. Calame                         Daniel Hemfinger

 

>Daniel Hertzberg                        Deputy Editor,

 

>Deputy Managing Editors                 Editorial Page

 

>

 

>                      Vice Presidents

 

>Danforth W. Austin                       General Manager

 

>Paul C. Atkinson                         AdVertising

 

>William E. Casey Jr.                     Circulation

 

>Michael F. Sheehan                       Production

 

>Charles F. Russell                       Technology

 

>F, Thomas Kull Jr.                       Operations

 

>

 

>Published since 1889 by

 

>

 

>DOWJONES & COMPANY

 

>

 

>Peter R. Kann, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer; Kenneth L. Burenga,

 President

 

> & Chief Operating

 

>Officer; CEO, Dew Jones Markets.

 

>Senior Vice Presidents: James H. Oftaway Jr.,

 

>Chairman, Ottaway Newspapers, President,

 

>Magazines; Peter G. Skinner, General Counsel,

 

>President, Television; Carl M. Valenti, Teetmology &

 

>Affiliates, President/Publisher, Newswires.

 

>Vice Presidents/Operating Groups: Karen Elliott House, President,

 International;

 

> Dorothea Cocoeli Palshe, President, Interactive Publishing.

 

>

 

>Vice Presidents: Kevin J. Roehe, Chief Financial Officer; Julian B. Childs,

 

> Markets; Paul J. Ingrassia, Richard J. Levino, Newswires; James A. Scaduto,

 

> Employee Relations; David E. Moran, Law.

 

>

 

>EDITORIAL AND CORPORATE HEADQUARTEES: 200 Liberty

 

>Street, New York, N.Y. 10281. Telephone (212) 416-2000.

 

>SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES: Call 1-800-JOURNAL, or see

 

>

 

>

 

>

 

<center>--------------------------------------------------

 

Greg Elwell

 

elwellg@voicenet.com || elwellgr@juno.com

<<http://www.voicenet.com/~elwellg>

 

</center>   --------------------------------------------------

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 09:55:40 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

<<ahem>> and we could all use a good editor too...

 

not the new york times ..... but the Wall Street Journal

 

sorry to waste bandwidth on the correction.  Douglas

 

>----------

>From:  Penn, Douglas, K

>Sent:  Tuesday, August 12, 1997 9:29 AM

>To:    BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

>Subject:       RE: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

>

>

>and it goes to show that if you can't keep a good dog down in life, you sure

>can kick em a few times in death.  fuck the new york times.

>

>Douglas

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 18:54:39 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

In-Reply-To:  <970812013625_1848781656@emout01.mail.aol.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

At 01.36 12/08/97 -0400,

Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM> wrote:

>In a message dated 97-08-12 01:01:05 EDT, you write:

>

><<  WSB:  Well, you'll notice more subdivisions now  as it's modernized

> > and is no longer cheap

>

> Sharp as a razor. >>

>

>In every direction we look....

>

>C.Plymell

>

        ENTIA NON SUNT MULTIPLICANDA

        PRAETER NECESSITATEM...

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:12:47 -0700

Reply-To:     "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Timothy K. Gallaher" <gallaher@HSC.USC.EDU>

Subject:      Re: who's who?

Comments: To: "Shannon L. Stephens" <shanstep@CS.ARIZONA.EDU>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

At 08:55 AM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:

>I'm still working on "On the Road," and have a character question.

>Don't jump all over me for this...if it screams ignorance...chalk it up

>to unfamiliarity. Who is Remi...and subsequently Lee Ann?

>

>-shannon

>

>

 

Henri Cru, as I recall, friend of kerouac from Horace Mann prep school.

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 10:25:30 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

Comments: To: Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Rinaldo, you are such a tease.  Somebody please translate?

 

Douglas

>----------

>From:  Rinaldo Rasa[SMTP:rinaldo@GPNET.IT]

>Sent:  Tuesday, August 12, 1997 9:54 AM

>To:    BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

>Subject:       Re: (FWD) q: ranaldo & a: burroughs, 9 april 97

>

>        ENTIA NON SUNT MULTIPLICANDA

>        PRAETER NECESSITATEM...

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 14:48:57 -0600

Reply-To:     Sorted <junky@BURROUGHS.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Sorted <junky@BURROUGHS.NET>

Subject:      burroughs.net, asking permissions, possibly some other meanderings

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

to whom it may concern,

 

i've shut down burroughs.net indefinitely...in its place is a photo of wsb

with the dreamachine, his dates on this planet, and a link to some site

info...site info is two short paragraphs as to what's going on, a short

list of other burroughs sites (Levi's, Luke's, Malcolm's, and Critter's),

as well as what i'm hoping is a pretty complete index of the recent news

articles on his death, and another index of the tribute and memorial sites

popping up...@

http://www.burroughs.net/

...his death has not really hit me yet, i think. i felt a need to shut down

the site, and i feel as if the last week+ has been spent on some mutated

form of acid, what with all the event cracking my head open across that

time, there's no other possible explanation other than this is just not

real.

but of course, it is....

 

One thing i have been thinking about recently is possibly taking the posts

to this list about WSB's death and influence and archiving them on

burroughs.net, sort of a memorial of my own, wanting to show what he and

his work meant to so many people...please let me know what you all think

about this...

(and, maybe to ease some minds, i make no money from this site...been

running it for over two years and not made one dime, in fact lost a bunch

of $ when i registered the domain...so for those suspecting me of

profiting, nah. i just love the man and his work. maybe this whole

paragraph was unnecessary; maybe not.)

Seeing as this has to do with almost all of you, i'd appreciate as many

responses as i can get, either privately or over the list. I really would

like to do this, but i won't go ahead without talking to you first...

 

thanks,

 

-zach.

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 16:58:16 EDT

Reply-To:     Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject:      FDA

 

Next thing you know they'll try to regulate sperm.

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 18:28:32 +0000

Reply-To:     letabor@cruzio.com

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Comments:     Authenticated sender is <letabor@mail.cruzio.com>

From:         Leon Tabory <letabor@CRUZIO.COM>

Subject:      Re: Burroughs Obit

 

Date sent:        Tue, 12 Aug 1997 09:22:24 -0700

From:             Leon Tabory <letabor@cruzio.com>

To:               "BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

 

hmmm. No one offering to translate this interesting obit from Der

Spiegel?

Well, my credentials to attempt it ain't exactly impeccable.

Sure,learning wasintense when you were trying to figure out what the Waffen SS

 men were saying was

Waffen SS men were saying to each other. Subsequent living in Muenchen for half

 a year helped,

especially the loving attention of Herma "dein Munchener kindl" in the

only language she knew helped broaden content and style. My new friend

old Herr Doctor Karl Hagenmueller helped with pointers about grammar

etc, but that was over fifty years ago, and soon forgotten. Never did

bother to get a german dictionary since, but I did get the gist of

it. Amazing how things come back. I thought some of you would like to

get a look at what Der Spiegel had to say. If you are curious and not too

worried about total accuracy, read on.

 

Words that I knew stomped me I enclosed in brackets followed by a ?. The

writer of the obit is not identified.

 

Here it goes:

 

OBITUARY

 

William S. Burroughs

 

Naturally one could talk with Bill Burroughs about literature, as well

as about polishing of furniture, or pop music, because he was a

gracious person. His shuffling, monotonous voice betrayed a cultivated

disinterest. But when the conversation turned to weapons, it took on

color.

 

Then it became clear: not a doyen of the american underground, or

head of the punks, or member of the respected academy, but Marshall in

Dodge City - that would well have been his darling role. That or the

scoundrel at the other end of the street. Drawing the line between good

and bad didn't interest him particularly. Presence of wit, that's what it came

 to for him.

 

William S. Burroughs knew how to pick up (?) unique (?) illusionless

qualities. "I could always take up(?) with doc Holliday", he

said at a shooting practice at his ranch in Kansas. (??)

 

Bill Burroughs, the farthest out avant-garde that american literature

produced in this century, was at the same time as american as

cornflakes. He was a member of the arch reactionary "National Rifle

Association" and felt comfortable under the rednecks in Kansas, where he

died last week at age 83 of heart failure.

 

He knew the myths and legends about the o.k. corral inside out, and

before he was inducted in the temple and seminar halls of literary

scholarship, he resided in the cosmos of the penny notebooks. He was

Harvard reared with a passion for the trivial. The crownprince of an

industrial family, who was at home in the fixers (junkies?) scenes of

New Orleans, London and Tanger. He was a remarkable buttoned up traveller with a

 love

for dirt and trash of all kinds. THe was also gay. Basically

Burroghs was the nightmare of american society - because he came from

its innermost midst.

 

He functioned as a stranger in the beatnik circles around Ginsberg and

Kerouac, whom he got to know in the middle of the forties. There is

hardly a photo of these early years in which he smiles, and so his face

remained a shocked  Buster-Keaton look at

the bad play of the century.  He was married twice. His

first wife was a german jewish woman, whom he enabled to emigrate

through the marriage. The second wife he shot during a drug party. It

could never be clarified without a doubt whether the accident was in

fact an accident. Shortly after the deed Burroughs gave a deposition

(testimony? confession?)  which he later retracted.

 

Still, the scandal lent him a sinister luster, which later made him a black

romantic pop-icon: He was the writer outlaw, the pistol hero with a

typewriter, who didn't worry particularly over the laws, whether they

applied to life or to literature.

 

Already as a youth Burroughs dreamt about a literary career for

absolutely nonliterary reasons. He wanted to write, "because writers

were rich and famous, hung around in Singapore and Rangoon, wore yellow

silk suits, smoked opium or hashish in the native quarters of Tangier and

patted a tame gazelle".

 

He got it, the drugs and the gazelles and later the fame and riches, but

it was a long road to that, and his sheer longevity belongs to his most

amazing achievements. For decades he hung on the needle, he climbed

out and got back in and back out and back into other drugs, and he

(strapazierte)? (punished)? his body to the limit. Yet when he died he

had outlived most of his fellow treavelers, Ginsberg and Neal Cassady and

 Timothy

Leary and Kerouac anyway.

 

His debut novel "Junkie" which appeared 1953 as a cheap paperback, a

book about the logistics of the scoring of drugs, the horror of cold

withdrawals, was his most readable book. Still he became famous through

the phantasmagories from "Naked Lunch" (1959), that obscene,

halucinogenic penny novel about Dr. "Fingers" Schafer, "Lobotomy Kid"

and William Lee, that is at the same time a satire of society gone

too far.

 

About the invention of the famous cut-up method that was employed

in it for the first time, there are various versions in circulation,

and one of these, not the least likely, is banal. In drugged dimness, in

the middle of strewn about manuscript pages, in a hotel room he supposedly was

 staring

at his feet, when Ginsburg dusted those up and stapled the unsorted

texts together.  Later Burroughs found the accidental sort most highly

interesting. Thereupon he cut the pages and put them together anew.

 

"Naked Lunch" became subject to scandal because of its pornographic

passages, and because of its neologisms and Hieronymus-Bosch-visions it

became a quarry for pop groups, who borrowed their

names from it and from following novels, "Steely Dan" or "Soft Machine",

and other groups named their music "Heavy Metal".

 

Still, Burroghs hardly interested himself in the entire Rock theater. He

was no world improver like Ginzberg, no dionysian visionary like

Kerouac. Deep inside he held the Beatnik-pose and the following

Pop-pretense good for kid stuff..

 

He lived his last years disciplined. He got up early, fed the cats,

wrote. He never took the first vodka before four o'clock in the

afternoon. Now and then he visited his old weapons-brother Fred, to

shoot.

 

He was the Deputy Marshall, and he held up a long time, until in

the end it caught him (?).

 

DER SPIEGEL 33/1997

Well, I did give it a try.

 

leon

 

 

 

> Date:          Mon, 11 Aug 1997 14:18:05 EDT

> Reply-to:      Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

> From:          Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

> Organization:  Brooklyn College Library

> Subject:       Burroughs Obit

> To:            BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

 

> Attached is a Burroughs obit from this week's German magazine, Der

> Spiegel. (http://www.spiegel.de)  I replaced the umlauted letters by

> ae, oe, ue, etc. to make it readable.

>

> Fred

>

>

>

>

> NACHRUF

>

> William S. Burroughs

>

> 1914 bis 1997

>

> Natuerlich konnte man mit Bill Burroughs auch ueber Literatur

> reden oder ueber Moebelpolitur oder Popmusik, denn er war ein

> hoeflicher Mensch. Seine schleppende, monotone Stimme verriet

> kultiviertes Desinteresse. Doch wenn das Gespraech auf Waffen

> kam, gewann sie an Farbe.

>

> Dann wurde klar: Nicht Doyen des amerikanischen Underground oder

> Pate des Punks oder respektiertes Akademie-Mitglied, sondern

> Marshall in Dodge City - das waere wohl seine Lieblingsrolle

> gewesen. Das oder der Schurke am anderen Strassenende. Die

> Grenzen zwischen Gut und Boese haben ihn ohnehin nie sonderlich

> interessiert. Geistesgegenwart, darauf kam es ihm an.

>

> William S. Burroughs wusste die eigenen Qualitaeten illusionslos

> einzuschaetzen. "Mit Doc Holliday koennte ich es noch allemal

> aufnehmen", sagte er bei einer Probeschiesserei auf seiner Ranch

> in Kansas.

>

> Bill Burroughs, die aeusserste Avantgarde, die sich die

> amerikanische Literatur in diesem Jahrhundert leistete, war

> gleichzeitig so amerikanisch wie Cornflakes. Er war Mitglied der

> erzreaktionaeren "National Rifle Association" und fuehlte sich

> wohl unter den Rednecks in Kansas, wo er vorvergangene Woche

> 83jaehrig an Herzversagen starb.

>

> Er kannte die Mythen und Legenden um den O. K. Corral in- und

> auswendig, und bevor er in die Tempel und Seminarraeume der

> Literaturwissenschaftler einzog, bewohnte er den Kosmos der

> Groschenhefte. Er war der Harvard-Zoegling mit Leidenschaft fuer

> das Triviale. Der Kronprinz einer Industriellenfamilie, der in

> den Fixerszenen von New Orleans, London und Tanger zu Hause war.

> Er war ein merkwuerdig zugeknoepfter Reisender mit der Vorliebe

> fuer Schmutz und Schund aller Art. Zudem war er schwul. Im Grunde

> war Burroughs der Alptraum der amerikanischen Gesellschaft - weil

> er aus ihrer innersten Mitte stammte.

>

> In den Beatnik-Zirkeln um Ginsberg und Kerouac, die er Mitte der

> vierziger Jahre kennenlernte, wirkte er wie ein Fremder. Es gibt

> selbst in diesen fruehen Jahren kaum ein Foto, auf dem er

> laechelt - und so blieb sein Gesicht eine unerschuetterliche

> Buster-Keaton-Miene zum boesen Spiel des Jahrhunderts. Er

> heiratete zweimal. Die erste Frau war eine deutsche Juedin, der

> er mit der Ehe die Einwanderung ermoeglichte. Die zweite Frau

> erschoss er waehrend einer drogenberauschten Party. Restlos

> konnte nie geklaert werden, ob der Unfall tatsaechlich ein Unfall

> war. Burroughs gab kurz nach der Tat ein Gestaendnis ab, das er

> spaeter widerrief.

>

> Der Skandal jedoch verlieh ihm jenen duesteren Glanz, der ihn

> spaeter zur schwarzromantischen Pop-Ikone machte: Er war der

> schriftstellernde Outlaw, der Revolverheld mit der

> Schreibmaschine, der sich um die Gesetze nicht sonderlich

> kuemmerte, weder um die des Lebens noch um die der Literatur.

>

> Schon als Junge hatte Burroughs von einer literarischen Karriere

> aus absolut ausserliterarischen Gruenden getraeumt. Er wollte

> schreiben, "weil Schriftsteller reich und beruehmt waren, in

> Singapur und Rangun herumhingen, gelbe Seidenanzuege trugen und

> Opium rauchten oder Haschisch in den Vierteln der Einheimischen

> von Tanger und dabei eine zahme Gazelle streichelten".

>

> Er hat es gehabt, das Rauschgift und die Gazellen und spaeter den

> Ruhm und den Reichtum, doch es war ein langer Weg dahin, und zu

> den erstaunlichsten Leistungen Burroughs' gehoert wohl seine

> schiere Langlebigkeit. Jahrzehntelang hing er an der Nadel, er

> stieg aus und wieder ein und wieder aus und stieg um auf andere

> Drogen und strapazierte seinen Koerper bis an die Grenze. Doch

> als er starb, hatte er die meisten seiner Weggefaehrten

> ueberlebt, Ginsberg und Neal Cassady und Timothy Leary und

> Kerouac sowieso.

>

> Sein Debuet-Roman "Junkie" erschien 1953 als billiges Paperback,

> ein Hoellenbuch ueber die Logistik der Drogenbeschaffung, den

> Horror der kalten Entzuege, wohl sein lesbarstes Buch. Beruehmt

> wurde er jedoch durch die Phantasmagorien aus "Naked Lunch"

> (1959), diesem obszoenen, halluzinogenen Groschenroman um Dr.

> "Fingers" Schafer, "Lobotomy Kid" und William Lee, der zugleich

> eine ueberbordende Gesellschaftssatire ist.

>

> Ueber die Erfindung der darin zum ersten Male angewandten

> beruehmten Cut-up-Methode sind verschiedene Versionen im Umlauf,

> und eine davon, nicht die unwahrscheinlichste, ist banal. Im

> Drogendaemmer, inmitten zerfledderter Manuskriptseiten, soll er

> in einem Hotelzimmer auf seine Fuesse gestarrt haben, als

> Ginsberg ihn aufstoeberte und die Texte wahllos zusammenstapelte.

> Spaeter fand Burroughs die Zufallsreihung hoechst interessant.

> Daraufhin zerschnitt er die Seiten und puzzelte sie neu zusammen.

>

> "Naked Lunch" wurde wegen seiner pornographischen Passagen zum

> Skandalerfolg und wegen seiner Neologismen und

> Hieronymus-Bosch-Visionen zum Steinbruch fuer Popgruppen, die aus

> ihm und den Folgeromanen ihre Namen entliehen, "Steely Dan" oder

> "Soft Machine", und andere Gruppen nannten ihre Musik "Heavy

> Metal".

>

> Doch Burroughs interessierte sich kaum fuer das ganze

> Rocktheater. Er war kein Weltverbesserer wie Ginsberg, kein

> dionysischer Schwaermer wie Kerouac. Tief im Innersten hielt er

> die Beatnik-Pose und das nachfolgende Pop-Getue wohl fuer

> Kinderkram.

>

> Seine letzten Jahre lebte er diszipliniert. Er stand frueh auf,

> fuetterte die Katzen, schrieb. Den ersten Wodka genehmigte er

> sich nie vor vier Uhr nachmittags. Ab und zu besuchte er seinen

> alten Waffenbruder Fred, um zu schiessen.

>

> Er war der Deputy-Marshall, und er hat sich lang gehalten, bis es

> ihn endlich doch noch erwischte.

>

> DER SPIEGEL 33/1997

>  -

>

>

>

Leon Tabory

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 21:47:47 -0400

Reply-To:     "Diane M. Homza" <ek242@cleveland.Freenet.Edu>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Diane M. Homza" <ek242@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Village Voice obit.

 

Reply to message from WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET of Mon, 11 Aug

>

>This week's issue of the Voice carried a full page obit on Burroughs

>with articles by David Ulin and C. (I assume Lucien's son Caleb) Carr.

 

 

I was just flipping through teh issue with the Ginsberg memorial stories &

also noticed an article by this C. Carr....& wondered if he (or she?) was

related to Lucien.

 

Diane.

 

--

                Diane M. Homza <---Professional Rebound Girl!

2 Years Experience; References Are Avaliable!   ek242@cleveland.freenet.edu

"I can't imagine how I ever thought my love might make a difference to him."

                --Richard Powers, _The Gold Bug Variations_

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 22:13:38 -0400

Reply-To:     Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

Subject:      Was Burroughs really a beat writer?

In-Reply-To:  <9708121837.aa12617@mail.cruzio.com>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

Heard an interesting argument recently in discussions about Burroughs

life.  It was argued that Bill Burroughs was not really a beat writer.

Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and most of the other beat writers, saw

their literary efforts as part of a religious mission, a search for faith

as it were.  Most of them were into eastern religions and philosphies and

the ideas of finding peace in mind spirit, and soul.

 

Bill Burroughs hadno such mission in his writings, he was totally anti-

religion, anti-society, anti-everything.  Burroughs, it is argued, was

not idealistic, had no hopes of changing the world or acheiving greater

purposes with his writing.

 

He was a total libertarian who had no use for most people, and for muchof

the world.  Kerouac was an explorer, he traveled to experience and to

write about his experiences.  Burroughs traveled to find drugs so he

could escape from the world, NOT write about it.  Jack Kerouac dreamed of

his hometown and yearned to find new ways to write about and understand

his past.  Burroughs lived in exile most of his life, desperately trying

to convince himself that the world he knew knew outside of Tangier, or

wherever he was living, didnt exsist.

 

Burroughs was a great writer, therefore, but has he been inaccurately

cast as a beat writer because of his friendship with Kerouac and Allen

Ginsberg?

 

 

RJW

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:19:09 -0700

Reply-To:     Levi Asher <brooklyn@NETCOM.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Levi Asher <brooklyn@NETCOM.COM>

Subject:      Bill faces judgement

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

At least the Wall Street Journal article tried to be funny

("an insult to nullity" ... yeah, yeah).  Really, it's

their job to insult people like Burroughs, and I'm only

glad the Wall Street Journal didn't suddenly decide to

embrace Burroughs and call him a genius.  Then I'd really

worry.  Like when Bill Gates suddenly embraces Microsoft.

I prefer to see my adversaries standing across the street,

not to feel their arms around my back.

 

Here are two more "tributes" to Burroughs, one from

the Black Mountain poet Robert Creeley, who's now teaching

at SUNY Buffalo, and one from Carolyn Cassady, the longtime

wife of Neal and frequent Kerouac fictional character.

I emailed both of them asking for spontaneous tributes,

so don't blame them if you don't like their words, blame

me, because I'm the one who asked!

 

I also wrote to a few other people who were likely to

have interesting memories  ... if more write back, I'll keep

posting them.

 

This is what Robert Creeley wrote back:

 

****************************************************************

 

"Here's a brief sense of what I quickly remember apropos

Bill Burroughs.  I can't now recall just who had told me -- like

peripheral gossip -- but sometime in the early '50s I heard of someone

who'd written a 1000 plus page ms with the only objective action being a

neon sign going off/on over a store one could see (in the novel) across

the street, etc, and of someone else who had killed his wife

acidentally, attempting to shoot a glass off her head with gun he said

later characteristically undershot.  That was Kerouac and Bill Burroughs

respectively, though for a time I reversed them not yet knowing either.

In SF in the mid-fifties, and meeting (though he said we'd met briefly

in '49) Allen, he gave me the Yage ms to read, which fsscinated me --

and you'll know I printed "from Naked Lunch, Book III" in the Black

Mountain Review No. 7 (last issue with Allen a contributing editor and

stuff from Jack, Edward Marshall's great poem "Leave the Word Alone."

Cubby Selby, Phil Whalen, Gary Snyder, Mike McClure, Joel Oppenheimer,

WC Williams, Ed Dorn, Edward Dahlberg, Zukofsky, Denise Levertov --

etc.)  I was also fellow contributor for the Big Table business -- and I

remember writing a statement in support when Naked Lunch was to be

published by Grove.

 

We didn't meet, however, untl some years later, must have been at least

the mid-sixties, when he was living in London and I was there for

something or other, and John and Bettina Calder had a party variously

honoring various writers, particularly Burroughs.  We were both John's

"authors" at that point and I was staying with the Calders.  Alex

Trocchi was a good friend and he too was much involved.  Anyhow I

remember making the classic gauche comment when we're introduced, saying

I was stunned with the pleasure of being able to say how much I

respected his work etc etc, and then stumbling on to ask whether or no

he was thinking to stay in London, etc etc -- to all of which he replied

briefly, dryly, yes, no -- etc.  In confusion I grabbed Ed Dorn who was

there, and pulled him over to introduce him. Instantly Burroughs

brightened, asking Ed about a recent piece of Ed's in the Paris Review

-- and how he'd managed the montage, etc.  In short, this was work and

had substance -- not just banal social blather.

 

Thankfully I saw him again quite frequently over the years, and got past

my school boy admiration (though never entirely).  Anyhow we'd meet most

frequently on the road and I liked his droll humor and clarity, call it,

always.  One time after a talk at Naropa wherein he had recounted his

experiences with a device he'd assembled permitting one to track by

thought "traces" or manifests of the physical entiry itself (he said

he'd found one of his cats who'd got lost), he was bemused that none of

the young had asked afterwards how to actually make the device, despite

he had emphasized that all the necessary components could be got at any

place like Radio Shack. Where's their curiousity, was the question.

Another time, when mutual friends were sitting around him in sad

depression over fact of an impending death much affecting him, as I came

in, I am convinced he looked up and winked at me -- certainly a

communication, like they say.

 

I've always thought of him as a literalist, as I think I was -- saying

what he felt, understood, recognized, respected, abhorred, in very

literal terms, including the fantasies.  Thinking of an early common

interest in Korzybski, the non-Aristotelian sense of "meaning" and

syntax, his use of cut-up was very practical and effective.  It broke

the classic "order" or narative as simply a "cause and

effect,""historically" ordered sequence.  I'd already connected with

Celine, for example, and Burroughs was the solid next step.

 

I'd get occasional Xmas cards I am sure James Grauerholtz helped get in

the mail -- I am grateful Bill Burroughs knew I cared, like they say.

He was the impeccable "lone telegraph operator," as he put it. He got a

lot done for us all."

 

(Robert Creeley)

 

****************************************************************

 

   And now for a dissenting opinion, here's what Carolyn Cassady

   (of Neal and Carolyn/"Off The Road" fame) wrote.   I hope

   it doesn't seem she's being disrespectful of Burroughs here,

   rather she's speaking her mind because I asked her for her

   honest thoughts, not just an empty polite tribute.

 

****************************************************************

 

"Trouble is, I don't feel like any "tribute" to BB.  As I

wrote, he didn't want to know me nor I him.  He represented all

that I think negative and counter-poductive, if not downright destructive in

human life and the antithesis of what I believe we should all be about. I

felt somewhat better about him when the TV interviewer asked him if there was

anything in his life he regretted.  Bill's reply was "Are your kidding? Everyt

hing!"  I wanted to say, well, duh--I coulda told you so.  "Wise men learn

from the experience of others; fools from their own".  I know, there's this

theory that in order to appreciate the heights, you have to know the depths,

but I don't agree.  I have much to learn, but I don't think his way would be

rewarding.  So, sorry, Levi,--but lemme know if we scored on this.

Cheers, CC"

 

(Carolyn Cassady)

 

****************************************************************

 

(And now, if anybody out there is in touch with Gary Snyder,

could you please go nudge him and tell him to write back too?)

 

------------------------------------------------------

| Levi Asher = brooklyn@netcom.com                   |

|                                                    |

|    Literary Kicks: http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/ |

|     (3 years old and still running)                |

|                                                    |

|        "Coffeehouse: Writings from the Web"        |

|          (a real book, like on paper)              |

|             also at http://coffeehousebook.com     |

|                                                    |

|                *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*  |

|                                                    |

|                  "It was my dream that screwed up" |

|                                    -- Jack Kerouac |

------------------------------------------------------

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:22:02 -0700

Reply-To:     Levi Asher <brooklyn@NETCOM.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Levi Asher <brooklyn@NETCOM.COM>

Subject:      Bill faces judgement (fwd)

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

I wrote (2 seconds ago)

 

> At least the Wall Street Journal article tried to be funny

> ("an insult to nullity" ... yeah, yeah).  Really, it's

> their job to insult people like Burroughs, and I'm only

> glad the Wall Street Journal didn't suddenly decide to

> embrace Burroughs and call him a genius.  Then I'd really

> worry.  Like when Bill Gates suddenly embraces Microsoft.

> I prefer to see my adversaries standing across the street,

 

Oops, obviously I meant "embraces Apple" -- see, I'm

totally confused already ...

 

------------------------------------------------------

| Levi Asher = brooklyn@netcom.com                   |

|                                                    |

|    Literary Kicks: http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/ |

|     (3 years old and still running)                |

|                                                    |

|        "Coffeehouse: Writings from the Web"        |

|          (a real book, like on paper)              |

|             also at http://coffeehousebook.com     |

|                                                    |

|                *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*  |

|                                                    |

|                  "It was my dream that screwed up" |

|                                    -- Jack Kerouac |

------------------------------------------------------

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 21:30:58 -0500

Reply-To:     jo grant <jgrant@BOOKZEN.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         jo grant <jgrant@BOOKZEN.COM>

Subject:      Luther Allison

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Luther Allison died today, 08-12-97, in Madison, Wi.

 

j grant

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:35:12 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Church of St. John

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Beal-l folk looking for a more attractive religious organization might

be interested in the St. Johns African Orthodox Church in SF, since the

St. John is Coltrane.  Was going to post a reference to a story on this

unique church but got lazy and then the Burroughs death dominated

everyone's mind.  For a more complete report one could look up a story

that appeared in the SF Weekly for the week of July 23-39.  Services

with Coltrane's music held every Sunday and special services on the

anniversery of Coltrane's ascension. Any Coltrane fanatics out there

interested in a copy let me know.

 

J. Stauffer

 

I guess until we get a St. Williams, this will have to do.

 

J Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:40:32 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      Re: Luther Allison

Comments: To: jo grant <jgrant@BOOKZEN.COM>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

jo grant wrote:

>

> Luther Allison died today, 08-12-97, in Madison, Wi.

>

What a year.  Think I'll put on "Reckless".

 

J. Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:23:03 -0700

Reply-To:     stauffer@pacbell.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James Stauffer <stauffer@PACBELL.NET>

Subject:      [Fwd: Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles]

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: message/rfc822

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Message-ID: <33F11A46.61A0@pacbell.net>

Date: Tue, 12 Aug 1997 19:21:58 -0700

From: James Stauffer <stauffer@pacbell.net>

Reply-To: stauffer@pacbell.net

X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (Win95; I)

MIME-Version: 1.0

To: "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject: Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

References: <c=US%a=_%p=OEES%l=SD-MAIL-970812162945Z-458@sd-mail.sd.oees.com>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Without a doubt the WSJ  piece was poorly thought and badly timed. As

someone who usually reads the WSJ editorial page I was appalled. But I

am still for free speech, even stupid speech. Good art always seems to

be able to outlast stupid criticism.  Such a tirade may even attract

readers for Ginsberg's and Burrough's work.  Think of what a

masterstroke of marketing the Howl obscenity trial was--no publisher

could or would have bought a poet that kind of a high profile.  Same was

true for Joyce and Lawrence.  Remember how delighted movie and book

distributors used to be when they were banned in Boston so that they

could splash "Banned in Boston" on a marquee or a book display?

 

J Stauffer

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 21:48:06 -0500

Reply-To:     Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Patricia Elliott <pelliott@SUNFLOWER.COM>

Subject:      Re: Luther Allison

Comments: To: jo grant <jgrant@BOOKZEN.COM>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

jo grant wrote:

>

> Luther Allison died today, 08-12-97, in Madison, Wi.

>

> j grant

who was Luther Allison? Pardon my ignorance.

p

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 03:09:44 UT

Reply-To:     Sherri <love_singing@MSN.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Sherri <love_singing@MSN.COM>

Subject:      Re: Luther Allison

 

Damn!!  is there anybody left?

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 23:47:23 -0400

Reply-To:     Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Alex Howard <kh14586@ACS.APPSTATE.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Was Burroughs really a beat writer?

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SUN.3.91-FP.970812220342.23103A-100000@cap1.capaccess.org>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

When discussing this in the past and asked to name the big three, I always

said Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Corso.  Burroughs too, but always I list last

as he seemed to transcend beat.  He was beat and something more.  He, like

the others, sought to break literary and (insert conceptual term here)

boundaries, but only as a means to better communicate.  What he wanted to

communicate went above, beyond, and sideways to the others.  As beat as he

wanted to be, no more no less; but so much more.  Years from now when

post-modernism finally gets a real name and is figured out by academia so

they can teach about it Burroughs will be there just after the sophmores

finish their papers on Beckett.

 

------------------

Alex Howard  (704)264-8259                    Appalachian State University

kh14586@acs.appstate.edu                      P.O. Box 12149

http://www.acs.appstate.edu/~kh14586          Boone, NC  28608

=========================================================================

Date:         Tue, 12 Aug 1997 23:54:10 -0600

Reply-To:     stand666@bitstream.net

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         R&R Houff <stand666@BITSTREAM.NET>

Subject:      LUTHER ALLISON

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

Thanks Jo for the post, and Bentz, James, Charles,

for your kindness. My father was with him earlier

yesterday, and called late last night. When the phone

rings after 3:00 A.M., you pretty much know what's

next. I've spent pretty much the whole day and evening

on my back steps playing bottleneck. There's a band shell

amphitheater 100 miles south of St Paul. It's a nice quiet

place that is no longer in use. I think I'll head down there

for a few days and play some slide. About a month ago I was

there and it had a beautiful sound bouncing off the walls. My

dad wants to give Luther a Scotish rites farewell with bagpipes

and drums. Play The Black Watch and Amazing Grace. You know,

Luther would probably get a bang out of that one. All these old

white guys from the Masonic Lodge, honoring him. Maybe there's

hope after all. It seems strange that my interview with Luther

would be his last. Alligator Records loved it, Pulse Magazine

prints it, and two days later he recieves a terminal diagnosis.

But the blues never dies. I'll be interviewing Homesick James for

Pulse. Homesick James is probably the last living link to Robert

Johnson. He is the same age as Burroughs: 83, born in 1914--and

he plays on a Fender Strat with Marshall Amp, slide, and all--

rocking the house!!! Now that's cool.

 

Richard Houff

Pariah Press

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 00:58:20 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Last look at Walgreens?

Comments: To: junky@burroughs.net

 

In a message dated 97-08-12 23:53:00 EDT, you write:

 

<< has been spent on some mutated

 form of acid, what with all the event cracking my head open across that

 time, there's no other possible explanation other than this is just not

 real.

 but of course, it is.... >>

 

Damn right. I caught that same "bug." Something did happen, I'dsay. I've been

through 'em before. I knew that old con man was gonna restonate the hell

outta things. "Look at these paintings, Charley; this is great art. See the

shapes of things that keep forming? I did.

 

You can have anything of mine. Sharing love for the old man is enough.

Tonight has been the first night I started to come off the "mutated acid"

jag. I wonder if Burroughs cut to another stratasphere, or is he peering

around  in a black hole looking for Huncke to ferret out  the scence?

C Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 01:33:27 -0400

Reply-To:     DawnDR@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Dawn B. Sova" <DawnDR@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Village Voice obit.

 

Just a response regarding the C.Carr whose byline appears in the voice.  That

is Lucien's son Caleb --- author of  THE ALIENIST (a very dark, literate and

engrossing novel ) -- as well as much other work.  I saw interviews with him

in '94?  when the novel was climbing up the bestseller lists.

 

Dawn

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 05:41:14 -0400

Reply-To:     Mike Rice <mrice@CENTURYINTER.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Mike Rice <mrice@CENTURYINTER.NET>

Subject:      Re: Bill faces judgement (fwd)

Comments: To: Levi Asher <brooklyn@NETCOM.COM>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

No, you had it right.  Gates certainly embraced

Microsoft before Apple so you had it right.  I wish

the sledge thrower from the 84 macintosh intro

commercial by Ridley Scott, I wish some had had a

hammer to throw at Gates' massive TV head during the

Apple symposium in Boston, where Gates appeared as

a new "Big Brother."

 

Mike Rice

 

 

 

 

At 07:22 PM 8/12/97 -0700, you wrote:

>I wrote (2 seconds ago)

>

>> At least the Wall Street Journal article tried to be funny

>> ("an insult to nullity" ... yeah, yeah).  Really, it's

>> their job to insult people like Burroughs, and I'm only

>> glad the Wall Street Journal didn't suddenly decide to

>> embrace Burroughs and call him a genius.  Then I'd really

>> worry.  Like when Bill Gates suddenly embraces Microsoft.

>> I prefer to see my adversaries standing across the street,

>

>Oops, obviously I meant "embraces Apple" -- see, I'm

>totally confused already ...

>

>------------------------------------------------------

>| Levi Asher = brooklyn@netcom.com                   |

>|                                                    |

>|    Literary Kicks: http://www.charm.net/~brooklyn/ |

>|     (3 years old and still running)                |

>|                                                    |

>|        "Coffeehouse: Writings from the Web"        |

>|          (a real book, like on paper)              |

>|             also at http://coffeehousebook.com     |

>|                                                    |

>|                *--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*--*  |

>|                                                    |

>|                  "It was my dream that screwed up" |

>|                                    -- Jack Kerouac |

>------------------------------------------------------

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 13:37:46 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      Re: who's who?

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SOL.3.91.970812085153.12553C-100000@baskerville.CS.Ar

              izona.EDU>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Shannon,

 

the writer Fernanda Pivano in the '60s was in correspondence

with Henri Cru (in OTR he is Remi Boncoeur),

 

exempli gratia:

#1

''Dear Miss Pivano, please permit me to introduce myself...

My name is Henry Cru and my best friend "Jack Kerouac"

sent ne the enclosed postal card on my trip around the

world. I am an electrician on the President Jackson and

we are scheduled to arrive in Genoa June sixt or possibly

a day or two later. In Jack's best selling novel On The

Road he named himself "Sal Paradise" and he called me

"Remi Bon Coeur". According to his card he wishes for me

to tell you that I am Remi and then he sent me. I have no

idea why he wants me to tell you this but knowing Jack as

I do he must have some kind of mystical reason. I would be

delighted to receive a card from you enlightening me to

Kerouac's motives. My very best wishes.''.

#2

"Dear Nanda & Ettore, I have been on the road ona on the

ocean for many years but when ''Mon Frere'' Jack Kerouac

forget about ''the Beatnik Generation'' and starts to

entertain notions of scraping all his nonsensical ideas

about non conformism and starts to formulatae a gospel that

will bring peace to this miserable world, peoples in every

land will find love and genuine kindness like I found in

this home where I was treated like a King... Merci du fond

de mon coeur. Henri Cru "Remi Bon Coeur" ''.

 

 

Henri Cru, (Remi Boncoeur) is very important &

Jack Kerouac devoted alot of pages about him  in "On the Road"

but Henri Cru is not mentioned in the Legend of Beat, why?

Boncoeur said "You can't teach the old maestro a new tone",

i consider the best motto in all OTR,

 

saluti

Rinaldo.

*

"Aaaaah Paradise, he comes in through the window,

he follows instructions to a T."---Remi Boncoeur in JK's OTR

*

 

At 08.55 12/08/97 -0700,

"Shannon L. Stephens" <shanstep@CS.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:

>I'm still working on "On the Road," and have a character question.

>Don't jump all over me for this...if it screams ignorance...chalk it up

>to unfamiliarity. Who is Remi...and subsequently Lee Ann?

>

>-shannon

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 08:03:19 -0400

Reply-To:     Bruce Hartman <bwhartmanjr@INAME.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bruce Hartman <bwhartmanjr@INAME.COM>

Subject:      Re: Church of St. John

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

J.,

 

Resident Coltrane fanatic here. . .   what exactly are you offering copies

of?  I've seen the article you're talking about, and I must say that sounds

like the coolest place in the world.  I just hope one of these days I'll

make it to San Francisco to experience it personally.

 

 

If you've got leads on any other obscure Coltrane info on the web shoot 'em

my way.  I surfed well into (probably a few thousand sites deep) the

altavista return for "Coltrane" and was pretty let down by the majority of

the tributes. . .

 

Best to you,

 

Bruce

bwhartmanjr@iname.com

http://www.geocities.com/~tranestation

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 09:04:35 EDT

Reply-To:     Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Comments:     Resent-From: Fred Bogin <FDBBC@cunyvm.cuny.edu>

Comments:     Originally-From: Matthias_Schneider

              <magrobi@mail.zedat.fu-berlin.de>

From:         Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Subject:      Help! I am looking for an citation by Ginsberg

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

 

Hi folks!

I am working at a thesis on  Contemporary American Literature, and I have

once heard a citation by Ginsberg of which I have lost the source.

It=B4s about his attitude about literature which he considers as  something

like leaving traces that can be followed and by this have to be

interpreteted and even translated .

Any  idea?

Thanks,

M. Schneider (Berlin)

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 09:40:21 EDT

Reply-To:     Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Comments:     Resent-From: Fred Bogin <FDBBC@cunyvm.cuny.edu>

Comments:     Originally-From: Ddrooy@aol.com

From:         Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Subject:      Re: Help! I am looking for an citation by Ginsberg

Comments: To: Bill Gargan <wxgbc@cunyvm.cuny.edu>

 

This isn't the citation, but it does have the essence of the citation, one

thing leading into another... and you may yet find it useful to your work:

..............................................................................

.....

In 1948 I had some kind of break in the normal modality of my consciousness.

While alone living a relatively solitary vegetarian contemplative life,

reading St. John of the Cross, Plotinus some, notions of "alone with the

Alone," or "one hand clapping," or The Cloud of Unknowing, or Plato's

Phaedrus, and William Blake, I had what was--for me--an extraordinary break

in the normal nature of my thought when something opened up.

 

I had finished masturbating, actually, on the sixth floor of a Harlem

tenement on 121st Street looking out at the roofs while reading Blake, back

and forth, and suddenly had a kind of auditory hallucination, hearing

Blake-what I thought was his voice, very deep, earthen tone, not very far

from my own mature tone of voice, so perhaps a projection of my own latent

physiology-reciting a poem called "The Sunflower," which I thought expressed

some kind of universal longing for union with some infinite nature. The poem

goes, "Ah, Sunflower/Weary of time/Who counteth the steps of the sun/Seeking

after that sweet golden clime where the traveler's journey is done/Where the

youth pined away with desire/And the pale virgin shrouded with snow/Arise

from their graves and aspire where my sunflower wishes to go."

 

I can't interpret it exactly now, but the impression that I had at the time

was of some infinite yearning for the infinite, finally realized, and I

looked out the window and began to notice the extraordinary detail of

intelligent labor that had gone into the making of the rooftop cornices of

the Harlem buildings. And I suddenly realized that the world was, in a sense,

not dead matter, but an increment or deposit of living intelligence and

action and activity that finally took form-the Italian laborers of 1890 and

1910, making very fine copper work and roofcomb ornament as you find along

the older tenement apartment buildings.

 

And as I looked at the sky I wondered what kind of intelligence had made that

vastness, or what was the nature of the intelligence that I was glimpsing,

and felt a sense of vastness and of coming home to a space I hadn't realized

was there before but which seemed old and infinite, like the ancient of Days,

so to speak.

 

But I had no training in anything but Western notions and didn't know how to

find a vocabulary for the experience, so I thought I had seen "God" or

"Light" or some western notion of a theistic center, or that was the

impression at the time.

..........................................................................

Here's the link to the entire interview:  <A HREF="http://www.shambhalasun.com

/ginsberg.html">The Spiritual Biography of Allen Ginsberg</A>

 

Good luck.

 

Diane De Rooy

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 10:29:49 EST

Reply-To:     DUST MY BROOM <breithau@KENYON.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         DUST MY BROOM <breithau@KENYON.EDU>

Subject:      Kesey schedule, attention Canadians

 

Just a reminder to check the schedule of Kesey and his Pranksters as the bus

heads east and north once again on the Grandfurthur II Tour. If I remember, he

is making some stops in Canada. Click on the GRAND FURTHUR II Tour via

WWW.INTREPIDTRIPS.COM

 

They may be coming soon to a town near you!

 

Dave B.

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 11:48:06 EDT

Reply-To:     Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Organization: Brooklyn College Library

Subject:      ANother German Burroughs obit

 

Sueddeutsche Zeitung (Munich) August 4, 1997

 

Bill the Ripper

 

Zum Tod von Amerikas Saeulenheiligen

William S. Burroughs

 

Liebe Kinder, bitte nicht nachmachen!

Nach Augenzeugenberichten war es nur ein

Partyspiel. Aber weil zur Bowle Peyote

gereicht wurde und Marihuana, pflanzte

Burroughs seiner Frau einen Apfel auf

den Kopf, spielte Wilhelm Tell und

schoss. Der Apfel ueberstand das Spiel,

aber Joan Vollmer war auf der Stelle

tot. Halbwegs vernuenftige Menschen

wuerden jetzt das Fixen und Kiffen sein

lassen und nie wieder eine Waffe

anfassen, aber William Burroughs knallte

sich weiter rein, was an Halluzinogenen

zu kriegen war. In der Einleitung zum

Naked Lunch (1959) spricht er von einer

45 Jahre waehrenden Sucht; wer ihn

besuchte in den letzten Jahren, musste

mit ihm zuallererst auf Blechbuechsen

ballern. Der Mann war offensichtlich

verrueckt.

 

Oder Amerikaner. Da stand er 1990 auf

der Buehne des Thalia Theaters in Hamburg

neben Robert Wilson und Lou Reed, ein

hoffnungslos in seinem Buchhalteranzug

verschrumpfter Opa, zerknittert und bis

aufs feinste Knoechelchen entfleischt,

nicht mehr von dieser Welt, aber durch

saemtliche Formen geschritten, ein

Saeulenheiliger der Avantgarde, der alles

ueberlebt hatte. Aufgefuehrt wurde sein

Musical Black Rider, eine

Freischuetz-Geschichte -- und wieder eine

toedliche Kugel aus Liebe.

 

William Seward Burroughs, 1914 in St.

Louis als Fabrikantensohn geboren, war

nun wirklich fuer Besseres geboren. Wie

sein Landsmann T. S. Eliot ein

Vierteljahrhundert zuvor ging er nach

Harvard zum Studieren, dann nach Europa,

aber irgendwann drehte er durch und

machte seinen Unfrieden mit dem Alptraum

Amerika. Meldete sich eines schoenen

Tages beim FBI und wollte Geheimagent

werden. Sie lehnten ihn

vernuenftigerweise ab. Ersatzweise wurde

er rauschgiftsuechtig und lebte nun

selber in bestaendiger Furcht vor den

Haeschern. Einer wie Burroughs war

geboren fuer die Grosse Amerikanische

Paranoia.

 

Mit der Verbissenheit seiner Vorvaeter --

dieser Geldverdiener und sittenstrengen

Stuetzen der Gemeinde --, mit der gleichen

inbruenstigen Verbissenheit setzte sich

Burroughs jeder Sucht dieser irdischen

Welt aus, lungerte in Tanger herum, wo

er die Sonne nicht vertrug, schrieb,

obwohl er nicht wusste wie und wovon er

leben sollte, schrieb auf Entzug und im

Rausch, wie ein Suechtiger.

 

Sie sind ziemlich schwer zu lesen, seine

Buecher, cut up. Zerstueckelt habe er

seine Texte bis zur Unverstaendlichkeit,

immer neu zusammengefuegt und dabei

zerfleddert. Aber brauchte so viel

Wahnsinn ueberhaupt eine Methode? Sie

sollten "reines Fleisch" sein, schrieb

ihm sein Freund Allen Ginsberg ins Buch,

"ohne symbolische Sosse". Weh dem, der

Symbole sieht in seinen Tausendfuesslern,

Halbtieren und Dreiviertelmonstern!

Alles Fleisch vom Fleische Amerikas, die

schlichte Wahrheit, wie Burroughs sie

sah im Wahn. "Ich bin", versicherte er,

"ich bin nur ein Aufzeichnungsgeraet."

 

Roland Barthes harfte ausgiebig ueber den

Nullpunkt, an dem sich die Literatur um

1960 angeblich befand, aber Burroughs

beschrieb diesen Punkt nicht bloss,

sondern stach immer wieder hinein, nahm

sich staendig neue Proben ab, zerfetzte

sich und seine Texte. Der Dichter in

seiner besten Eigenschaft als Schlitzer.

Entziehungskuren mussten dann sein, mal

bei Dr. Wilhelm Reich, dann bei L. Ron

Hubbard, aber weder die Orgonmaschine

noch die Scientology halfen. Und so fand

er nach zwei Ehefrauen und einem Sohn

zurueck zu den Freuden der Jugend, zur

Erinnerung an die ersten verstohlenen

Griffe in die fremde Unterhose. Gegen so

viel Leben kommt das Werk nicht an,

schon allein, weil es nach den fruehen

Buechern Methode wurde. Aber: Von Velvet

Underground ueber Patti Smith bis Kurt

Cobain folgten sie ihm nach -- und war er

nicht ein Heiliger?

 

In New York verschanzte er sich in einem

Gelass in der Bowery, vierfach verriegelt

gegen die Penner und Junkies draussen,

die ihn, den alten gebrechlichen Mann,

vielleicht haetten ueberfallen koennen,

waehrend er sich drin, umgeben von

Stahlruten, Revolvern und Pornoheften,

ausmalte, wie es wohl war, von den

wilden Kerlen ueberfallen zu werden.

 

Zuletzt kehrte er zurueck in den

Mittleren Westen, zu seinen xenophoben,

dafuer gottesfuerchtigen Mitbuergern,

schiesswuetig wie sie und nicht weniger

paranoid. Sie wussten genau, dass die

Kommunisten (wahlweise die Juden, die

Katholiken) das Trinkwasser vergiftet

hatten oder der CIA das Aids-Virus

gezuechtet, um die ganze Menschheit

auszurotten. Burroughs sammelte all

diese Geschichten und bewegte sie in

seinem Herzen. Dann schoss er wieder auf

seine Blechbuechsen.

 

Aber bitte, liebe Kinder, nicht

nachmachen zu Hause! Am Samstag ist der

gute Amerikaner William S. Burroughs in

Lawrence (Kansas) im Alter von 83 Jahren

gestorben.

 

WILLI WINKLER

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 11:48:33 EDT

Reply-To:     Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Fred Bogin <FDBBC@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Organization: Brooklyn College Library

Subject:      Oops

 

Sorry about that last post. I hit the wrong key too soon. It was a

Burroughs obit from the Munich paper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung. Thanks to Leon

for translating the other one, sorry I'm too lazy to do it myself. If

you want to do this one, too... :-)

 

 

Fred

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 09:29:54 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: Wall Street Journal 'n Fruity Pebbles

Comments: To: "stauffer@pacbell.net" <stauffer@pacbell.net>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

James writ:

 

<<

>But I

>am still for free speech, even stupid speech. Good art always seems to

>be able to outlast stupid criticism.  Such a tirade may even attract

>readers for Ginsberg's and Burrough's work.

>>

 

good art,  <hm>....  Been talking backchannel about death and

aesthetics.  How death always wins over style and substance and whatnot.

 At least I'm assuming that's the end equation.  Can a writer/artist be

immortal?  That's the question.  Will the remaining works leave enough

of an impression to live forever?

 

And then we get talking about "art for art's" sake.  Yep, I'm a firm

believer in that; but I don't think it's unfair to also ask what *work*

does a piece do.  What *work*?  And not *if* it is art, but *when* is it

art?

 

driving into work today, thinking of all my old friends.  5 years oughta

college, 10 years oughta high school.  and all them before and since.

Promotion?  What is that dirty dog?  A:  It's an attitude I haven't

quite grasped yet.  The citation and linking of "new" and "cool" with a

person.  All these newspapers, all the television shows, all the fucking

middlemen mucking up the works, taking their 5-10%+.  Promotion taking

it's cut of the action.

 

PJ Harvey's "driving" pumping on the car stereo, waiting for the light

to change.  Attractive executive woman in a uptown car applies makeup.

Nerd boy to my right thinks about his code unraveling in various places.

 And where am I?  Who am I hustling today?

 

and death?  you wanna piece of me?  come and take it

 

>> J Stauffer

 

Douglas

>

>

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 12:35:51 -0400

Reply-To:     CVEditions@AOL.COM

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Pamela Beach Plymell <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Bill faces judgement (fwd)

Comments: To: mrice@centuryinter.net

 

In a message dated 97-08-13 12:20:02 EDT, you write:

 

<<  glad the Wall Street Journal didn't suddenly decide to

 >> embrace Burroughs and call him a ge >>

 

I'm with you there. Though, I think the writer was some of that new

merchandise who will never have that old spirit B talked about. That is

sad...for them .Oh Brave Newts.

C. Plymell

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 09:42:59 -0700

Reply-To:     "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Penn, Douglas, K" <dkpenn@OEES.COM>

Subject:      Re: Last look at Walgreens?

Comments: To: "CVEditions@AOL.COM" <CVEditions@AOL.COM>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

C writ:

 

<<

>I wonder if Burroughs cut to another stratasphere, or is he peering

>around  in a black hole looking for Huncke to ferret out  the scence?

>>

 

and death as in life Charley Brown?  Interesting to read all these obits

and questions of beatness.  That Burroughs wasn't an optimist, wasn't

this and that compared to Kerouac and Ginsberg.  So he didn't care what

people thought?  Didn't care about this and that ideal?

 

and in death?  free of this mortal coil, so to speak, then what?  Maybe

he's living a completely different life now.  Am feeling poetic and

generally pissed off this morning.  I'll die a 1000 deaths and report

back later.

 

>> C Plymell

 

Douglas

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 12:44:04 EDT

Reply-To:     Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Subject:      Thanks Leon

 

Good shot at that translation.  My buddy Fred who posted it said that it would

be tough to translate because of slang.

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 14:47:58 -0500

Reply-To:     Michael Skau <mskau@CWIS.UNOMAHA.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Michael Skau <mskau@CWIS.UNOMAHA.EDU>

Subject:      burroughs

Content-Type: text

 

Hello again.

I've been out of town for a few weeks and quit the list for that

period. I saw about Burroughs's passing in a newspaper.

Has anyone seen any comments from either Corso or Ferlinghetti on

his death? If so, could you let me know where you saw them by

contacting me on the list or privately.

Thanks. I appreciate it in advance.

Cordially,

Mike Skau

8/13/97

mskau@cwis.unomaha.edu

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 18:36:01 EDT

Reply-To:     Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Bill Gargan <WXGBC@CUNYVM.BITNET>

 

I've had several requests to change the reply function on the list so

that all replies default to the list rather than the sender.  Since

traffic seems to have become more reasonable lately, I've asked Fred

Bogin to change the default tomorrow morning.  After this is done, your

reply will be sent directly to all list members.  Please keep this in

mind to avoid sending private messages out to the whole list.

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 18:59:29 -0400

Reply-To:     Judith Campbell <boondock@POBOX.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Judith Campbell <boondock@POBOX.COM>

Subject:      McCarthy Review of Naked Lunch Online

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

The New York Book of Reviews has posted the entire content of the first

issue online, including the review of Naked Lunch by Mary McCarthy.

 

The url:  http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/firstcontents.html

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Judith

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 20:04:12 -0700

Reply-To:     "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Michael R. Brown" <foosi@GLOBAL.CALIFORNIA.COM>

Subject:      Re: Was Burroughs really a beat writer?

Comments: To: Richard Wallner <rwallner@CAPACCESS.ORG>

In-Reply-To:  <Pine.SUN.3.91-FP.970812220342.23103A-100000@cap1.capaccess.org>

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

 

On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Richard Wallner wrote:

 

> Heard an interesting argument recently in discussions about Burroughs

> life.  It was argued that Bill Burroughs was not really a beat writer.

> Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and most of the other beat writers, saw

> their literary efforts as part of a religious mission, a search for faith

> as it were.  Most of them were into eastern religions and philosphies and

> the ideas of finding peace in mind spirit, and soul.

 

Oh, Burroughs was at least as religious as Kerouac, Ginsberg & Co. Ker and

Gins were more in the extroverted, extrojected Catholic or Tibetan

Buddhist line. Burr had religion, but it had no deity-object, no cathedral

(other tha, perhaps, the experiential soma), no Holy Book. He was in the

minimalist-to-negative-theology family of Zen, Nagarjuna, Pierre de

Caussade S.J. (_Abandonment to Divine Providence_ - *good book), and

minimalist good-works Protestantism.

 

"Beat" perhaps has no wider meaning than Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs,

Ferlinghetti, et fils. What does "Impressionist" mean other than those

painters? But if "Beat" has any general meaning, it would seem to be the

the following:

 

- sacredness of immediate inspiration

- defiance of past forms/formulas

- Whitmanesque onward rushing motion

- concrete-oriented street-grit in style

- sexual and pharmacological themes

- nomadic narrators

- combination of cynical or even resigned-depressive tendencies (style

  often emotionally flat) with idealism.

 

Highly religious, and fits Burr perfectly.

 

 

 

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

  Michael R. Brown                        foosi@global.california.com

+ -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- + -- +

 

  "Wittgenstein said that if the universe is pre-recorded, the only thing

   not pre-recorded is those recordings themselves. In my work,

   the cut-ups and all, I attempt to get at the substance of the

   recordings."

                                - William S. Burroughs

                                  (quoted from memory)

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 23:27:50 -0400

Reply-To:     "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "R. Bentz Kirby" <bocelts@SCSN.NET>

Organization: Law Office of R. Bentz Kirby

Subject:      [Fwd: Old Bull Lee]

MIME-Version: 1.0

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I thought this was a particularly good post from the Dylan newsgroup.

Patricia, maybe he could still come to Lawrence, but what would he do,

maybe he could feed the cats or something.

 

Peace,

--

Bentz

bocelts@scsn.net

 

http://www.scsn.net/users/sclaw

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Path:

 Supernews69!SupernewsFH!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.eecs.umich.edu!newshub.tc.umn

 .edu!news.d.umn.edu!bulldog.d.umn.edu!mlenz

From: mlenz@bulldog.d.umn.edu (michael lenz)

Newsgroups: rec.music.dylan

Subject: Old Bull Lee

Date: 12 Aug 1997 20:42:38 GMT

Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth

Message-ID: <5sqhru$6h1$2@news.d.umn.edu>

NNTP-Posting-Host: bulldog.d.umn.edu

X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2]

Xref: Supernews69 rec.music.dylan:89808

 

 

i'm not a regular reader of this newsgroup.  this is my first visit since the

 death

of mr. burroughs.  i have to say i'm apalled at at the general brutality and

ignorance that is reigning in here.  you cannot place a value on literature.  it

 is

not quantitative.  you cannot say that hemingway is better than burroughs or

 that

burroughs is better than hemingway.  you can like them both, one of them or

neither.  i think to fully appreciate burroughs you have to here the voice.

burroughs voice is that of a withered shaman.  his work is about culture's

 absurd

attempt to keep up with the technological explosion.  it reflects in dark humor

 the

entropy and isolation that has come to earmark postmodern lioterature.  for me

 he

was among the best.  i value cut-ups and other such experimental forms of

 writing.

i put only pynchon before him and i hesitate to do that because as i said

 before,

it's not a quantitative thing.  i was planning a trip to lawrence next summer,

maybe take in a few horde/furthur shows on the way and sit on the old mystic's

porch for a while.   (i know people who have done this.  burroughs was always a

gentleman to the wayfarers).  i don't know who said what, nor do i care, but the

person who said that he never wrote anything good after Junkie (it was

 origanally

published "Junkie" then reprinted "Junky") and Naked Lunch is ignorant of that

 last

triumphant trilogy (Cities of the Red Night, Place of Dead Roads, and The

 Western

Lands) and the short, but beautiful "The Cat Inside".  Burroughs caused me to

question in my own thinking and writing such elemetary things as words and

 phrases.

to discount his body of work as a "blight" is ignorant and short-sighted.  i for

one will miss the voice and am sorry that my plans were a summer too late.

mike lenz

 

p.s. Check out Ports of Entry.  it's a book of Burroughs artwork.  he was

 equally

talented and equally inventive in that as an artist and a writer.

 

 

--------------9DEC3992ADB3BC61D795DE66--

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 00:47:55 -0400

Reply-To:     Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Re: LUTHER ALLISON

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Richard,

 

        Thought you'd like to know that our local paper , the Montreal

Gazette (founded by Ben Franklin believe it or not!) had a nice obituary

about Luther Allison. They described his great show at this year's Montreal

Jazz Festival (which we missed!?!) and what a great receptiion he had.

 

        Also, CBC (the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, our counterpart to

NPR) had a nice bit about Luther on their national radio news at 6:00pm

yesterday, finishing up with "Walkin' Papers". Very nice.

 

        My regards and condolences,

 

                Antoine

 Voice contact at  (514) 933-4956 in Montreal

 

     "An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do!"

                        -- Norman Navrotsky and Utah Phillips

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 10:17:51 +0200

Reply-To:     Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Rinaldo Rasa <rinaldo@GPNET.IT>

Subject:      about razor

In-Reply-To:  <c=US%a=_%p=OEES%l=SD-MAIL-970812172530Z-539@sd-mail.sd.oee s.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

>Rinaldo, you are such a tease.  Somebody please translate?

>

>Douglas

 

>>        ENTIA NON SUNT MULTIPLICANDA

>>        PRAETER NECESSITATEM...

>>

 

please, excuse me, the translation is

 

        "IT IS VAIN TO DO WITH MORE

        WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH FEWER"

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 08:44:33 -0400

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         James J Stavola <JDSept@AOL.COM>

Subject:      Re: Was Burroughs really a beat writer?

Comments: To: rwallner@capaccess.org

 

Certainly WSB was a beat writer,maybe not in the total sense of religious

mission or so called peace of mind that you mentioned but all of them were a

reaction to that little white house Leave it to Beaver mentality of the late

40s and early 50s.I think the begining of the beat movement was actually a

reaction to the boring mentality of America at that time by the showing of

the fringe livers.WSB certainly fills that concept.Afterwards the writers

went in many individual but loosely tied direction but the original bindings

were still there.most of these guys lived in some kind of exile WSB by

himself or in a group type exile as some of the others did.The idea of

beatness goes farther then just writing anyways.The ultimate beat(terrible

term) who most admired and was a starting point for some of them Neal C. was

hardly a writer at all.I think WSB fits the beat mold.

                         thank-you

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 09:04:00 -0400

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         "Hemenway . Mark" <MHemenway@DRC.COM>

Subject:      Lowell Schedule

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

----------

From:  Mark Hemenway[SMTP:mhemenway@igc.apc.org]

Sent:  Wednesday, August 13, 1997 9:57 PM

To:  Hemenway . Mark

 

10th Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival 2-5 October 1997

Lowell, MA Jack Kerouac Celebrates Lowell

 

THURSDAY 2 OCTOBER

Barbara Concannon-Crete Memorial Poetry Prize- High School Poetry

9:00AM-11:00AM

Lowell High School Poetry Competition for High School Students-

for Information call 508-452-7966

 

Downtown Kerouac Places- Walking Tour

4:30-6:00 PM

Roger Brunelle leads a walking tour of  Kerouac's downtown. Begins

at Middlesex Community College, ends at the Pollard Memorial

Library.

 

Images of  Kerouac '97- Reception and Photography Exhibition

6:00PM- 8:00PM

Whistler House Museum of Art,  243 Worthen Street Open exhibition

of photography inspired by Jack Kerouac or the Beats. Entries

welcome. Deadline 12 September. Co-sponsored by the Whistler House

Museum of Art, 508-452-7641.

 

Jack Kerouac Literary Prize Award

7:00PM

Whistler House Museum of Art, 243 Worthen Street Presentation of

the 9th Annual Jack Kerouac Literary Prize. The prize is sponsored

by The Estate of Jack and Stella Kerouac, Lowell Celebrates

Kerouac!, Inc. and  Middlesex Community College.

 

Dr Sax Nights- Walking Tours

8:00PM-10:00PM

Roger Brunelle leads a walking tour of Kerouac's Pawtucketville.

Tour begins at MacDonald's Mammoth Rd, ends at  the Spaulding

House,  Pawtucket Blvd. for discussion. Rain or shine.

 

Friends and Music

10:00PM-12:00PM

Greek Band, Greek food and Lowell Poets. The Athenian Corner

Restaurant, 207 Market Street.

 

FRIDAY 3 OCTOBER

3rd Annual Beat Literature Symposium

8:00AM-5:00PM

O'Leary Library, Room 222, South Campus, UMASS-Lowell 9:00AM-12:00

Noon - Presentation of Papers 2:00PM - Keynote Presentation by Ann

Douglas, Columbia University 3:00PM-5:00 - Panel discussions

Leading scholars present original research on beat authors,

writing techniques and cultural phenomena. No charge.  For

information and pre-registration, call 508-934-2446. Sponsored by

the English Department and the Department of Continuing Education,

UMASS-Lowell.

 

Mystic Jack- Walking Tour

5:00PM-6:00PM

Begins and ends at St. Louis Church, Centralville. Tour by Roger

Brunelle.

 

Memorial Mass for Jack and Stella Kerouac

6:00PM-7:00PM

St. Louis de France Church, Centralville

 

Listen to the Beat- Readings

8:00PM-10:00PM

The Parkway Cafe,  350 Market Street Poets Vincent Ferrini,

Patricia Smith, Michael Brown, Lawrence Carradini, and Meg Smith.

Singer song-writer,  Bob Martin present and evening of performance

poetry and music.  Suggested donation $3.00.

 

Friends Music and Lowell Poets

10:00PM-12:00PM

Park Way Cafe

 

SATURDAY 4 OCTOBER

Nashua - Bus Tour

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED

9:00AM-1:00PM

9:00AM- Depart from Lowell Barnes and Noble. Reservations can be

made in person, or call 508-458-3939.  9:30AM- Depart Nashua, NH

Barnes and Noble. NH. For reservations, call Laura Eanes at

603-897-0777.  A bus tour of Kerouac places in Nashua, NH.

 

Small Press Book Fair

10:00AM-4:00PM

Memorial Hall, Pollard Library A sampling of local presses and

Kerouac material. Co-sponsored by the Pollard Memorial Library and

Friends of the Library.

 

Commemorative at the Commemorative- Honoring Jack Kerouac and

Allen Ginsberg 11:00AM-12:00Noon The Kerouac Commemorative, Bridge

and French Streets

 

Strictly Kerouac- Dance

12:30-1:00 PM

The Courtyard at the Market Street Visitor's Center, Lowell

National Historical Park Jan Zwadney and a Feast of Friends

interprets Kerouac in dance, music and word.

 

Allen Ginsberg and Friends: A Photographic Remembrance

1:00PM- 3:00PM Brush Art Gallery, Market Street Visitors Center

Photographs by Gordon Ball, Elsa Dorfman, Gerard Malanga and Fred

McDarrah. Exhibition open from September 25 - November 16th.

 

Gallery Talk- Gordon Ball

1:30PM Brush Art Gallery, Market Street Visitor Center

Photographer and Ginsberg editor, Gordon Ball talks about

photographing Allen Ginsberg.

 

Poetry at the Rainbow Cafe 4:00PM-6:00PM Rainbow Cafe, Cabot

Street

 

Anne Waldman and Friends- A Tribute to Allen Ginsberg

8:00PM-10:00PM Smith Baker Auditorium, Merrimack Street-

Admission- $7.00 Anne Waldman, renowned poet, performer, and

editor leads a tribute to the Dharma Lion. James Cameron on

saxophone.

 

Music Friends and Lowell Poets 10:00PM -12:00 PM The Downstairs

Cafe, Merrimack Street

 

SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER The Jack Kerouac Tour- Bus Tour 9:30AM-11:30AM

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED Departs from  Middlesex Community College,

Merrimack Street Bus tour of Kerouac's Lowell. Call 508-452-7966

for reservations. Please give name, phone number and number of

places reserved.  Words and Music- Open Mic

1:00PM-3:00PM The Coffee Mill, Palmer Street.

 

Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, Inc. is a non-profit corporation

dedicated to the celebration, enjoyment and study of Jack Kerouac

and his writings. Whenever possible, events are free, however,

donations are gratefully accepted for continued support of the

annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival.. To make a donation,

or to find out more about Lowell Celebrates Kerouac!, Inc., write:

P.O. Box 1111, Lowell, MA 01853.

 

Before he died at age 47, Jack Kerouac published 24 books

chronicling the lives and adventures of the post war generation in

America. The raw energy and beauty of his prose established a new

standard in American literature. Jack Kerouac was born, raised and

remained a native of Lowell throughout his life. 5 of his novels

take place in Lowell, and the city is mentioned in virtually every

one of his books. His descriptions of Lowell are remarkable for

their beauty, power and timelessness. Through them, millions of

readers have come to know Lowell as a universal hometown.

 

This publication is funded....

=========================================================================

Date:         Wed, 13 Aug 1997 21:50:38 -0700

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Diane Carter <dcarter@TOGETHER.NET>

Subject:      Re: [Fwd: Re: For Diane M. Homza, "In regards"]

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

 

I am forwarding this post for Arthur so he doesn't have to retype it as

 we start our discussion of Naked Lunch/On the Road/Howl.  There is also

 quite a long essay on how to approach Naked Lunch at www.bigtable.com

 DC

 

>     ---------------------------------------------------------------

>

> Subject: Re: For Diane M. Homza, "In regards"

> Date: Thu, 24 Jul 1997 15:07:38 -0400

> From: Arthur Nusbaum <SSASN@AOL.COM>

> Reply-To: SSASN@AOL.COM

> To: BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU

>

> Dear Diane:

>

> I would like to offer some suggestions for your reading of NAKED LUNCH.

> It

> was also the first WSB book that I read in its entirety, almost 2

> decades

> ago, and it can indeed be a little daunting as your first exposure to

> one of

> the great literary and cultural figures of our waning century, and a

> prophet

> of the next and beyond.  In the intervening years since I was in your

> position, I have read, seen, heard and interacted with virtually every

> published item that I am aware of by or about WSB, including the great

> man

> himself whom I visited 2&1/2 years ago.  Besides my posts that are

> flowing at

> a steady rate on this List and to some of its correspondents

> individually, I

> have done a small amount of scholarly writing on him myself.  So, I

> believe I

> am qualified to answer your call for support and advice.

>

> After having read NL several times and absorbed a lot of commentary on

> it

> from many sources, I thought I had a fair handle on it.  But luckily

> for you,

> there now exists an unprecedented guide, a key to understanding this

> kaleidescopic work.  An audio version of the book, read by WSB himself,

> is

> available.  I have the cd version, I know there is a cassette edition

> also,

> and it should still be available in stock or by order, it only came out

> about

> 2 years ago this fall.  Although abridged, it is 3 hours long and most

> of the

> text is there.  I cannot stress how highly I recommend that you listen

> to WSB

> read NL, it is clear, well-paced, and the very ways in which he

> emphasizes

> and modulates words and sentences bring them into focus and out of the

> fragmentary fog from which they can fade in and out of the text without

> this

> aid.  You could finish reading NL and then obtain the audio edition, or

> better yet obtain and listen to it (at least twice) now, then return to

> your

> reading.  My listening to the cd's no less than doubled my

> comprehension and

> appreciation of this critical work.  But I should note something at

> this

> point-  what I've said above does not mean that you can't enjoy or

> benefit

> from NL without hearing it read by the author, one of the greatest

> pleasures

> I have gotten from it before or after being exposed to the cd's is to

> savor

> the evocative and poetic phrases that have a life of their own and jump

> off

> the page to burrow, so to speak, in your brain.  Some of my favorites

> from

> this rich treasure trove are:  "The days glide by, strung on a syringe

> with a

> long thread of blood", "Motel...Motel...Motel...broken neon

> arabesque...loneliness moans across the continent like foghorns over

> still

> oily water of tidal rivers" (one of my all-time favorite phrases in all

> of

> literature), and so many more.  As the author advises near the end, you

> can

> re-order the pages and read them in any combination, this is a roiling,

> organic work that should not be read with an attitude that it can be

> reined

> in, amenable to cliff-note condensation.

>

> After you have read and heard NL, I further advise you to go back and

> chronologically read all the works that precede it, in this way you

> will see

> how WSB arrived at NL and further appreciate his achievement in the

> context

> of his life and work up to that point.  The books, all still in print,

> are in

> order as follows:  JUNKY, QUEER, THE YAGE LETTERS (with Allen Ginsberg)

> and

> THE LETTERS OF WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS (1945-1959), which were written,

> mostly

> to AG, during the period leading up to the first publication of NL.

> There is

> another volume of letters written by WSB to AG, many of which do not

> overlap

> with the ones in the other, but it is hard to find.  If you can locate

> it

> (it's just titled WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS\LETTERS TO ALLEN GINSBERG

> 1953-1957),

> I highly recommend it, some of the letters are real gems.  The best

> letters

> of all, in my opinion, are those from WSB to AG in TYL above, it is a

> perversely hilarious and quintessentially Burroughsian work that is

> often

> overlooked, short and fun to read again and again.  All of these early

> works

> are written in a lucid, easily comprehensible style, although you'll

> know

> that only WSB could have written them.  Along with the above works, you

> should also read the biography LITERARY OUTLAW:  THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

> WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS by Ted Morgan, concurrently, before or after them.

>  It

> will give you a good initial grounding in the life and experiences from

> which

> the works emerged, it was published in and goes up to 1988, beyond the

> NL

> period so good enough for your purposes at this point.  As with the

> other

> major Beat figures, the life and art are particularly intertwined and

> mirrors

> of each other.  Finally, you should attempt to see the film biography

> BURROUGHS, directed by Howard Brookner, originally released in 1985.

> Like

> LO, it provides an initial overview.

>

> I can assure you that you won't be sorry if you follow my suggestions,

> and

> would like to know how you're coming along from time to time.  It may

> seem as

> if I've burdoned you with a semester's worth of reading, listening and

> viewing, but if you catch the WSB virus, you will quickly devour these

> items

> and want MORE.  A few more NL comments to conclude for now-  The

> introductory

> essays which probably appear in whatever edition you're reading,

> TESTIMONY

> CONCERNING A SICKNESS and LETTER FROM A MASTER ADDICT TO DANGEROUS

> DRUGS are

> remarkable in their clarity of language and are in themselves minor

> masterpieces separable from NL even as they enrich it.  And your

> comment

> about Macbeth is interesting.  While an undergraduate at Harvard, WSB

> studied

> Shakespeare, and he is familiar with and weaves quotes from the Bard in

> his

> works and conversation.  WSB arrived at his avant-garde experiments,

> which

> become literally more cutting-edge with the cutups after NL, from a

> firm,

> rounded educational and reading background, not to mention his myriad

> experiences right up to and over the edge.

>

> Well, enough for now.  Good luck, and I envy your reading these works

> for the

> first time, there's nothing like that first shot......

>

> Regards,

>

> Arthur S. Nusbaum

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 09:00:19 -0500

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         jo grant <jgrant@BOOKZEN.COM>

Subject:      Re: Lowell Kerouac organizers

In-Reply-To:  <c=US%a=_%p=drc%l=AND02-970814130400Z-14979@and02.drc.com>

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

>----------

>From: "Hemenway . Mark" <MHemenway@DRC.COM>

>Sent:  Wednesday, August 13, 1997 9:57 PM

 

>10th Annual Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! Festival 2-5 October 1997

>Lowell, MA Jack Kerouac Celebrates Lowell

 

>Memorial Mass for Jack and Stella Kerouac

>6:00PM-7:00PM

>St. Louis de France Church, Centralville

 

 

It is a disgrace that Jack's daughter, Jan Kerouac, dead slightly more than

a year, is not being included in this mass.

 

This is such an overt act of hatred for a dear, compassionate, generous and

talented writer/daughter that I am without words.

 

I can only hope that beats, be they students, scholars, readers, or

wannabees with heart, brains and gonads, will see that this kind of crap

ends--someday.

 

j grant

 

Small Press Authors and Publishers display books

                FREE

    http://www.bookzen.com/addbook-form.html

        375,913 visitors - 07-01-96 to 07-01-97

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 08:03:15 -0700

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         runner <babu@ELECTRICITI.COM>

Subject:      patti smith news (boston)

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

got some more news about patti smith

and her continued support for beat artists

burroughs and ginsberg

 

Interesting to note her attitude

towards performance

towards friendship and art

and <<ahem>>

that she made drawings at AG's deathbed

anybody from boston seen these??

 

stolen from the babel-list (again)

From: JP Jacob <jpjacob@bu.edu>

Date: Wed, 13 Aug 1997 23:04:50 -0400

Subject: Re: Boston show

 

Douglas

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Thanks to all who came to the Boston show for support of the

Photographic Resource Center. It was a great evening for me, and Patti,

Lenny, and Oliver were also very happy. Before they left, much later

Monday night, Patti said that the band will be doing a limited tour this

fall that will include Boston, followed by a full scale tour next year.

Something to look forward to!

 

I haven't compared this with Mitch's note, so sorry for redundancy, but

here is the complete setlist:

 

1. Footnotes to Howl

<<[snip]>>

9. Psalm 23 Revisited [her WSB poem]

 

What was wonderful for me about the set, since this event was put

together in conjunction with our exhibition at the PRC, was the thread

that Patti wove throughout the show with pieces by and about the

important artists in her life: Ginsberg (to whom the exhibition was

dedicated), Burroughs, O'Keefe, Pollock, and Mapplethorpe.

 

It's something that hasn't received too much attention, but the two new

drawings in the exhibit are the first new drawings that Patti has shown

since the 1970s (anyway, so she tells me). They're expansions of

sketches and notes that she made at Ginsberg's deathbed (she was

carrying the original sketches in her pocket while reading the Footnotes

from Howl to us), and the performance seemed to me to come right out of

the passion and the love that went into those drawings. That was the

starting point.

 

<<[snip]>>

 

There's one other thing. I had a real introduction, but Patti asked me

not to read it. What I'd wanted to talk about is how impressed I have

been by Patti, Lenny, and Oliver's ongoing support of organizations and

individuals, taking positions in relation to small causes as readily as

to issues of global importance. I mean, it's probably not too hard for a

celebrity to support one or two important causes. But I think that it's

exhausting and to some extent precarious for an artist these days to

support many causes, especially the small, unproven ones (for example,

it's easy to do a benefit for MoMA, but the Photographic Resource

Center? An artists space with a staff of 3?).

 

I remember that the Seegers, Mike and Pete, could always be counted to

show up in support of local causes in the Hudson River valley area where

my grandfather lived, and where I spent a lot of time during high

school. I was always so impressed that they could function

simultaneously on local and international levels that way. I don't feel

that many artists today have that sense of commitment, and to see it in

Patti, Lenny, and Oliver makes me proud to support them. Their

commitment to the values that we share enables me to be *not* just a

consumer of their products, but, to some extent, a part of the its

creation. That kind of sharing is absent from most other

entertainer/artist/audience/venue relationships that I experience. And I

think that's what makes shows like Monday night's so wonderful and

renewing for us as supporters of Patti's artwork.

 

That's enough for now.

 

John

- --

jpjacob@bu.edu

Photographic Resource Center at Boston University

http://web.bu.edu/PRC

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:06:20 -0400

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Re: about razor..Occam's

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

This has often been referred to as "Occam's razor", the desire to shave away

any excess conditions in an hypothesis or theory. Occam (Henry of ...?) as I

recall was a contemporary of the monk-philosopher Francis Bacon, the central

figure in "The Name of the Rose".

 

        Antoine

 

        ***************

 

>>Rinaldo, you are such a tease.  Somebody please translate?

>>

>>Douglas

>

>>>        ENTIA NON SUNT MULTIPLICANDA

>>>        PRAETER NECESSITATEM...

>>>

>

>please, excuse me, the translation is

>

>        "IT IS VAIN TO DO WITH MORE

>        WHAT CAN BE DONE WITH FEWER"

>

 Voice contact at  (514) 933-4956 in Montreal

 

     "An anarchist is someone who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do!"

                        -- Norman Navrotsky and Utah Phillips

=========================================================================

Date:         Thu, 14 Aug 1997 11:06:22 -0400

Reply-To:     "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

Sender:       "BEAT-L: Beat Generation List" <BEAT-L@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>

From:         Antoine Maloney <stratis@ODYSSEE.NET>

Subject:      Re: Lowell Kerouac organizers

Mime-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

 

Jo,  ...please bear with me on this Jo; not a flame war, and especially not

on the first day that we have our reply priveleges reinstated!; read on.



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