1,359,811 research outputs found
The yagé aesthetic of William Burroughs: the publication and development of his work 1953-1965
No full textPhDMy concern in this thesis is to show that a reconstruction of the publishing history of
the work of William Burroughs offers a new, critical perspective on his experiments
with psychoactive substances and their connection to his developing practice.
I begin with an exploration of the publication of The Yage Letters (1963) and Naked
Lunch (1959), and reveal how the complexities of their publishing histories shaped
their critical reception. I examine the legal defence of Naked Lunch as it developed
from the Big Table Post Office hearing through to the 1965 Boston trial and
demonstrate the degree to which censorship came to define the published text. The
legal defence of Naked Lunch, as it was incorporated into the Grove publication,
emphasised the issue of opiate addiction. The way in which Burroughs’ 1953 letters to
Allen Ginsberg were reworked as The Yage Letters did much to conceal the
significance of yagé for Burroughs’ later work. Together, these publishing histories
have obscured the relationship between his use of psychoactive substances and his
evolving aesthetic.
At the same time many of Burroughs’ most experimental - and important - works
appeared only in small, ephemeral magazines. His adoption of avant-garde strategies
such as collaboration and collage and his dedication to multimedia experimentation
with the non-chemical alteration of consciousness made conventional book
publication problematic or unsuitable. These experiments in aesthetic production, I
argue, are central to our understanding of Burroughs. His main published writings
must be re-evaluated as one element in this collage of multimedia activities.
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I argue that Burroughs’ experiences with yagé, mescaline and dimethyltryptamine
exerted an influence on his shift to experimentalism in the early 1960s, which sought
to replicate the experience of these altered states of consciousness. That this is so is
evident from a study of two collections of correspondence - Burroughs’ letters to
Ginsberg held at Columbia University Library and his letters to Brion Gysin in the
William S. Burroughs Papers held at the New York Public Library. My reading of
these letters forms an important component of my argument, working to reveal what
the conventional ‘published’ Burroughs serves to conceal.Arts and Humanities research Board.
Queen Mary University of London English Department
funding naked Lunch @ 50 conference in Pari
Author Franklin Burroughs, a longtime visitor to the area, reflects on the chang
No full textAuthor Franklin Burroughs, a longtime visitor to the area, reflects on the changes that have occurred over the years at the Forks, where the Dead and Kennebec rivers converge. The hydro dam at Harris makes for paradoxes in the section of the Kennebec River between Harris and the Forks. At night and into the early hours of the morning the turbines are shut off and the flow is reduced, creating a peaceful, low and rocky river. For most of the daylight hours, Harris Dam is opened, releasing a torrent that turns the river wild. The whitewater has spawned a thriving rafting industry in the area
Technologies, texts and subjects: William S. Burroughs and post-humanism
No full textThis thesis addresses the twin questions of technology and the human, ultimately questioning the validity of either category and pointing toward their dissolution in transhumanism. Starting with a discussion of the question of technology in organization studies, the thesis takes issue with the way in which discussion has focused on the technology- object pole of a dualism at the neglect of the human subject that occupies the opposing pole. Following a methodological call for symmetry the thesis reconsiders the question of technology in light of its human other and visa versa. Working with the ideas of Friedrich Nietzsche and Deleuze and Guattari, the thesis suggests that there is a problem with maintaining a distinct conception of the human, separated a priori from questions of technology and language. In seeking to avoid an essentialism either of the (technological) object, or the (human) subject, the thesis reconsiders the question of the human, language and technics through an examination of the work of William S. Burroughs. Combining Burroughs' ideas with those of Deleuze and Guattari, a conception of the 'transhuman' is developed which, in opposition to a transcendental humanism, articulates the immanent implication of technology and language in the production of subjectivity, and points to the more radical potentials of new technology in figuring alternative modes of subjectivization and social organization
Frammenti di massificazione: le neoavanguardie anglo-germanofone, il cut-up di Burroughs e la pop art negli anni Sessanta e Settanta
No full textFrammenti di massificazione: le neoavanguardie anglo-germanofone, il cut-up di Burroughs e la pop art negli anni Sessanta e Settanta analyses the influence of William Seward Burroughs’ cut-up method on British and German-language neo-avant-gardes of the 1960s and 1970s from a comparative point of view, with particular attention to the literary context of the Federal Republic of Germany. In four chapters devoted to a profile of this American intellectual and artist, the origins, stylistic features and reception of the cut-up method, the author investigates the reasons for the success of this process, rediscovered by Burroughs and aiming at a reconstruction of text fragments to build up new textual entities. The last chapter is an overview of the most interesting of the uses of the cut-up method in artistic environments other than literary writing, documenting the transformation of a rebellious technique into a new form of expression, i.e. pop art
Burroughs Calculator
No full textA black mechanical calculator created by William Seward Burroughs.15 x 23 x 28 c
William Burroughs letter to Thomas Rotch, Newport, 17 March 1798
No full textWilliam Burroughs comments on a client who refuses to pay his bill, possibly the individual cited in A-29-20. He has consulted a justice of the peace, Burroughs reports that the person refusing to pay his bill is a 'bad man.' How this matter of debt repayment was resolved is not known for certain.7.9" x 6.25" (20 by 15.9 cm
A better day's work at a less cost of time, work, and worry to the man at the desk.
No full textBiography of William S. Burroughs: p. 27-46.Mode of access: Internet
Historic notes and Canadian medical lore
No full textLecture memoranda. British Medical Association meeting, Toronto, 1906 and published by Burroughs Wellcome & Co., London, Eng. It covers a broad spectrum of topics in Canadian history in general, and medical history in particular
Nothing Short of Complete Liberation: The Burroughsian Ideal of Space as Curatorial Strategy in Audial Art
No full textThis research contributes to an understanding of curatorial strategy and sound art practices by using an inferential approach to curating. The study uses analysis of the theories and tape experiments of William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) to explore curatorial problems occurring within sound-related gallery displays of contemporary art. The study presents a Burroughsian methodology of curatorial practice engaging in “games with space and time” (Mottram 1977) in a manner suggestive of a complex form of mediation between aspects of the “meaning-making process” (Drabble in Graham 2010) relevant to the presentation of an exhibition of sound art.
The study examines Burroughs’ project in the ‘60s and early ‘70s in the theoretical framework of curatorial strategy in sound-oriented practices to articulate a domain of meaning-making focused on visitor interactions. By considering interaction with sound as an unstable and unclear process, and privileging the exhibition visitor as the focus of the process of meaning-making in exhibitions, this study presents an ecological approach to curating, advancing studies in ecological approaches to meaning (Clarke 2005 and Gibson 1979), definitions of meaning in relation to Konstantīns Raudive’s experiments with Electronic Voice Phenomena (Raudive 1971 and Banks 2012) and Burroughs’ revision of L Ron Hubbard’s Dianetics (Hubbard 1950). This study advances practical studies in curatorial theory and Burroughs scholarship, with particular regard to how meaning-making processes might be conceptualised in sound-based artistic domains. To this end it includes the practical example of a sound art exhibition Dead Fingers Talk: The Tape Experiments of William S. Burroughs at IMT Gallery, London, in 2010.
Through analysis of Burroughs’ project and how it absorbed his understanding of Cubism, Alfred Korzybski (1879-1950), and Hubbard, his collaborations with Brion Gysin (1916-1986) and his application of experimental techniques, the study articulates a Burroughsian space as a motivation for experimental curatorial practice
William Burroughs letter to Thomas Rotch, Newport 14 May 1795
No full textWilliam Burroughs encloses a shipment bill to Thomas Rotch. 7.7" x 6.75" (19.5 by 17 cm
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