MetaFilter posts tagged with williamsburroughs

Naked Lunch turns 50

Houyhnhnm — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 21:23:16 -0800

Naked Lunch, the infamous novel by American writer William S. Burroughs and the subject of the final literary obscenity trial in the United States, turns 50 this year. To celebrate the anniversary, the first collection of critical essays devoted to the novel will be published this month and a three-day "homage and symposium" will be held in July at the University of London Institute in Paris, with complementary celebrations taking place in New York and other cities throughout the rest of 2009.

Bosch as background for scenes taken from Mayan codices and transformed into modern counterparts

filthy light thief — Sat, 02 May 2009 20:41:39 -0800

"Look at the surrealist moustache on the Mona Lisa. Just a silly joke? Consider where this joke can lead. I had been working with Malcolm Mc Neill for five years on an illustrated book entitled Ah Pook Is Here, and we used the same idea: Hieronymous Bosch as the background for scenes and characters taken from the Mayan codices and transformed into modern counterparts. That face in the Mayan Dresden Codex will be the barmaid in this scene, and we can use the Vulture God over here. Bosch, Michelangelo, Renoir, Monet, Picasso — steal anything in sight. You want a certain light on your scene? Lift it from Monet. You want a 1930s backdrop? Use Hopper." -- William S. Burroughs, Les Voleurs Malcolm Mc Neill had used Burroughs' words to create The Unspeakable Mr. Hart comic series, which ran in a British publication called Cyclops, starting in during my last semester of art school in 1970. Burroughs' contacted Mc Neill because Burroughs was impressed with how much the artwork for Mr. Hart resembled himself, though Mc Neill had never met Burroughs and didn't know much of the man. The two artists met, and began working on Ah Puch. Mc Neill was 23, Burroughs was 56, and their collaboration would extend 7 years. Burroughs produced about 60 pages of text, and Mc Neill had created more than a hundred pages of artwork. But due to the unique nature of the collaboration and the high costs of full color printing, no publisher was able or willing to print the work as intended. In 1979 Burroughs finally decided to publish the text by itself as Ah Pook Is Here And Other Texts, combined with the previously released The Book of Breeething and Electronic Revolution. William S. Burroughs read parts of the story live, which was made publicly available on a 4CD set in 1998. Burroughs also recorded some of his spoken word in studio, which was then edited and music backing provided by various artists on the Dead City Radio album in 1990. Philip Hunt, of STUDIOaka, used selections of Dead City Radio to create the short video A Pook Is Here in 1994, for which he won two awards. Malcom Mc Neill had a gallery show of The Lost Art of Ah Pook (previously), first at the Salomon Art Gallery in New York, from November 14, 2008 to January 17, 2009, then April 4 through May 2, 2009 at Track 16 in Santa Monica, CA. Mc Neill recently completed Observed While Falling, providing insight into the work behind Ah Pook Is Here and other collaborations with Burroughs.

I know who they are. They are French people.

Artw — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:44:38 -0800

William Burroughs recites from the last words of Dutch Schultz, set to the music of The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy

Beat Generation Cover Scans

dhammond — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:52:17 -0800

Book nerds everywhere will enjoy these scans of cover art from the works of Beat Generation authors William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and John Clellon Holmes. CDN: Burroughs, Kerouac, Cassady, Holmes

Traditional

puddnhead — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 08:41:25 -0800

A Thanksgiving Prayer.

Burroughs

carsonb — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:47:42 -0800

Burroughs
A 1983 documentary by Howard Brookner on William S. Burroughs. 89 mins, G-vid, a bit more inside...

GLOR XVII

moonbird — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 12:04:58 -0800

The Codex Seraphinianus, a Hallucinatory Encyclopedia, details fantastical beings and impossible places. It's one of the highlights of issue 17 of the Grey Lodge Occult Review, which also includes Maya Deren's very rare film on Haitian Voudoun "Divine Horsemen" [torrent] and William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin's "The Cut-Ups" [torrent].

Authors au naturel

starkeffect — Fri, 27 Jun 2003 16:05:52 -0800

Don Swaim has posted numerous unedited interviews recorded in the 1980's with famous authors, including Anthony Burgess (who has some troubles recalling "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"), Douglas Adams, William S. Burroughs, and many more... even Richard Nixon. (RealAudio)

Brion Gysin

cachilders — Mon, 03 Feb 2003 22:49:13 -0800

Brion Gysin - He played a powerful role in the work of William Burroughs, he sought to destroy language, and he may have killed Kurt Cobain, so why doesn't anybody know who he is?