Customer Reviews

The Burroughs File

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This installment to the W.S. Burroughs library is a good one. It's full of interesting anecdotes, general thoughts, bits of conversations, and the classic Burroughs cut-up style prose. This book contains not only these things, but some original pages out of Burroughs' personal cut-up notebooks. These pages contain pictures from his travels abroad, newspaper clippings, and referrences to characters in his novels. This is a nice compilation of short works from foreign press publications, but it merely lacks one element, and that is "purpose". Burroughs did not write this book as he did his others to prove a point, or to introduce a new thought into the mainstream of our collective psyche. In fact, this book was produced as sort of a "Greatest Hits" compilation. Otherwise, this is a great read for both the fan of beat literature, and the intellectual interested in broadening his/her horizons.

This is a collection of short Burroughs pieces from various "little mags...Burroughs' principal literary output between 1962 and 1969 appeared in these obscure places, and most of the pieces collected in The Burroughs File date from that period".  The writing drifts from being utterly petrifying to...what the hell is this?  "VERTIGO OF DEAD LANGUAGES THE PULLEY AND THE COMPASS LAGOONS OF MURDEROUS SLEEP-(THEY SHARED THE salmon)-HEAVY STICKY NIGHTS INKY CLOUDS HAUNTING SHADOWS COMPASS DRIPPING GEOMETRY". If you're up for it it can blow your mind, but if you've never read Burroughs before LEAVE THE BUILDING NOW!  And even if you have, make sure one of those books is one of the cut-up trilogy--I'd recommend Nova Express. 

This book also contains photocopies of pages from his scrapbooks, and a couple essays on Burroughs.

I picked this up at City Lights about 20 years ago. It's not one of the iconic William S. Burroughs works, but it's the one I've returned to the most often. It is a collection of experiments, both literary and social. The social experiments, such as subtly harassing a rude cafe owner in London out of business, have come to mind in many situations over the years. It is, like Burroughs' best work, both hilarious and unsettling.