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Product Details
Hardcover: 480 pages
Publisher: Ecco; First Edition edition (February 7, 2012)
I give this collection five stars because I think it truly a privilege to be able to read the letters of this unusual man. At the same time I have to admit that some of the content is over my head. However, there is also much that I found interesting. Many of the letters are to his old friend and collaborator Brion Gysin, and there are also letters to Ian Sommerville, son Billy (William Burroughs Jr), Allen Ginsberg, Timothy Leary, mother Laura, Paul Bowles, assorted publishers and many others. Pleasant surprises for me include: Two letters in response to a proposal of marriage from someone he has never met who is threatening suicide: "I am saying no to your proposal of marriage as I would say no to any proposal of marriage. This is not a rejection of you. Our illusion systems simply do not coincide." Two letters to hustler/boyfriend John Brady : "And how many times have I told you that when you are in difficulties the `logical' thing to do is always wrong since it is just this `logic' that has put you in the present difficulties." A letter to Truman Capote: "As a writer you are finished. Over and out. Are you tracking me? Know who I am? You know me, Truman. You have known me for a long time. This is my last visit."
I had really enjoyed the previous volume of letters (1949 - 1959). I found them very readable, funny, informative and they showed me a human side of Burroughs that I simply had not appreciated before. In contrast, I found this collection disappointing, and after an initial look gave up on them until my interest was rekindled recently by Barry Miles' excellent biography. I experience these letters as more detached, more unemotional, more intellectual and I am left feeling somewhat excluded from the inner Burroughs.Read more ›
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This is definitely lighter material than most of his novels, but if you have not embedded yourself in the Burroughsian universe, this book is not for you! Having said that, I love this book because of its simultaneous differences and similarities to Burroughs' formal literature.
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The Beatnik generation. It produced some of the most well know authors and artists, it was also a time for sex and drugs. A chance to experiment with alternative lifestyles. One of the giants of the beatniks was William S. Burroughs, most famous for his book //Naked Lunch// and other works which repeatedly got banned in the United Kingdom and the United States. Now we get to go inside the mind of this famous author. For the first time his letters are being published, a volume covering his early years was published many years ago and this volume covers 1959-1974. Mr. Burroughs was a conflicted man, who constantly had troubles with publishers, friends and family. He was constantly broke and always searching for a way to make some money, so he could continue as a full time writer. Towards the end he felt it was all but impossible for a full time writer unless they had another job. His letters are interesting to read, inside his thinking process. His argument with publishers over money and more. He lived a different lifestyle and was often a target because of it, Mr. Burroughs might be remembered for his odd books. But he knew the craft.
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Hated the book wish I could sell it..says he such a good writer but it must have been in days gone by because I hated it and it was a waist of time and energy making it..
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This item: Rub Out the Words: The Letters of William S. Burroughs 1959-1974
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