RealityStudio

The Great Mimeograph Revolution

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 25 October 2010
Subject Reviewing a new catalogue of rare mimeos put out by Between The Covers books, Jed looks at the Burroughs-related items and makes a passionate case for viewing mimeos as works of art.
Link The Great Mimeograph Revolution

Confusion’s Masterpiece: Re-Editing William S. Burroughs’ First Trilogy

Author Oliver Harris
Date 10 October 2010
Subject In the text of his recent talk at Columbia University, Oliver Harris describes the confused history behind the writing and publishing of William S. Burroughs’ Junkie, Queer, and Yage Letters. Professor Harris also responds to a few interview questions about his work on the new edition of Queer.
Link Confusion’s Masterpiece: Re-Editing William S. Burroughs’ First Trilogy

Time and China

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 27 September 2010
Subject Jed takes another look at William S. Burroughs’ cut-up classic Time and sees that it tells a story about drug trafficking, communism, and the Cold War.
Link Time and China

William S. Burroughs, Charles Gatewood, and Sidetripping

Author Charles Gatewood
Date 22 Sept 2010
Subject In an excerpt from his nearly completed memoir Dirty Old Man, photographer Charles Gatewood describes meeting William Burroughs, photographing him for Rolling Stone, and asking him to write an introduction for his book Sidetripping.
Link William S. Burroughs, Charles Gatewood, and Sidetripping

Another Fuck You Update

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 22 Sept 2010
Subject The Fuck You Press Archive continues to be updated with new material. Recent additions include “An Index to Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts” by Jake Marx.
Link Fuck You Press Archive

Dave Moore’s Gallery of Burroughs Book Covers

Author Dave Moore
Date 10 Sept 2010
Subject Dave Moore’s incomparable gallery of William Burroughs book covers has moved to a new location.
Link Dave Moore’s Gallery of Burroughs Book Covers

Review of Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg at the National Gallery

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 26 August 2010
Subject Jed reviews the exhibition of photography by Allen Ginsberg at the National Gallery in Washington DC.
Link Review of Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg at the National Gallery

The Poetry of William S. Burroughs

Author RealityStudio
Date 5 August 2010
Subject Although his work defied genres and most readers consider him a novelist, William S. Burroughs also wrote poetry. With a small compilation that includes cut-ups and permutations, RealityStudio is beginning what will be an ongoing attempt to collect Burroughs’ poetry. This compilation also includes an insightful essay by scholar Oliver Harris titled “‘Burroughs Is a Poet Too, Really’: The Poetics of Minutes to Go.”
Link The Poetry of William S. Burroughs

Carl Weissner Archive (Update)

Author Carl Weissner
Date 20 July 2010
Subject The archive celebrating Carl Weissner’s publications in the avant-garde has been updated. Be sure to read Weissner’s brilliant book-length text Death in Paris while checking out the new stuff.
Link Death in Paris

The Lager Letters (A Satirical Review of The Yage Letters)

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 13 July 2010
Subject Jed offers up a scathing review of Yage Letters from a 1964 issue of Open Space showing that William Burroughs was often admired, sometimes hated, but rarely satirized.
Link The Lager Letters (A Satirical Review of The Yage Letters)

Flesh Film

Author Edward S. Robinson / Jürgen Ploog
Date 28 June 2010
Subject RealityStudio is very proud to present Flesh Film, a book-length cut-up by Jürgen Ploog, friend and collaborator of William S. Burroughs. With an introduction by Edward S. Robinson, author of the forthcoming Shift Linguals: Cut-Up Narrative from William S. Burroughs to the Present.
Link Flesh Film

Harold Norse Correspondence

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 21 June 2010
Subject Harold Norse — poet, cut-up practitioner, denizen of the Beat Hotel, and a central figure in literary circles — passed away a year ago. In commemoration, Jed offers some correspondence that Norse sent to Jeff Nuttall, founder of My Own Mag.
Link Harold Norse Correspondence

William Burroughs, Willie Morris, and Harper’s Magazine

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 21 June 2010
Subject In a follow-up to his piece on William Burroughs, Esquire, and New Journalism, Jed takes a look at the intersection of Burroughs, New Journalism, and Harper’s Magazine.
Link William Burroughs, Willie Morris, and Harper’s Magazine

William S. Burroughs, Esquire, and New Journalism

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 14 June 2010
Subject Jed discusses how William Burroughs’ quixotic plan to “to write a best-seller Book of the Month Club job on Tangier” ended up coming true in the pages of Esquire magazine.
Link 1 William S. Burroughs, Esquire, and New Journalism
Link 2 William S. Burroughs, Tangier Cut-Up from Esquire

45th Anniversary of the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 10 June 2010
Subject Jed marks the 45th anniversary of the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall, a landmark reading that inaugurated the Swinging London of the 1960s
Link 45th Anniversary of the International Poetry Incarnation at Royal Albert Hall

Interview with Victor Bockris on William Burroughs

Author Dave Teeuwen
Date 27 May 2010
Subject Victor Bockris talks Burroughs, Warhol, Punk, selling out, dope, glamor, and the difficult art of biography.
Link Interview with Victor Bockris on William Burroughs

A Visit to William S. Burroughs at the Beat Hotel in Summer, 1958

Author Gael Turnbull
Date 19 May 2010 [1958]
Subject Vacationing in Paris in the summer of 1958, the Scottish poet Gael Turnbull kept a journal documenting his visits to William Burroughs and Gregory Corso at the Beat Hotel.
Link A Visit to William S. Burroughs at the Beat Hotel in Summer, 1958

An Encounter with William Burroughs at Alexander Trocchi’s Bookshop

Author Robin Marchesi
Date 6 May 2010
Subject A mysterious stranger at Alexander Trocchi’s bookshop turns out to be William S. Burroughs.
Link An Encounter with William Burroughs at Alexander Trocchi’s Bookshop

William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Author Graham Rae
Date 23 April 2010
Subject Graham Rae reviews Yony Leyser’s new documentary film about the life of William S. Burroughs.
Link William S. Burroughs: A Man Within

Black Mountain Review

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 20 April 2010
Subject While offering an archive of Black Mountain Review covers, Jed investigates the impact that Robert Creeley and his early publication of Naked Lunch had on William Burroughs.
Link Black Mountain Review

The Jan Herman Archive

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 5 April 2010
Subject RealityStudio is very proud to present an archive of work by and about Jan Herman. Publisher, writer, artist, collaborator of Burroughs, and founder of the Nova Broadcast Press, Herman’s important work in the avant-garde and underground press is accompanied by a new text by Jed Birmingham titled “Jan Herman and the Fold.”
Link 1 The Jan Herman Archive
Link 2 Jan Herman and the Fold

The Blade Runner and the Shootist

Author Michael Stevens
Date 17 Feb 2010
Subject Michael Stevens, author of The Road to Interzone, offers two entries deleted from the forthcoming second edition of the book. In an analysis of Tornado Alley and Blade Runner: A Movie, the entries look at the “influence, use, and appropriation of other authors’ works in the writing of William S. Burroughs.”
Link The Blade Runner and the Shootist

Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print: A Checklist

Author Eric C. Shoaf
Date 25 Jan 2010
Subject Eric Shoaf has now contributed the entirety of his important checklist of Burroughs items to RealityStudio. In addition to the Burroughs books and “Not in Maynard & Miles” bibliographies previously available, RealityStudio now hosts Shoaf’s checklist of B Items (Burroughs contributions to books and anthologies), C Items (Burroughs contributions to periodicals), and publications about Burroughs.
Link Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print: A Checklist

Interview with Filmmaker Andre Perkowski

Author Graham Rae
Date 11 Jan 2010
Subject Graham Rae interviews filmmaker Andre Perkowski, creator of the brilliant, “10-years-in-the-making-and-making-and-making” film of William S. Burroughs’ Nova Express
Link Interview with Filmmaker Andre Perkowski

The Mouth Inside: The Voices of Naked Lunch

Author Ian MacFadyen
Date 7 Dec 2009
Subject Ian MacFadyen offers a brilliant meditation on the role of the voice and the mouth in William Burroughs’ magnum opus. Accompanying the text are paintings from Phil Wood’s “Postcards from Purgatory.”
Link The Mouth Inside: The Voices of Naked Lunch

Mimeo Mimeo 3

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 23 Nov 2009
Subject In addition to writing for RealityStudio, Jed Birmingham collaborates with Kyle Schlesinger on Mimeo Mimeo, a blog and printed zine dedicated to artists’ books and the mimeo revolution. Hot off the presses is Mimeo Mimeo #3: The Danny Snelson Issue, which also contains an insert, “The Infernal Method,” written, designed and printed letterpress by Aaron Cohick. See the Mimeo Mimeo web site for ordering details.

The Frisco Kid He Never Returns: Naked Lunch and San Francisco

Author Oliver Harris
Date 21 November 2009
Subject Oliver Harris looks at the relationship — or non-relationship? — between Naked Lunch and San Francisco in a transcript to the talk given at the San Francisco Art Institute during the NL@50 homage.
Link The Frisco Kid He Never Returns: Naked Lunch and San Francisco

The Soft Machines

Author Dave Teeuwen
Date 17 Nov 2009
Subject Dave offers an overview of the three different editions of William S. Burroughs’ cut-up novel The Soft Machine.
Link The Soft Machines

From Dr Mabuse to Doc Benway: The Myths and Manuscripts of Naked Lunch

Author Oliver Harris
Date 26 October 2009
Subject Oliver Harris dissects the myths behind the creation of Naked Lunch in a transcript to the talk given recently at Columbia University during the NL@50 homage.
Link From Dr Mabuse to Doc Benway: The Myths and Manuscripts of Naked Lunch

Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, and the Computer

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 10 September 2009
Subject Charles Bukowski wrote on an Apple computer. William Burroughs apparently didn’t use a computer at all. Jed offers some thoughts on writers, their machines, and literature in the digital age.
Link Charles Bukowski, William Burroughs, and the Computer

Michael Stevens’ Road to Interzone

Author News
Date 28 August 2009
Subject Michael Stevens’ excellent Road to Interzone: Reading William S. Burroughs Reading is finally available in print. Road to Interzone, a bibliography of books known to have been read by Burroughs, is literally a must-have for any Burroughsian.

(Disclaimer: The creators of RealityStudio offered blurbs for the printed book not out of friendship for the author but because Road to Interzone definitely belongs on any shelf that contains Ted Morgan’s Literary Outlaw, Maynard & Miles’ Burroughs bibliography, Shoaf’s checklist, etc.)

You can order the book directly from its publisher, Suicide Press, or if you feel a moral obligation not to buy a book without giving Amazon a cut, you can buy it there too.

RealityStudio Highlights

Archives and Scans

Author Jed Birmingham
Subject RealityStudio has a vast archive of incredible Burroughs and small-press rarities that includes complete scans of William S. Burroughs’ Time and APO-33, as well as a number of little mags.
Link 1 William S. Burroughs’ Time
Link 2 William S. Burroughs’ APO-33
Link 3 Complete My Own Mag Archive
Link 4 Fuck You Press Archive
Link 5 Kulchur Archive
Link 6 Floating Bear Archive
Link 7 Rhinozeros Archive
Link 8 Locus Solus Archive
Link 9 Evergreen Review Archive
Link 10 Burroughs in Men’s Mags Archive
Link 11 The Word (Naked Lunch Outtake) in Swank
Link 12 Bulletin from Nothing Archive
Link 13 Burroughs Text in January 1960 Mademoiselle

Death in Paris by Carl Weissner

Author Carl Weissner
Date 24 July 2009
Subject RealityStudio is very proud to present a previously unpublished text by Carl Weissner, along with an archive of materials celebrating his achievements in the avant-garde press
Link Death in Paris by Carl Weissner

Hikuta!: Burroughs and His Guns

Author Tom Peschio
Date 12 March 2009
Subject Tom Peschio provides an insider’s glimpse of a “dangerous guy” and his guns.
Link Hikuta!: Burroughs and His Guns

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

Author Jed Birmingham
Date 5 Nov 2008
Subject Jed reviews the newly released And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks and finds that something may be hiding in plain sight, an act of self-censorship with dramatic consequences to the text and the real-world characters on whom it is based.
Link And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks

William S. Burroughs and Joy Division

Author RealityStudio
Date 29 May 2008
Subject Literary references are frequent in the work of seminal post-punk band Joy Division, and singer Ian Curtis greatly admired William Burroughs in particular. Both the band and the author appeared at a 1979 performance, after which Curtis introduced himself to the famous author. Was the meeting, as legend has it, a disappointment? RealityStudio pieces together the story with recollections from those who were there…
Link William S. Burroughs and Joy Division

David Britton and Michael Butterworth on William S. Burroughs

Author RealityStudio
Date 24 March 2008
Subject To mark the publication of Horror Panegyric, an essay by Supervert (creator of RealityStudio) on their Lord Horror novels, David Britton and Michael Butterworth — writers both and founders of Savoy Books — expand on their thoughts about William S. Burroughs.
Link David Britton and Michael Butterworth on William S. Burroughs

Everything Lost, The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs: The Inside Story

Author Oliver Harris
Date 17 Dec 2007
Subject Everything Lost, The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs is due to be released on 17 December 2007. In honor of the occasion, Volume Editor Oliver Harris offers the inside story — how the notebook was discovered, deciphered, transcribed, and prepared for publication. (And be sure to order your copy of Everything Lost at Amazon.)
Link Everything Lost, The Latin American Notebook of William S. Burroughs: The Inside Story

Henry Miller and William Burroughs

Author RealityStudio
Date 18 July 2007
Subject Astonishingly, the relationship between Henry Miller and William Burroughs has gone largely unmapped in literary scholarship. Seeking to rectify this omission, RealityStudio surveys the relationship of the two writers in an overview and Ian MacFadyen adds further insights in a response.
Link 1 Henry Miller and William Burroughs: An Overview
Link 2 Henry Miller and William Burroughs: A Letter

Cutting up the Archive: William Burroughs and the Composite Text

Author Oliver Harris
Date 11 Jun 2007
Subject RealityStudio is proud to present the text of a talk recently given by Burroughs scholar Oliver Harris, author of William Burroughs and the Secret of Fascination, editor of Burroughs’ letters, Junky: The Definitive Text of “Junk”, and most recently Yage Redux.
Link Cutting up the Archive: William Burroughs and the Composite Text

A William S. Burroughs Bibliography

Author Eric C. Shoaf
Date April 2007
Subject Eric C. Shoaf, author of Collecting William S. Burroughs in Print: A Checklist, has very kindly contributed his bibliography of books and broadside prints to RealityStudio.Alongside the Maynard & Miles bibliography published in 1978, the Shoaf checklist has long been the most definitive listing of Burroughs publications available. In addition to books and broadsides, the printed checklist also itemizes Burroughs contributions to other books and periodicals, criticism, and miscellanea. This online edition, prefaced and updated by Mr. Shoaf, will no doubt be a tremendous asset to the community of Burroughs scholars and enthusiasts.
Link A William S. Burroughs Bibliography

Jan Herman’s Burroughs / Balch Video

Author Jan Herman
Date Sept 2006
Subject Jan Herman has worked all summer with RealityStudio to recover a video experiment he created in 1971 with William S. Burroughs and Antony Balch. Never before seen by anyone but the participants, the video is presented here to the public for the first time.
Link Burroughs / Balch Video Experiment

Transitional Period vs Gongs of Violence

Author RealityStudio
Date 15 August 2006
Subject RealityStudio provides a side-by-side comparison of a 1961 Burroughs cut-up and a later version of the (same?) text from The Soft Machine.
Link Transitional Period vs Gongs of Violence
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