Author Archives: Lee

The corners of rooms everywhere

Posted on June 7, 2017 by Lee

There’s a shadow in the corner of my room. Sometimes as I sleep, peering at my room through my eyelids with the vision of dreams, it crawls near, sits down on the bed, and watches me. Night creeping close to … Continue reading →

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Reading Toynbee A Study of History

Posted on May 31, 2017 by Lee

A society is a group whose members have shared problems. “There is no such thing as society” would be true if there were no shared problems, if each individual had only his or her own problems to worry about. “There … Continue reading →

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Spengler and Destiny

Posted on May 22, 2017 by Lee

I’ve been reading Oswald Spengler again, and what he writes about destiny. If you’re going to discover your destiny – the destiny of your culture, of your family, or your own personal destiny – you need to get out of … Continue reading →

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Burroughs and the Bad Cop

Posted on May 16, 2017 by Lee

Recently I read The Manhunter by John Pascucci. I bought a copy because it’s one of the last books William Burroughs read before he died. Burroughs notes in Last Words that he liked a phrase of Pascucci’s: “the plot sickened.” … Continue reading →

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Inhuman Indifference

Posted on May 8, 2017 by Lee

When Kenneth Rexroth heard Dylan Thomas had died, he wrote a poem. He wrote about who he blamed for the poet’s death: and he finds fault with us, with society. He uses “You” in the poem, addressing all of us. … Continue reading →

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Impressions of Barnaby Rudge

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Lee

Barnaby Rudge stamps and shouts and waves the candle above his head. Gabriel tries to keep him quiet: “Softly – gently” he says, and backs away a step from the whirling flame. Barnaby is raving about his dreams, though he … Continue reading →

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Mitya’s Certainty (Karamazov pp. 438-9)

Posted on April 25, 2017 by Lee

“She may be there . . .” Mitya is jealous. He hides in the bushes in the dark outside the window, wondering whether his beloved is inside with the old man. He’s already peeked in through the window. He can’t … Continue reading →

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Where Cows Are More Real Than Policemen

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Lee

Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote a poem about a dog. This dog is a “real realist,” which means he looks up and down and smells with his nose and asks questions and doesn’t have any smart answers. “Dog” is a poem about … Continue reading →

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How To Make Word Dust

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Lee

Besides being a science fiction novel, Nova Express is a how-to book.  It tells us how to make cut-ups and create “word dust”. For example, Burroughs has a character called “The Subliminal Kid” use tape recorders to create cut-ups: “‘The … Continue reading →

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William S. Burroughs: Vision and Intuition

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Lee

Reading Queer by William S. Burroughs, I’m struck not just by the sharp clear quality of the prose, but also by the insights themselves, the things Burroughs can see and points out to us. If he had been a worse … Continue reading →

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