Tag Archives: William S Burroughs

Friday, 21st February 1997

Posted on February 21, 2024 by Lee

Besides getting his toilet fixed by a man called “Dirty Dave,” William Burroughs spent the day reading Asylum by Patrick McGrath. It’s been a long time since I read that book. I remember I enjoyed it but little more. What … Continue reading →

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Friends and Readers

Posted on January 11, 2024 by Lee

I’ve been reading Jack Kerouac’s Vanity of Duluoz, towards the end of which he describes the way William Burroughs showed support for him in the early years, motivating him to write more as he experimented and found his voice and … Continue reading →

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Empty

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Lee

To be empty inside is to have “no special way of moving or doing things so one way is the same … as another.” You learn things fast and follow instructions well. You are useful to others. “The Dead Child” … Continue reading →

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Notes on David S. Wills: Burroughs on Civilisation, Hallucination, and Telepathy

Posted on July 30, 2021 by Lee

For William Burroughs, the nuclear attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is a dividing point in history, marking the moment that Western civilisation finally ended. Could you really call a people capable of such an atrocity “civilised”? And so without civilisation, … Continue reading →

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Beats and Hippos

Posted on July 7, 2021 by Lee

And the Hippos were Boiled in their Tanks is an early work of the Beat Generation, written in the winter of 1944-45 by William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac together, or separately in that they take it in turns throughout the … Continue reading →

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See What I’m Saying

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Lee

First sentence of William Burroughs’ The Wild Boys: “The camera is the eye of a cruising vulture flying over an area of scrub, rubble and unfinished buildings on the outskirts of Mexico City.” Burroughs thinks in pictures and his books … Continue reading →

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William Burroughs and Facts

Posted on May 18, 2018 by Lee

William Burroughs tells Allen Ginsberg: “I am about to annunciate a philosophy called ‘factualism.’ All arguments, all nonsensical considerations as to what people ‘should do,’ are irrelevant. Ultimately there is only facts on all levels, and the more one argues, … Continue reading →

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Notes on William Burroughs to Allen Ginsberg May 5th, 1951

Posted on February 5, 2018 by Lee

In a letter to Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs seems to be saying that he’s incapable of envy. Envy arises from a particular kind of ignorance, of which Burroughs has cured himself: “Envy and resentment is only possible when you can … Continue reading →

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Identifying Things

Posted on December 18, 2017 by Lee

Identification, says Korzybski, is a blunt tool. Language is a box full of tools, all imperfect, none quite fit for purpose, their functioning performative and never exactly descriptive. Meaning: anything we can say about the world is never quite how … Continue reading →

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Notes on The Soft Machine Chapter 10: “Last Hints”

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Lee

This chapter is about Carl continuing his travels through space and time by finding a new body. He’s back in the city of catwalks and ladders and cable-cars in the middle of a jungle. Presumably he’s already changed bodies at … Continue reading →

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